Possible professional prospect.
Then another note.
Psychologically unstable under pressure.
Logan felt anger rising.
“What is this?”
Nathan took the folder.
“This is what Daniel found.”
Marcus looked through the papers.
Then he stopped.
There was a photograph.
Victor Hale.
Standing beside a much younger Marcus.
Marcus stared at it.
“I don't remember this.”
Nathan looked at him.
“You were working with him.”
“Years ago.”
“For how long?”
Marcus swallowed.
“Six months.”
Logan stared.
“You never told me.”
“I thought it was irrelevant.”
“It doesn't look irrelevant.”
Marcus shook his head.
“I left when I realized what he was doing.”
Nathan looked around.
“Then Daniel probably discovered the same thing.”
A sound came from upstairs.
Footsteps.
They froze.
Another step.
Then another.
Someone was coming down.
Nathan motioned for them to hide.
The basement door opened.
A man descended the stairs.
Victor Hale.
Older now.
Gray hair.
Same cold eyes.
He looked directly at them.
“You took long enough.”
Logan stepped forward.
“You knew we'd come.”
Victor smiled.
“I knew someone would.”
Victor Hale
Victor didn't look frightened.
That bothered Logan.
Most people confronted with three angry men would show some reaction.
Victor simply walked into the room and sat on an old bench.
“You've been looking for answers,” he said.
Nathan stepped forward.
“You killed my brother?”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
“Then who did?”
“I don't know.”
Nathan grabbed him by the collar.
“Don't lie to me.”
Victor didn't resist.
“Daniel died because he trusted people he shouldn't have.”
Logan stepped forward.
“That includes me.”
Victor looked at him.
“Yes.”
Logan expected satisfaction.
Instead, Victor looked almost disappointed.
“You were never the important part.”
“What does that mean?”
“You think this is about Daniel.”
Victor pointed toward the files.
“It isn't.”
Nathan released him.
Victor continued.
“Daniel discovered a system.”
“What system?”
“Fighters are valuable when they're hungry. Young. Ambitious. Desperate.”
Victor explained how promoters and managers manipulated fighters.
Some were offered opportunities.
Others were threatened.
Some were pushed toward illegal matches.
The goal wasn't simply money.
It was control.
A fighter who believed his career depended on one promoter could be controlled for years.
Daniel had discovered the network.
He had begun collecting evidence.
But Victor claimed he wasn't the person who ordered Daniel's death.
“Then who was?”
Victor looked at Marcus.
Marcus stiffened.
Victor said:
“You.”
Everyone froze.
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
Victor smiled.
“Not directly.”
He explained.
Daniel had confronted Marcus about the underground fights.
Marcus had tried to stop him.
Daniel interpreted it as betrayal.
That argument had happened the night before Daniel's death.
Victor claimed that Marcus's interference forced Daniel to act alone.
Nathan looked at his father.
“Is that true?”
Marcus couldn't answer immediately.
“Yes.”
Nathan stepped backward.
“You argued with him.”
“Yes.”
“You told him to stop.”
“Yes.”
“And he left angry.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Victor stood.
“And the next night, he was dead.”
Logan looked at Marcus.
“But I was there.”
Victor nodded.
“And that's the part nobody understood.”
He looked directly at Logan.
“You were the last person Daniel fought.”
Logan's stomach tightened.
“But someone else was watching.”
Victor walked toward an old computer.
He turned it on.
A video appeared.
Daniel and Logan were inside the gym.
The camera angle was different.
There was someone standing in the doorway.
A silhouette.
Logan leaned closer.
The person stepped forward.
The image became clearer.
Logan recognized him.
So did Marcus.
It was someone none of them expected.
Derek.
The Friend
Logan turned slowly.
Derek stood near the basement door.
His face was pale.
“Derek?”
Derek said nothing.
Nathan stared at him.
Marcus looked confused.
“What are you doing here?”
Derek took a step backward.
Victor smiled.
“You see?”
Logan's voice hardened.
“How long?”
Derek swallowed.
“How long what?”
“How long have you been involved?”
Derek looked at him.
“I never wanted anyone to get hurt.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“I was eighteen.”
Logan stared.
Derek explained.
His father had worked for Victor.
When Daniel began investigating the underground fights, Derek had been ordered to watch him.
He recorded training sessions.
Tracked his movements.
Reported what Daniel was doing.
The night Daniel died, Derek had been at the gym.
He had filmed the entire session.
But he had never shown the recording to anyone.
After Daniel's death, Victor took the footage.
Derek disappeared from the gym.
Years later, he returned.
He became Logan's friend.
He helped build Logan's online career.
He filmed his videos.
He managed his accounts.
He encouraged the humiliating content.
Logan stared at him.
“You used me.”
Derek shook his head.
“At first.”
“What changed?”
“I realized I couldn't keep doing it.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was scared.”
Logan laughed bitterly.
“Everybody was scared.”
Derek looked down.
“I found the old footage six months ago.”
“And?”
“I started digging.”
“Why?”
“Because I realized Daniel didn't die because of one fight.”
Logan's eyes filled with anger.
“You could have told me.”
“I tried.”
“When?”
Derek looked at him.
“Every time I told you to stop chasing attention.”
Logan went silent.
Derek continued.
“You didn't listen.”
That sentence hit harder than any punch.
Because it was true.
Derek had been the one person constantly telling Logan to slow down.
To stop humiliating people.
To stop chasing views.
Logan had assumed it was jealousy.
It wasn't.
Derek had been afraid Logan was becoming exactly like the people who had destroyed Daniel.
Victor moved toward the door.
“We're done here.”
Nathan blocked him.
“No.”
Victor smiled.
“You still don't understand.”
Then the lights went out.
A gunshot echoed upstairs.
Everyone froze.
The Night Everything Changed
The basement went dark.
Another shot.
Glass shattered.