Chapter 1 - The Man on the PhoneThe voice on the other end of the phone said two words.
“Hello, brother.”
Roman Callaway forgot how to breathe.
The room seemed to shrink around him.
The expensive ninth-floor apartment, the floor-to-ceiling windows, the polished stone, the sleeping city below, all of it suddenly felt unreal.
Sophia stood beside the bassinet, clutching Gabriel against her chest.
“Roman?”
He didn't answer.
His eyes remained fixed on the phone.
The voice came again.
“You always were slow when it mattered.”
Roman's fingers tightened around the device.
Only one man in the world had ever spoken to him that way.
Vincent.
His younger brother.
A man who had been dead for eleven years.
Roman finally whispered, “Who are you?”
A soft laugh came through the speaker.
“You know exactly who I am.”
The call ended.
Silence swallowed the apartment.
Sophia stared at Roman.
“Was it him?”
Roman didn't answer.
She stepped closer.
“Was it Vincent?”
Roman looked at the baby.
Gabriel was sleeping peacefully, tiny fingers curled against the blanket.
That innocence made everything worse.
Because if Vincent was alive, then every lie Roman had believed for eleven years was suddenly standing on a fault line.
He pressed a button on his phone.
“Marcus. Get upstairs.”
His head of security arrived less than a minute later.
Roman handed him the phone.
“Trace the call.”
Marcus looked at the screen.
“Private number.”
“I didn't ask whether it was private.”
Marcus nodded.
He immediately started working.
Roman turned toward Sophia.
“Tell me everything.”
Sophia shook her head.
“I already told you.”
“No.”
His voice was colder now.
“You told me what someone wanted you to know.”
Sophia looked away.
Roman noticed the movement.
“There's more.”
She said nothing.
Roman crouched beside the envelope.
He picked up one of the photographs.
It showed Vincent.
At least, it appeared to.
The photograph had been taken eleven years ago.
Vincent stood outside a motel.
Beside him was a woman Roman didn't recognize.
On the back was one sentence.
ASK HIM WHAT HAPPENED IN ROOM 314.
Roman's expression changed.
Sophia noticed.
“What is Room 314?”
Roman slowly stood.
“It doesn't matter.”
“Roman.”
“It doesn't matter anymore.”
He walked toward the window.
Then stopped.
Something was wrong outside.
Across the street, in the building opposite, a light flickered in a dark office.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Marcus suddenly looked up.
“Sir.”
Roman turned.
Marcus pointed toward the window.
“There.”
A tiny red light was visible on the opposite roof.
A camera.
Roman's jaw tightened.
“Get everyone out of this building.”
Sophia froze.
“What?”
“Now.”
The lights went out.
All of them.
The entire apartment plunged into darkness.
Gabriel began to cry.
Sophia instinctively wrapped both arms around him.
Roman reached for her.
“Stay behind me.”
Then something struck the ninth-floor window.
Crack.
Sophia screamed.
A bulletproof pane spiderwebbed across the glass.
Marcus pulled Roman down.
“Sniper!”
Roman dragged Sophia toward the hallway.
Another shot hit.
Then another.
But the third wasn't aimed at Roman.
It struck the bassinet.
The frame exploded.
Sophia screamed.
“GABRIEL!”
She lunged.
Roman caught her before she could reach the shattered crib.
Marcus shouted into his radio.
“Lock down the building!”
Sophia struggled against Roman.
“My baby!”
Roman looked down.
Gabriel was still in her arms.
He had never left them.
Roman stared at the empty bassinet.
Then he understood.
The shooter hadn't been trying to kill the baby.
They had been warning them.
Or testing them.
Roman looked toward the shattered window.
His voice dropped.
“Someone wants us terrified.”
Marcus looked at him.
“Sir?”
May you like
Roman stared into the darkness across the street.
“And they want me to remember.”
