Chapter 8 - The Dead Man's Phone Call
Roman stared at the phone as though it were a weapon pointed directly at his heart.
His father had been dead for seven years.
Roman had personally identified the body, signed the funeral documents, and taken over the organization after the burial.
Yet Laya's phone showed a call from the man who had supposedly been in the ground for nearly a decade.
"Give it to me," Roman ordered.
Laya shook her head.
"You don't get to command me anymore."
A guard seized the phone and handed it to Roman. The call history contained dozens of conversations, each lasting less than a minute. The most recent call had come in at 8:51 p.m., just after Roman left our house.
He pressed the playback button.
A familiar voice filled the ballroom.
"Keep the girl alive until the transfer is complete. Once the documents are signed, the mother becomes unnecessary."
Roman went utterly still.
It was his father's voice.
But the recording contained another sound: a faint ticking in the background, followed by three electronic chimes.
I recognized them immediately.
The private medical facility.
The same alert that had appeared beneath the unknown voicemail.
"Roman," I whispered. "Someone is using the clinic to communicate."
He looked at me.
"How do you know?"
I showed him the voicemail.
He listened once, then again.
When it ended, he looked toward the baby carrier.
"Where's Nicholas's medical file?"
Daniel found it in a locked cabinet behind the ballroom bar. The file contained a photograph of the infant, a list of medications, and a transfer authorization bearing Roman's signature.
Roman examined it.
"I never signed this."
The signature looked identical to his.
Laya began laughing again.
"Your father planned for you to deny everything. He knew you'd never accept a son you didn't control."
Roman's face darkened.
"Where is he?"
"I don't know."
"Who called you?"
Laya looked at me.
"Ask your husband why he never told you about the house on Lake Michigan."
Roman's expression changed.
For the first time, he seemed genuinely afraid.
"What house?"
Laya smiled.
"The one where your father has been living since his funeral."
Before Roman could question her further, the lights went out.
A security alarm blared.
When emergency lights flickered on, Laya was gone.
So was Nicholas's medical file.
And from the empty baby carrier came a sound that made Daniel turn sharply.
A phone was ringing inside the lining.
Roman picked it up.
A man's voice spoke.
"Hello, son."
Roman dropped the phone as if it had burned him.
May you like
His father was alive.
And he had just called to tell Roman that Sophie was next.
