You Have Reached Sam

The Deal with the Devil

Chapter Four: The Deal with the Devil

Nathan didn’t speak for a long moment. His fists were clenched, blood still drying on his knuckles. I could see the muscles in his jaw tighten, his dark eyes flickering between the now-silent crowd and the frozen image of Sam being dragged away.

Then, without a word, he turned and started walking.

"Hey!" I grabbed his arm. "Where the hell are you going?"

He wrenched free with a glare. "To fix this."

I was still shaking from what I’d just seen, but one thing was clear: Nathan knew something.

And I wasn’t letting him walk away without telling me.

"You don’t get to play the mysterious bad boy and disappear!" I snapped, stepping in front of him. "You were the last person seen with Sam. She sent me a voicemail that sounded like a freaking warning, and now there’s a video of someone grabbing her! Start talking, or I swear—"

"You swear what?" Nathan interrupted, voice cold. "You gonna turn me in? Go ahead. See how that works out for you."

His words sent a chill through me. Was he threatening me?

Before I could respond, he sighed and dragged a hand through his hair. "Look, I don’t have time for this. Sam knew what she was doing. She knew the risks."

"The risks of what?" I demanded.

Nathan hesitated. His eyes darted to the crowd behind us, still murmuring about the video, before he finally grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the shadows of the alleyway.

"I need you to listen, and listen carefully," he muttered. "You’re asking questions that will get you killed."

My stomach twisted, but I refused to back down. "Then tell me what’s going on so I don’t walk into danger blind."

Nathan exhaled sharply, glancing over his shoulder. "Sam wasn’t just some perfect, straight-A student. She was involved in something—something bad."

I swallowed hard. "Like what?"

His gaze locked onto mine. "She was digging into something that wasn’t her business. And now she’s missing because of it."

I took a shaky breath. "So, what? She was investigating something dangerous, and they took her to keep her quiet?"

Nathan’s expression darkened. "Something like that."

I felt like I was going to be sick.

"Who’s ‘they’?" I asked.

Nathan hesitated, then said two words that sent a shiver down my spine:

"The Brotherhood."

---

Chapter Five Preview: The Brotherhood’s Secrets

✔️ MC learns that The Brotherhood is an elite secret society controlling everything at Westbridge.

✔️ Sam was getting too close to uncovering their biggest scandal.

✔️ Nathan has his own dark connection to them—one that makes him just as dangerous as they are.