Chapter 2
I stood there for a long time, staring at those words.
Ten years.
Who had been waiting ten years for Daniel to fall?
I scrolled up. No previous messages. No missed calls. Just that one photo, that one line.
My hands shook. I’d been so sure I had everything under control. Now I felt like I was being watched.
I called my mom anyway. I needed her voice.
“Hey, baby,” she answered. “I saw the news alert. Is it true?”
“It’s true,” I said. “He’s gone. He’s under arrest.”
She sighed, soft and sad. “I’m sorry I didn’t push you harder to leave him sooner. But you did the right thing.”
“There’s something else,” I said. “Someone sent me a message. They said they’ve waited ten years for this.”
Mom went quiet. “Ten years? That was right before you started the company.”
“I know,” I said. “That’s what scares me.”
I ended the call and looked around the living room. The couch was still damp where Chloe had sat. The necklace lay on the floor, glinting wet.
I picked it up, wiped it clean, and put it back around my own neck. It felt like armor.
My lawyer walked over. “Everything okay?”
“Someone knows more than they should,” I said. “Someone who’s been watching for a decade.”
He frowned. “Do you have enemies from before the business?”
“Not that I know of,” I said. “Unless…”
I stopped. There was a name I hadn’t spoken in years. A name I’d buried deep.
“Unless who?” he asked.
“Unless it’s my brother,” I whispered.
His eyes widened. “Elias? I thought he moved across the country and cut contact.”
“He did,” I said. “But Daniel ruined his life. Ten years ago.”
I remembered that night clearly. Elias had trusted Daniel with his life savings. Daniel promised to invest it. Instead, he lost it all in a bad bet and blamed Elias.
Elias lost his home, his fiancée, his reputation. He vanished without a word.
I’d tried to find him. For years. But he never wanted to be found.
“Could it be him?” my lawyer asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But who else would wait ten years?”
Just then, my phone buzzed again. Another message from the same number.
“Meet me at the old warehouse on Seventh Street at midnight. Come alone. Or I disappear again.”
My lawyer saw the screen. “Absolutely not. It’s too dangerous.”
“I have to go,” I said. “If it’s Elias, I owe him. And if it’s not… I need to know who’s playing games with me.”
I packed a bag with the divorce papers, the arrest warrant, and my old business journals.
I walked out the front door. The house that had felt like a prison for three years suddenly felt like just a building.
I drove toward the city. The sky turned black. Rain started to fall, hard and fast.
May you like
I didn’t know if I was driving toward an ally or a trap.
But I knew one thing: Daniel’s fall was only the beginning.
