Chapter 4 - The Man Brooks Trusted Most Was the One Who Betrayed ThemMarcus Bell had been beside Brooks for fifteen years.
He knew every secret.
Every account.
Every safe house.
Every weakness.
He had also been feeding information to Alexander for years.
Brooks was furious.
“Why?”
Marcus smiled.
“Because men like you eventually become sentimental.”
He looked at Ana.
“And sentiment makes you weak.”
Brooks moved.
Marcus fired.
Ana screamed.
The bullet struck the wall.
Brooks tackled him.
They crashed through a table.
Marcus escaped through the side door.
Ana stared.
“You trusted him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I believed history made loyalty.”
She looked at him.
“History doesn't make people loyal.”
“No.”
“Choices do.”
Brooks nodded.
That sentence stayed with him.
They returned to Chicago.
Brooks told his men everything.
Marcus had stolen the final evidence.
He was planning to deliver it to Alexander.
Ana asked:
“How do we stop him?”
Brooks looked at her.
“We find the missing page.”
“Where?”
“Your mother's piano.”
The original piano had been moved from the Briar Glen mansion to a storage facility years ago.
They found it.
Inside its bench was a compartment.
The final page was hidden there.
It contained one name.
Marcus Bell.
And another.
A judge.
And another.
A federal prosecutor.
The corruption was enormous.
Brooks made a choice.
He could use the information to take control.
Or expose everyone.
Ana asked:
“What will you do?”
“Expose it.”
“You'll lose everything.”
“I already lost the life I thought I was building.”
She looked at him.
“Because of me?”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“Because I finally understand what your mother tried to teach me.”
“What?”
“Power without courage is just fear wearing expensive clothes.”
Ana smiled.
“That sounds like something she'd say.”
They released the first batch of evidence anonymously.
The city exploded.
Investigations began.
Marcus disappeared.
Alexander vanished.
Brooks's own allies turned against him.
His empire fractured.
Ana stayed.
She could have fled.
Instead she worked beside him.
One night, Brooks asked:
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why haven't you left?”
She looked at him.
“Because someone stayed for me when I was eight.”
His heart tightened.
“You remember.”
“Yes.”
“The park.”
“Yes.”
“You weren't supposed to.”
“I remember your voice.”
She touched the necklace.
“And this.”
Brooks smiled.
“I thought you had forgotten.”
“I forgot a lot of things.”
She looked at him.
“But not kindness.”
The silence between them deepened.
Brooks almost kissed her.
Then stopped.
“This is dangerous.”
She smiled.
“So is everything else.”
He laughed.
Then his phone rang.
A message.
Your mother is alive.
Ana froze.
Brooks looked at the screen.
Neither spoke.
May you like
Then a second message arrived.
And she is with Alexander.
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