Chapter 5: The Man Who Taught Me to Win

For a moment, neither man spoke. A car passed on the road beyond the parking area, its tires hissing against the damp pavement. Rhett looked away first, dragging a hand through his hair. When he spoke again, the sarcasm had disappeared from his voice.

Six years ago, your father told me that if anyone ever discovered what he was investigating, they would try to turn you against the people protecting you. He said they would make you believe your allies were your enemies. He warned me that one day you might find evidence that made me look guilty.

Kade felt his stomach drop. So he predicted this?

He predicted something like it.

And you didn't think to tell me?

I was seventeen, Kade. I had no idea where your father was, who had threatened him, or whether telling you anything would put you in more danger. I was given a promise to keep, and I kept it.

You kept it so well that I spent six years mourning a living man.

Rhett flinched as if Kade had struck him. For the first time that morning, he had no immediate answer. Kade saw the guilt in his eyes and hated how much it affected him. He wanted Rhett to be the villain. A villain would be easier to hate than someone who might have sacrificed years of his own life to keep a promise.

Before Kade could say anything else, Rhett's phone vibrated.

He glanced at the screen, and the color drained from his face.

Kade noticed immediately. What is it?

Rhett didn't answer. He read the message again, his fingers tightening around the phone.

Kade stepped forward and held out his hand. Let me see it.

Rhett hesitated, That hesitation was enough to ignite Kade's anger all over again. Give me the phone, Rhett.

After a moment, Rhett handed it over.

The message came from an unknown number. It contained a photograph of the parking area, taken from somewhere above them. Kade could see himself standing beside Rhett's car, his face turned toward his rival. The picture had been taken only seconds earlier.

Beneath it were six words.

YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT TO CHOOSE.

Kade's heart began to pound. Choose what?

A second message appeared.

THE TRUTH ABOUT YOUR FATHER OR THE TRUTH ABOUT RHEtt CALLOWAY.

For several seconds, Kade couldn't move. He read the message again, hoping he had misunderstood it, but the words remained unchanged. Whoever was sending these messages knew they had opened box 317. They knew about the photograph. They knew Rhett's name was at the center of whatever Kade's father had been investigating.

And they wanted Kade to choose between them.

A third popped up.

ASK HIM WHAT HAPPENED THE NIGHT YOUR FATHER DISAPPEARED.

Kade slowly lifted his eyes toward Rhett.

The silence between them became unbearable. Rhett looked as though he had been expecting that question for six years, and the expression on his face frightened Kade more than any anonymous threat could have.

What happened that night? Kade asked.

Rhett's lips parted, but no words came out.

Kade stepped closer. You promised my father you would protect me. You signed a contract. You let me believe you hated me while you secretly watched over me. And now someone is telling me to ask you what happened the night he disappeared. So I'm asking you, Rhett. What happened?

Rhett looked down at the ground, his shoulders tense. When he finally raised his head, Kade saw something he had never seen in his rival's eyes before.

Fear.

I went to your house that night, Rhett admitted.

Kade stopped breathing for a moment.

What?

I was seventeen. Your father called me and told me to come to the house after dark. He said there was something important he needed me to do. When I arrived, the front door was open, the lights were on, and there was blood on the floor.

Kade felt the world tilt beneath his feet. Blood?

Rhett nodded slowly. I found your father in the study. He was injured, but he was alive. He told me that people had come for him and that I had to get out before they returned. He gave me an envelope and told me never to let you see it unless the people hunting him found you.

Kade's hands began to tremble. What was in the envelope?

I don't know. I never opened it.

You're telling me you saw my father alive on the night he disappeared, and you never told me?

He made me swear, Kade. He said if I told you what happened, they would use you to find him. He said the only way to protect you was to let you believe he was gone.

Kade staggered back a step, struggling to process the revelation. Rhett had not simply known about his father's disappearance. He had been there. He had seen the blood, heard his father's final instructions, and walked away carrying a secret that had shaped the rest of Kade's life.

Kade's voice broke when he spoke again. Where is that envelope?

Rhett looked at him, and the fear in his expression deepened.

I don't have it anymore.

Kade's chest tightened. What do you mean you don't have it?

Someone broke into my apartment three years ago. They took the envelope, along with several documents your father had given me. I thought it was an ordinary burglary until I received a message the following morning.

Rhett reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. His fingers moved across the screen before he turned it toward Kade.

The message was dated three years earlier.

WE KNOW WHAT YOU PROMISED DANIEL MERCER. KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT, OR KADE WILL PAY FOR YOUR MISTAKE.

Kade stared at his father's name until the letters blurred. Daniel Mercer. His father had not disappeared into some distant mystery. He had been at the center of a dangerous secret that had followed Kade and Rhett for years.

But one detail refused to leave Kade's mind.

Rhett had said his father was injured when he found him.

Kade swallowed hard. You said there was blood on the floor. You said my father was injured. Did you see who hurt him?

Rhett shook his head.

Then how do you know those people were the ones hunting him?

Because your father told me.

Kade's pulse thundered in his ears. And what did he tell you about them?

Rhett stared at him for a long moment before answering.

He told me to be careful of the man who taught you how to win.

Kade felt his stomach turn cold.

There was only one person his father could have meant.

Coach Danner.

The man who had guided Kade through his darkest years. The man who had helped him return to basketball after his father's supposed death. The man who had handed him the eligibility complaint after the championship and warned him that someone was trying to destroy his career.

Kade shook his head. No. That doesn't make sense. Coach Danner has been there for me since I was fifteen.

Rhett's expression remained grim. Maybe that's why your father warned me about him.

Kade wanted to argue, to insist that Rhett was wrong, but his phone vibrated before he could speak. Another unknown number appeared on the screen. This time, there was no photograph attached.

Only a message.

GOOD. NOW YOU KNOW WHAT RHETT DID.

Kade's blood ran cold.

A second message followed.

BUT YOU STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT YOUR COACH DID TO YOUR FATHER.

Then a final message appeared, and Kade felt the ground disappear beneath him.

ASK COACH DANNER WHY HE WAS THE LAST PERSON TO SEE YOUR FATHER ALIVE.

Kade slowly raised his head toward Rhett. His rival was watching him with an expression that made one terrible possibility impossible to ignore.

Someone wasn't merely trying to ruin Kade's career.

Someone was carefully guiding him toward a truth that could destroy everyone he had ever trusted.

And somewhere in Westbridge University, Coach Danner knew that Kade Mercer was finally asking the right questions.