Chapter 5: The Voice Behind The Phone
The phone kept ringing.
Three times.
Four times.
Five.
The sound filled the hidden room beneath the hotel, cutting through the silence like a warning.
No one moved.
Not me.
Not Eli.
Not the man standing in the doorway.
The screen continued glowing.
*AMARA CARTER*
I stared at the name until my eyes burned.
Fifteen years.
Fifteen years of wondering if she was alive.
Fifteen years of imagining every possible explanation.
And now her name was sitting on a phone in my hand.
My fingers moved before my brain could catch up.
I answered.
“Hello?””
For a moment, there was only static.
Then breathing.
A soft inhale.
A sound I had spent years trying to remember.
My knees almost gave out.
Because I knew that breathing.
I knew that silence.
“Amara?””
The room went completely still.
Then a voice whispered through the phone.
“Nia.””
I closed my eyes.
One word.
One single word.
And fifteen years collapsed.
I pressed the phone tighter against my ear.
“No.””
My voice cracked.
“No, this isn’t possible.””
A quiet sob came through the speaker.
“I know.””
I turned away from everyone.
I couldn’t let the man see my face.
I couldn’t let him see what this meant.
“Where are you?””
Silence.
“Amara, where are you?””
“Nia, listen to me.””
The fear in her voice stopped me.
Not sadness.
Not guilt.
Fear.
“Don’t trust anyone in that room.””
My eyes lifted toward the man in the doorway.
His expression didn’t change.
But I noticed his hands.
They were clenched.
“Who are you talking about?”” I asked.
“Nia, please. You have to leave.””
“Leave?””
My anger finally broke through.
“You disappear for fifteen years, you send a child to find me, you leave clues under a hotel, and now you tell me to leave?””
Eli looked at me.
He didn’t understand everything.
But he understood enough.
Amara’s voice softened.
“I’m sorry.””
“No.””
I wiped my eyes.
“You don’t get to say sorry and disappear again.””
“I never wanted to leave you.””
The words hit harder than I expected.
“Then why did you?””
Another silence.
A long one.
Then:
“Because of the night I disappeared… you remembered something wrong.””
I froze.
“What does that mean?””
The man in the doorway finally spoke.
“Nia.””
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
“Hang up.””
I turned toward him.
“You knew she would call.””
He didn’t deny it.
“I knew eventually.””
“Who are you?””
“My name is Daniel Vale.””
The name meant nothing.
But Amara’s reaction did.
The second I said it into the phone, her breathing changed.
“Nia, get away from him.””
Daniel looked down.
Almost sadly.
“You still believe I’m the villain.””
Amara’s voice sharpened.
“Because you are.””
I looked between the phone and Daniel.
My entire body felt trapped between two versions of the same nightmare.
“Amara,” I said slowly.
“Tell me the truth.””
“I’m trying.””
“No.””
I looked at the files scattered across the desk.
“The whole truth.””
The phone went quiet.
Then she whispered:
“Your memory of that night is incomplete.””
I frowned.
“What?””
“You saw me leave.””
“Yes.””
“You saw me get into a car.””
“Yes.””
“You thought I was taken.””
My throat tightened.
“Because you were.””
“No.””
The word was barely audible.
I stared at the phone.
“What?””
“I left willingly.””
The room seemed to tilt.
Eli looked confused.
Daniel looked away.
“You left?””
“I had to.””
“Why?””
Another pause.
Then Amara said:
“Because someone inside our family was helping the people who wanted me gone.””
I felt cold.
“Who?””
She didn’t answer.
That was when the lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Daniel immediately looked toward the hallway.
His calm expression disappeared.
“They’re here.””
I grabbed Eli.
“Who’s here?””
Daniel stepped into the room.
“This conversation is over.””
I backed away.
“No.””
I held the phone tighter.
“I’m not leaving until she tells me.””
Amara’s voice suddenly became urgent.
“Nia, listen to me. The person you trusted most—”
The call cut.
“Amara?””
Nothing.
I looked at the phone.
Dead.
No signal.
Daniel moved toward the door.
“We have to go.””
I laughed once.
A bitter sound.
“You’re giving orders now?””
“If you stay here, you won’t get answers.””
“And if I follow you?””
“You might.””
I hated that he sounded honest.
Because honesty from the wrong person was more dangerous than a lie.
Eli tugged my sleeve.
“Nia.””
I looked down.
He was staring at the floor.
At something hidden beneath the desk.
A small metal box.
He pointed.
“My mom had one like that.””
I picked it up.
It was old.
Scratched.
Locked.
And carved into the top were three letters.
A.C.
I looked at Daniel.
His face changed.
Only for a second.
But I saw it.
Fear.
“You know what’s inside?””
He didn’t answer.
That was enough.
I held the box against my chest.
“Then we open it.””
Daniel looked toward the hallway.
Footsteps approached.
Multiple people.
Coming closer.
He whispered:
“If you open that box, there is no going back.””
I looked at the initials.
My sister’s initials.
The sister who vanished.
The sister who was alive.
The sister who had just warned me about everyone in this room.
Then I looked at Eli.
A child who had already lost too much.
And I made my decision.
“Good.””
I stepped toward the desk.
“Because I’ve spent fifteen years going backward.””
The footsteps stopped outside the door.
A shadow appeared beneath it.
Daniel reached for something inside his coat.
And the locked metal box clicked open by itself.
Inside was a key.
And a photograph.
A photograph that showed Amara standing beside someone I never expected.
Someone who had been at my side the entire night she disappeared.
May you like
Someone I had spent fifteen years defending.
My mother.
