Chapter 4 - The Phone CallThat night, someone called me at 2:13 a.m.
I was awake before the first ring ended.
Unknown number.
I answered.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Then a man's voice.
"You opened 217."
Every muscle in my body tightened.
"Who is this?"
"You were never supposed to find that room."
"Who are you?"
A pause.
Then:
"Ask your brother."
"Martin is gone."
"No."
My heart stopped.
"He's dead?"
The voice laughed softly.
"That's the story you were given."
I sat up.
"Where is he?"
"You've spent twenty-two years protecting three girls from a monster."
My throat tightened.
"What monster?"
"The one you called your brother."
The call ended.
I stared at the screen.
2:14 a.m.
I immediately called Ava.
No answer.
I called Claire.
Nothing.
Then June answered.
"Dad?"
"Get out of the house."
"What?"
"Get your sisters. Leave."
"Why?"
"Just do it."
"Dad, you're scaring me."
"June, listen to me. Don't ask questions. Just get out."
I drove through the empty streets.
When I reached their apartment, the front door was open.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
"Ava!"
No answer.
"Claire!"
Nothing.
Then I heard glass break upstairs.
I ran.
A man in a black jacket was standing at the end of the hallway.
He turned.
We stared at each other.
He was old.
Late sixties.
Gray hair.
Sharp eyes.
He looked strangely familiar.
He reached into his coat.
I charged him.
We crashed into the wall.
He shoved me away and ran down the stairs.
I followed.
By the time I reached the street, he was gone.
The girls were hiding in the bedroom.
They were unharmed.
But every drawer had been opened.
Every closet searched.
Nothing seemed stolen.
Except one thing.
The envelope from storage.
The one written by their mother.
I stood in the middle of the ruined apartment.
June's face had gone pale.
"He wasn't looking for money."
"No," I said.
"He was looking for the letter."
"Yes."
Claire hugged herself.
"Dad... what was in that letter?"
I didn't answer.
Because I noticed something lying on the floor.
A photograph.
It hadn't been there before.
I picked it up.
It showed three babies.
And behind them, a hospital window.
Written on the back were five words.
ONE OF THEM IS NOT YOUR NIECE.
I stared.
"That's impossible."
June whispered:
"What does that mean?"
I turned the photograph over again.
There was a second message beneath the first.
THEY CHANGED THE BABIES.
Ava covered her mouth.
Claire started crying.
June didn't move.
She simply stared at the photograph.
May you like
Then she said the one thing none of us wanted to hear.
"Which one of us?"
