You Have Reached Sam

The Brotherhood 's Secrets

Chapter Five: The Brotherhood’s Secrets

The words “The Brotherhood” hung between us, thick and suffocating.

I had heard whispers about them before—a secret society made up of Westbridge’s wealthiest and most powerful students. The kind of people who didn’t just run the school—they ran everything. The kind of people who could make someone disappear without a trace.

And now, Nathan was telling me they were involved in Sam’s disappearance.

I forced myself to breathe. "You’re lying."

Nathan didn’t blink. "Am I?"

I shook my head. "Sam wouldn’t—she wasn’t the type to mess with something like that."

Nathan scoffed. "Then you didn’t know your best friend as well as you thought."

His words stung. Because a part of me feared they were true.

Sam had always been curious, always digging where she shouldn’t. But if she had gotten involved with The Brotherhood—what exactly had she found?

I crossed my arms. "If you know so much, tell me everything."

Nathan exhaled, glancing around the dark alley before taking a step closer.

"You think The Brotherhood is just some club? No. They control everything—money, power, connections. Professors pass students who pay their way in. Police cover up their crimes. And if you cross them? You’re done."

A chill crawled down my spine.

"Sam didn’t just cross them," Nathan continued. "She tried to expose them."

My breath caught.

"What?"

Nathan’s eyes were dark with something unreadable. "She came to me a month ago. Said she had dirt on them. That she wanted to bring them down."

I shook my head, heart pounding. Why didn’t she tell me?

"What kind of dirt?" I whispered.

Nathan hesitated, then pulled out his phone. After a few taps, he turned the screen toward me.

It was a photo.

My stomach dropped.

In the picture, Sam was with a man in his forties—wearing a professor’s ID badge. They were in a dimly lit office, too close. The man’s hand was on her waist. Sam looked scared.

I covered my mouth. "Oh my God."

Nathan’s voice was quiet. "Your best friend wasn’t just uncovering a scandal. She was living one."

I felt sick.

Sam had been involved with a professor? Was she blackmailing him? Or was it worse?

Nathan shoved his phone back in his pocket. "The Brotherhood protects their own. That professor? He’s one of them. If Sam was threatening to expose him, it would’ve put all of them at risk."

I shook my head furiously. "She would’ve told me. She—"

Then it hit me. The voicemail.

"You have reached Sam. If you’re hearing this, it’s already too late."

A sickening realization settled over me.

Sam had known. She knew they were coming for her.

I swallowed hard. "Nathan… if The Brotherhood took her, then she’s…"

Dead.

I couldn’t say the word.

Nathan’s gaze sharpened. "That’s why we need to move fast. If she’s alive, they won’t keep her that way for long."

A lump formed in my throat. "So what do we do?"

Nathan gave me a slow, dark smirk. "Simple. We burn them down before they bury us, too."