Chapter 10 - THE BEST FRIEND WHO SOLD HIS SOUL
Ethan stared at the name.
Daniel Brooks.
His closest friend.
His attorney.
The man who had helped him build Cole Capital.
The man who knew every detail of his investigation.
“No,” Ethan whispered.
Richard looked at him sadly.
“I remember his face.”
Ethan shook his head.
“Daniel was only a teenager when my father died.”
Richard swallowed.
“He was young. But he carried messages for his father.”
Savannah frowned.
“His father?”
Richard nodded.
“Arthur Brooks. Linda’s financial partner.”
Ethan felt the room tilt.
Arthur Brooks had been a respected attorney in Denver.
He had died eight years earlier.
Daniel had inherited his firm.
And Ethan had trusted him without question.
Suddenly, every unexplained setback made sense.
The missing documents.
The failed subpoenas.
The suspicious vehicles.
Daniel had known exactly where Ethan would be.
Because Ethan had told him.
Savannah gripped his hand.
“We have to get away from him.”
Ethan nodded slowly.
But before they could leave, his phone rang.
Daniel.
Ethan answered.
“Hey.”
“Where are you?” Daniel asked.
“Driving back to Denver.”
A pause.
“Did you find Richard Reed?”
Ethan’s blood turned cold.
He had not told Daniel that name.
Not once.
“Why do you ask?”
Daniel chuckled.
“Just checking on your investigation.”
Ethan looked at Savannah.
She understood.
Daniel knew.
“Everything’s fine,” Ethan said.
“Good,” Daniel replied. “Because I’d hate for anything to happen to Savannah.”
The line went dead.
Ethan immediately called a security team he trusted outside Daniel’s firm.
Then he and Savannah left through the hospital’s rear exit.
They drove for nearly an hour before stopping at a roadside motel.
Savannah sat on the bed, trembling.
“I thought we were finally getting somewhere.”
“We are.”
“How can you say that?”
“Because Daniel just made a mistake.”
Ethan opened his laptop.
“He threatened you on a recorded call.”
Savannah stared.
“You recorded it?”
“Every call since I went undercover.”
For the first time that night, she smiled.
Then Ethan’s laptop flashed with an incoming encrypted message.
It came from an account his father had created decades earlier.
The subject line contained five words.
THOMAS COLE'S FINAL INSURANCE POLICY.
Inside was a video file.
And the thumbnail showed Thomas Cole sitting at his desk.
May you like
Alive.
Speaking directly into the camera.
