Chapter Two: The Man My Father Trusted

Someone was watching me. I knew it before I saw the photograph. The arena was supposed to be empty. The doors had been locked, the lights were mostly off, and everyone on the team had already gone home. Yet as I stood on the court with Rhett Calloway, a strange pressure settled over me, the kind that made the hairs on the back of my neck rise. I turned toward the dark bleachers, but there was nothing there, only rows of empty seats disappearing into the shadows. Then my phone vibrated. I pulled it from my pocket, expecting another message from the team group chat, but what appeared on the screen made my stomach tighten. You should have listened to Calloway. Before I could process it, another message appeared. But now that he has told you, we have a problem. I looked at Rhett, and his face had gone completely still. “What did you tell them?” I demanded. “Nothing.” “Then how do they know I’m with you?” He didn’t answer, and that frightened me more than the message.

I took a step toward him. “Rhett, what the hell is going on?” He glanced toward the entrance before looking back at me. His usual confidence was gone. For the first time since I’d known him, he looked genuinely worried. “Your father.” My heart stopped. “What about my father?” Rhett swallowed before speaking. “Your father isn’t the only person who disappeared.” The world seemed to tilt beneath my feet. For six years, I had believed my father was dead. There had been a funeral, a grave, photographs, condolences, and six years of people telling me how strong I had been for surviving the loss. I had built my entire life around that truth. Now Rhett was standing in front of me, telling me everything I believed about the worst day of my life might have been a lie. “He wasn’t killed,” Rhett said quietly. “He vanished.”

I couldn’t breathe. The word echoed inside my head. Vanished. Not dead. Not buried. Not gone forever. Vanished. I looked at Rhett, searching his face for even the smallest sign that he was lying. “How do you know my father was investigating these people?” He hesitated, and that hesitation made my pulse race. “How do you know?” Rhett finally met my eyes. “Because he contacted someone before he disappeared.” “Who?” His jaw tightened. “Me.” I stared at him. “What?” “Your father contacted me six years ago.” The confession hit harder than the message. My father had contacted Rhett six years ago, before Rhett and I had become rivals, before the championships, arguments, trash talk, and all the years we’d spent trying to destroy each other on the court. “You’re lying.” Rhett shook his head. “I wish I was.”

He pulled out his phone and opened an old file before handing it to me. My hands trembled as I looked at the screen. An email appeared, dated six years earlier. The sender’s name made my chest tighten. Dad. I read the message once, then again. My father had written to Rhett. He had asked him to keep something safe and warned him that dangerous people were watching our family. Then I reached the final sentence, and my fingers went numb. If anything happens to me, don’t let Kade know the truth until they come for him. I slowly lowered the phone. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Rhett looked away. “Because your father made me promise.” My voice cracked. “You knew for six years?” “I knew he was in danger.” “You knew he might still be alive!” “I didn’t know that.” “But you knew he disappeared!” “I knew he was running from someone.” My anger rose as I stepped closer. “And you still came to Westbridge? Why?”

Rhett’s eyes met mine. “Because your father asked me to watch you.” The arena suddenly felt colder. “Watch me?” I asked. He nodded. “Protect you without letting you know why.” A bitter laugh escaped me. “So that’s why you transferred.” He didn’t answer, but he didn’t need to. The silence told me everything. For three years, I had believed Rhett’s obsession with me was nothing more than competition. I had thought every challenge, every argument, every heated stare was about basketball. Now I didn’t know what was real anymore. “Was any of it real?” I asked quietly. His brows pulled together. “What?” “Our rivalry. The fights. The competition. Everything between us. Was that real, or were you pretending the entire time?” Something shifted in his expression. He stepped closer and looked directly into my eyes. “Kade, I hated losing to you.” My heart tightened. Then his voice softened. “But I never hated you.” For a moment, neither of us moved. He was close enough for me to feel the warmth of his body, and suddenly all those years of hostility felt different.

My phone vibrated again. I looked down. Ask Calloway why your father chose him. Another message appeared almost immediately. Ask him what he promised your father. I lifted my eyes toward Rhett. “What did you promise him?” “Nothing.” “Then why are they saying you did?” “I don’t know.” I tightened my grip on the phone. “You’ve been lying to me.” Rhett’s jaw tightened. “I’ve been protecting you.” I shook my head. “Those aren’t the same thing.” He stepped closer, his voice dropping. “I never wanted your career destroyed. I never wanted your father to disappear. And I never wanted you dragged into this. But I’m not going to let them take you.”

Before I could respond, the arena lights flickered once, then twice. A second later, everything went black. I froze. Rhett immediately grabbed my wrist. “Don’t move.” Footsteps echoed from the hallway. Someone was inside. Rhett pulled me behind him, and I could hear my own breathing as the footsteps came closer. Slow. Measured. Then they stopped. A door creaked open somewhere in the darkness. My heart pounded so hard I was certain whoever was hiding there could hear it. Rhett tightened his grip around my wrist. “Stay behind me.” I opened my mouth to answer, but before I could say anything, the lights suddenly came back on.

The arena was empty. No person. No movement. Nothing. Except for a brown envelope lying in the center of the basketball court. Rhett and I stared at it. Neither of us spoke. Finally, he walked toward it and picked it up. His fingers froze when he saw my name written across the front. Kade Mercer. “Open it,” I whispered. Rhett tore the envelope open, and a photograph slipped onto the court. I bent down and picked it up. My breath disappeared. It was my father. But the photograph wasn’t old. He had gray streaks in his hair, a scar across his cheek, and he was standing beside a black SUV in a place I didn’t recognize. My hands began shaking as I turned the photograph over. Five words were written across the back. Your father is still alive.

I couldn’t speak. Then a small metal key dropped from the envelope. Rhett picked it up, and his expression changed the moment he saw the number engraved on it. 317. “What does that open?” I asked. He looked at me. “Something your father told me never to open.” My stomach dropped. “What?” His voice was barely above a whisper. “His safety deposit box.” I stared at him. “Where?” Rhett’s face had gone pale. “Westbridge.” My heart slammed against my ribs. My father had supposedly died six years ago, yet someone had just given us proof that he was alive. Somewhere inside my own university was something he had deliberately left behind, something he had trusted Rhett to protect, something he had never told me about.

Then my phone vibrated again. I looked down. This time, there was no message. Only a photograph. My blood turned cold. It was a picture of Rhett and me standing together on the basketball court. The same court. The same clothes. The same moment. The timestamp showed it had been taken less than one minute ago. Someone had taken the photograph while we were standing there. Which meant whoever sent it wasn’t watching us from outside. They had been inside the arena with us.