Chapter 7 - The Voice on the Phone
Someone Had Been Waiting for Me to Find the Truth
I stared at the name.
Elena Vale.
My dead biological mother.
Calling me.
My finger hovered over the answer button.
Dad grabbed my wrist.
“Don't.”
“Why?”
“Because it could be a trap.”
The phone rang again.
Rowan took it.
“Put it on speaker.”
He answered.
At first, only static.
Then a woman's breathing.
Slow.
Controlled.
“Lyra.”
My chest tightened.
“Who are you?”
A pause.
Then:
“I am the woman whose life your parents stole.”
Dad flinched.
Mom began crying.
I stared at both of them.
“Are you Elena?”
“Yes.”
“You're alive?”
“For seventeen years.”
“Where?”
“That doesn't matter yet.”
“Why did you let me believe you were dead?”
“Because dead women don't get followed.”
“Who followed you?”
“Everyone.”
Her voice was calm.
Too calm.
“I discovered a network that didn't just steal money. It erased people.”
“What does that mean?”
“They could make someone disappear legally.”
She continued.
“New identity. New documents. New history.”
“Why me?”
“Because you inherited something.”
“What?”
“Not money.”
I waited.
“Proof.”
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“What proof?”
“I hid it before the crash.”
“Where?”
“You already saw it.”
I looked at the photograph in my hand.
“The house?”
“No.”
“The basement?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
She whispered,
“The window.”
I froze.
“What window?”
“Your bedroom window.”
The room went silent.
I looked at Dad.
He was staring at me.
“What did we find outside that window?” Elena asked.
I remembered the strange figure.
The dark patch of mulch.
The feeling of being watched.
Then it hit me.
The figure hadn't been watching us.
It had been digging.
“Dad.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
“What was buried there?”
He closed his eyes.
Rowan immediately stood.
“We're going back.”
Mom grabbed his sleeve.
“That's exactly what they want.”
“Who?”
She didn't answer.
Elena spoke through the phone.
“Adrian, tell her.”
Dad looked at me.
“There was a metal box under the tree.”
“What's inside?”
“A recording.”
“What recording?”
“The night Elena was supposed to die.”
My stomach dropped.
“Who killed her?”
Dad whispered,
“No one.”
The phone went silent.
Then Elena said:
“I killed myself on paper.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“Because the man who was hunting me was inside your family.”
Dad turned pale.
Mom backed away.
I looked between them.
“Who?”
Elena's voice became barely audible.
“He's closer to you than you think.”
Then the line disconnected.
Rowan immediately checked the number.
“Burner phone.”
“Can we trace it?”
“Maybe.”
Dad suddenly grabbed my arm.
“Lyra.”
“What?”
“Do not trust anyone.”
“Even you?”
He didn't answer.
That was when I heard a sound outside.
A car door closing.
Then another.
Rowan looked through the archive window.
Three black vehicles.
“No,” he whispered.
Ivy stood.
“Who are they?”
Rowan turned off every light.
“They found us.”
Then Dad whispered:
“They weren't following us.”
May you like
Everyone looked at him.
“They were following Lyra.”
