Chapter 2 - The Call in the Dark
I walked out of Vanguard Premier Bank feeling like I had stepped onto a different planet. The biting Chicago wind whipped against my thin coat, but I didn't feel the cold. I pulled out my phone and stared at my banking app. Ten million dollars. My crushing medical debt from the accident three years ago, the endless past-due notices, the threat of eviction—it was all gone. Wiped away with the stroke of my grandfather’s pen.
I sat in my battered Honda Civic and immediately dialed Grandpa Arthur’s number. I needed to thank him. I needed to ask him what Sarah meant about him being "terrified."
The phone rang four times before going to voicemail. I tried again. Nothing.
I drove back to my cramped apartment in the South Side, my mind racing. Should I call my mother? No, Eleanor Sterling would only mock me, or worse, if she found out the money was real, she would demand I hand it over. My family had treated me like a parasite ever since I refused to join the corrupt corporate side of the family business, choosing instead to become a paramedic.
As I unlocked my apartment door, my burner phone—the one I kept for emergency work shifts—buzzed in my pocket. I frowned. Only the hospital dispatcher had that number.
I answered it. “Hello?”
“Elias.” The voice on the other end was deep, gravelly, and instantly recognizable. It was Thomas, the quiet, imposing caterer from last night's Thanksgiving dinner.
“Thomas? How did you get this number?” I asked, dropping my keys on the counter.
“There is no time to explain,” Thomas said, his voice completely devoid of its usual polite, subservient tone. “I am calling to give you instructions. Do not go to work tonight. Lock your doors. Do not answer calls from your mother or your uncle Robert.”
Panic flared in my chest. “What’s going on? Where is my grandfather?”
There was a heavy, suffocating silence on the line. I could hear sirens wailing in the background of Thomas's location.
“Mr. Sterling passed away an hour ago,” Thomas said softly. “They are calling it a massive heart attack. But your grandfather hasn't had a heart problem in his life. He knew they were making their move, Elias. That’s why he gave out the checks. He was testing the family. And you are the only one who passed.”
“Testing us for what?” I demanded, tears springing to my eyes. “Thomas, who is ‘they’?”
May you like
“The family, Elias,” Thomas replied grimly. “Your uncle Robert and your mother. They killed him. And if they find out you cashed that check, you’re next. I will come to you when it is safe.”
The line went dead.
