Chapter 8 - The Name on the Contract
Daniel spent the night reviewing the documents.
At sunrise, he found the name.
Marcus Vale.
A former sports executive.
A man who had managed several young athletes.
A man who had disappeared from the industry after a financial scandal.
But there was something else.
Marcus had once partnered with Ethan's father.
Daniel searched deeper.
The contracts showed that Marcus had tried to obtain control over Daniel's future earnings when Daniel was sixteen.
Richard had refused.
Then the threats began.
Daniel looked at the damaged medal.
He finally understood why his father had destroyed it.
The medal wasn't valuable because it was gold.
It contained something.
A tiny tracking device.
Or perhaps something more.
Daniel took it to a specialist.
The specialist opened the medal carefully.
Inside was a small memory chip.
Daniel stared at it.
"Can you read it?"
The specialist nodded.
"Probably."
Daniel waited.
The files appeared.
One video.
One audio recording.
And one document.
Daniel clicked the video.
His sixteen-year-old self appeared on screen.
Standing beside the pool.
Then Richard walked into frame.
Daniel watched silently.
His father looked terrified.
"Daniel," Richard said in the recording, "if anything happens to me, don't trust Ethan's father."
The video ended.
Daniel's hands trembled.
Then the audio file started automatically.
Richard's voice returned.
"But there's something you need to know."
Daniel leaned closer.
May you like
"You were never the target."
The recording stopped.
