Chapter 4 - THE MAN WHO SOLD HIS BEST FRIEND
Marcus Vance had been Damian Cross's closest friend since they were nineteen.
They'd grown up in Oakland.
Two boys with nothing.
One with ambition.
The other with charm.
Damian built the network.
Marcus made the deals.
Together, they became powerful.
But power changed Marcus.
Or perhaps it only revealed what had always been there.
Eight years earlier, Thomas Reed discovered irregular shipments moving through the company's warehouses.
Equipment that didn't match the manifests.
Money routed through shell companies.
Documents altered after delivery.
Marcus controlled the paperwork.
And Marcus had everything to lose.
Damian told me the story in fragments.
He didn't try to make himself innocent.
He admitted he'd built a criminal organization.
He admitted he'd ignored warnings.
He admitted that his loyalty to Marcus had blinded him.
“Your father came to me,” Damian said.
I stared.
“And?”
“He told me Marcus was using our routes for something I hadn't approved.”
I swallowed.
“What did you do?”
“I confronted Marcus.”
My stomach tightened.
“You told him?”
Damian closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
I stood.
“You told the man my father suspected?”
Damian nodded.
I stared at him.
“Then you gave Marcus a warning.”
Damian looked down.
“Yes.”
The next day, Thomas Reed entered the warehouse.
Hours later, it exploded.
I felt sick.
Damian continued.
“I thought Marcus would deny it. I thought we'd investigate. I didn't believe he'd kill anyone.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You didn't believe your best friend was capable of murder.”
“No.”
I stared at him.
“And now?”
Damian's expression hardened.
“Now I know.”
Silence.
Then I asked:
“Why did Marcus try to kill you tonight?”
Damian looked toward the window.
“Because I found something.”
He explained that he'd recently discovered hidden accounts connected to the old warehouse shipments.
The money had continued moving for years.
Marcus had been stealing from the network.
And someone had been helping him.
“Who?”
Damian hesitated.
“I don't know yet.”
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
His face changed.
“What happened?” I asked.
He ended the call.
“The casino bomb squad secured the suspicious chip stack.”
I swallowed.
“And?”
Damian looked at me.
“The chips weren't the only threat.”
My stomach dropped.
He continued.
“They found a second device in the private vault's ventilation system.”
I stared.
“Why?”
Damian's voice was quiet.
“Because Marcus wasn't only trying to kill me.”
May you like
He looked at the photograph of my father.
“He was trying to erase everyone who could connect him to Thomas Reed.”
