Chapter 3 - THE SECRET BEHIND MY BROTHER-IN-LAW'S SMILE
Derek had stopped laughing.
That was the first thing I noticed when I lowered my phone.
He stood beside the grill, staring at me with a strange expression.
Not anger.
Not embarrassment.
Fear.
“Who was that?” Ryan asked.
“A detective.”
Derek suddenly stepped forward.
“What detective?”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
He swallowed.
“No reason.”
But I'd spent years reading opponents inside a cage.
I knew what panic looked like.
And Derek was panicking.
“Your former business partner,” I said quietly. “What's his name?”
Derek's jaw tightened.
“I've had lots of business partners.”
“Did you ever work with someone connected to Marcus Vale?”
His face changed.
For one split second, I saw recognition.
Then he laughed.
“Never heard of him.”
I knew he was lying.
Ryan noticed too.
“Derek, what aren't you telling us?”
“Nothing!”
He grabbed his keys.
“I'm done with this.”
Diane hurried after him.
“Sweetheart, don't let them upset you.”
But Derek was already moving toward the driveway.
Marissa watched him leave.
Then she turned toward me.
“Claire, there's something strange about this.”
I nodded.
“What?”
She lowered her voice.
“Derek started his sports supplement company eight years ago.”
My stomach tightened.
“Eight years?”
“The same year your career ended.”
Ryan looked at his sister.
“So?”
Marissa swallowed.
“His first major investor was a man named Marcus Vale.”
Everything inside me went still.
I had spent eight years believing I'd escaped that man's world.
Now I was discovering that he might have been connected to my husband's family the entire time.
Marissa opened an old business filing on her phone.
There it was.
Vale Performance Holdings.
Founding investor.
Derek Walsh.
Managing partner.
I stared at the screen.
“Ryan,” I whispered, “did you know about this?”
He shook his head.
“No.”
His face was pale.
“I swear.”
I believed him.
But the coincidence was too terrible to ignore.
That evening, we met Detective Mitchell at a police station.
He showed me part of the newly recovered footage.
A hallway.
A training room.
Samantha walking toward the locker area.
Then Marcus Vale entered carrying a small medical cooler.
He looked around before opening Samantha's locker.
My hands began shaking.
“What was he doing?”
Mitchell paused the video.
“We're investigating whether he interfered with medication or other medical supplies.”
I stared at the screen.
Then another man entered the hallway.
He wore a gray jacket.
His face was partly hidden.
But I recognized the way he walked.
The broad shoulders.
The slight limp in his right leg.
My breath stopped.
Ryan leaned closer.
“Claire?”
The man turned toward the camera.
And there he was.
Eight years younger.
May you like
Standing beside Marcus Vale.
Derek Walsh.
