Chapter 5

Silas had tried to block me from investigating back then simply because he was terrified of his crimes coming to light!

My heart hammered frantically against my ribs as I immediately spilled everything I had uncovered to Mr. Hunter.

Mr. Hunter’s expression turned fierce, and he whipped out his phone on the spot, ordering his team to launch an immediate, full-scale investigation.

Before I left, Mr. Hunter gave me a grim warning. "Until the truth comes fully to light, you need to stay as far away from Silas as possible. Do not set him off, or you'll put a target on your own back!"

I promised I would, but a burning tide of hatred was raging inside my chest.

Silas was a total monster. He had murdered his own sister yet spent years parading around wearing the mask of a righteous, supportive brother.

A scumbag like that didn't deserve to spend another second breathing air on this earth.

After leaving the coffee shop, I stopped by a local store, bought the sharpest utility knife I could find, and drove straight to Silas' house.

When he opened the door and saw it was me, he didn't look surprised at all. He just asked flatly, "What brings you here?"

"I have questions for you," I said, slipping the knife behind my back as I pushed my way straight into the apartment, "How did Scarlett actually die?"

Silas shut the door behind me, walked over to the couch, sat down, and poured himself a glass of water.

"Didn't I tell you that a long time ago? She had depression and took her own life. Why are you still obsessing over this?"

"You're lying!"

I couldn't hold it back anymore, my voice rising to a shout.

"She never had depression to begin with. You made all of that up!

"There wasn't any suicide text message from her on your phone at all! Instead, right before she died, she sent you a text saying she'd found out your biggest secret!"

Silas froze with the water glass in his hand, his eyes instantly turning ice-cold. "You snooped through my phone?"

"If I hadn't snooped, how would I have ever known you were playing me this whole time?"

I pulled the knife out from behind my back, closing the distance between us step by step.

"You were the one who leaked the raid intel to the cartel! You're the reason Scarlett and our unborn baby died!"

Silas bolted up from the couch, his face turning terrifyingly dark.

"Jace, drop the knife!

"You don't have any proof, so stop throwing around wild accusations!"

"Proof?" I let out a harsh, bitter laugh. "That text message is the proof!

"As her brother and her consulting psychologist, you were supposed to recuse yourself to avoid a conflict of interest. Instead, you insisted on handling her treatment just so you could fake the records and make it look like she was mentally unstable!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Silas said, taking a step back, "I'm telling you to leave right now, or I'm calling the cops."

"You think you've got the guts to call the cops?" My eyes were bloodshot, my voice cracking and hoarse as I stared at him without an ounce of fear. "You're terrified the police will dig up the truth and expose you as the mole!

"Silas, you murdered your own blood with your bare hands. How do you sleep at night?

"Watching me cry and break down at Scarlett's grave, were you laughing inside at how pathetic I was, thanking the literal killer who destroyed our lives?"

Silas backed away a few more steps. The exact second I lunged forward with the knife, he swerved to the side with lightning speed, parrying the blade and twisting it right out of my grip!

We tumbled hard onto the floor, wrestling for control.

With a background in law enforcement and military training, his physical strength completely outmatched mine, and he pinned me flat to the ground in seconds.

"Jace, everything was already in the past! Why did you have to dig out the truth?

"You can't handle the truth of what really happened!"

The veins on his forehead bulged, the tip of the knife hovering just a fraction of an inch away from my throat.

Right at that fraction of a second, the apartment door flew off its hinges with a deafening crash, and a swarm of police officers flooded into the room.

"Nobody move! Drop your weapons!"