Chapter 4 - THE VOICE ON THE PHONE
Nobody touched the phone.
It rang five times.
Stopped.
Then started again.
Dominic answered.
“Who is this?”
Silence.
Then breathing.
Female.
Weak.
Dominic’s face lost all color.
“Evelyn?”
The line went dead.
He stared at the screen.
Blocked number.
Marcus immediately began tracing the call.
Clara watched Noah.
The boy was crying silently.
Not screaming.
Not hitting.
Just tears sliding down his cheeks.
“Mommy?” he whispered.
Dominic dropped to his knees in front of his son.
“Yes.”
His voice cracked.
“It might be Mommy.”
Noah touched his father’s cheek.
Dominic closed his eyes.
It was the first time in months Noah had touched him voluntarily.
Then Marcus interrupted.
“We have a location.”
Dominic stood.
“Where?”
“An abandoned rehabilitation clinic outside Highland Park.”
Mrs. Hargrove laughed.
Everyone turned.
It was not a happy laugh.
It was exhausted.
“You really think they’ll leave her alive after that call?”
Dominic walked toward her.
“Who are they?”
She looked directly into his eyes.
“The people you trusted.”
Before Dominic could respond, the mansion lights went out.
Noah screamed.
Gunfire erupted outside.
Glass shattered.
Marcus drew his weapon.
“Down!”
Clara pulled Noah under the bed.
Bullets tore through the north-wing windows.
Dominic returned fire with his guards.
The attack lasted less than thirty seconds.
Then silence.
Emergency lights came on.
One guard was wounded.
Mrs. Hargrove was gone.
“She escaped!”
Marcus ran into the hallway.
The door at the end stood open.
Dominic cursed.
“She had help.”
Clara crawled out with Noah.
The boy was shaking.
She checked him for injuries.
Nothing.
Then Noah grabbed her wrist.
“Tyler.”
Clara froze.
“What did you say?”
“Tyler.”
Her blood went cold.
No one in the mansion knew her brother’s name.
Not Noah.
Not the guards.
Not even Dominic.
Clara looked at him.
“How do you know Tyler?”
Noah pointed at the metal box.
Clara searched deeper.
At the bottom was another file.
Her name was printed across the tab.
CLARA REED.
Inside were photographs of Clara leaving her diner.
Her apartment.
Her mother.
And Tyler entering the hospital.
Dominic took the file.
“How long have you been watched?”
“I didn’t even know your family before today.”
A photograph fell from the folder.
Clara picked it up.
Her mother was standing beside Evelyn Vale.
The picture had been taken fifteen years earlier.
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On the back were three handwritten words.
ASK HELEN REED.
