Marcus smiled.
"Then I guess the window was worth breaking."
Two years after the brick incident, Marcus stood outside the market before sunrise.
The parking lot was quiet.
The lights inside were just coming on.
He looked at the glass display case.
The brick was still there.
His phone rang.
"Mr. Reed?"
"Yes."
"This is the police department."
Marcus straightened.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
A pause.
"We just wanted to let you know something."
"What?"
The officer laughed.
"You've become something of a legend around here."
Marcus smiled.
"That's unfortunate."
"Why?"
"I was hoping to remain anonymous."
The officer laughed again.
Then added:
"Actually, there's another reason I called."
"What?"
"Someone just broke into the old HOA office."
Marcus frowned.
"Why?"
"They weren't stealing anything."
"What were they doing?"
"They left something on the desk."
"What?"
"A brick."
Marcus became silent.
"Did you identify them?"
"Not yet."
Marcus looked across the street.
The sun was beginning to rise.
Then he noticed something taped to the brick.
A note.
He walked over.
Pulled it free.
And read the words.
YOU WERE RIGHT.
THE HOA WASN'T THE ONLY ONE.
Marcus's expression changed.
He looked toward the empty road.
For two years, he had believed the fight was over.
Victoria had been exposed.
The fraudulent contracts had been uncovered.
The residents had recovered part of their money.
The old board was gone.
The community had rebuilt itself.
But now Marcus understood something.
The HOA had never been the whole story.
It had only been the first layer.
He looked at the brick in his hand.
Then at the market.
Then at the sunrise.
His phone rang again.
This time, the caller ID displayed a number he hadn't seen in twenty years.
A number belonging to someone who was supposed to be dead.
Marcus answered.
There was silence.
Then a man's voice whispered:
"Marcus..."
He froze.
"Who is this?"
The voice answered:
"You should never have bought that property."
The call ended.
Marcus slowly lowered the phone.
For the first time since the day Victoria threw the brick, he wasn't thinking about the HOA.
He wasn't thinking about the broken window.
He wasn't even thinking about the money.
He was thinking about one question.
Why had someone waited two years to warn him?
Across the street, the lights of his market flickered on.
The community was waking up.
But somewhere beyond the quiet neighborhood, another part of the story had just begun.
And this time...
Marcus Reed wasn't the homeowner being attacked.
He was the man someone had finally realized they should have been afraid to challenge.