Chapter 20 - The Unseen Caller
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It was a quiet Tuesday evening, five years after the night that changed my life forever.
I was sitting in my study at the Charlottesville estate, reviewing the clinic’s quarterly reports, while soft rain pitter-pattered against the windowpanes. Downstairs, I could hear the faint sound of Leo and my father playing a game of chess in front of the fireplace.
Suddenly, my desk phone chimed with an incoming call.
I frowned slightly, glancing at the clock. It was nearly 9:00 p.m. The caller ID displayed an encrypted, private federal number—the kind of line only my father’s closest associates possessed.
Thinking it was an urgent military dispatch for my father, I picked up the receiver.
“General Miller’s residence,” I said smoothly.
A long silence stretched over the secure line. For several seconds, there was only the faint, rhythmic static of a long-distance transmission.
Then, a quiet, unfamiliar woman’s voice spoke, her tone desperate, trembling, and laced with familiar terror.
“Please…” the woman whispered, sobbing softly. “I was told… if I ever needed help from someone who couldn't be stopped… to call this number. Is this Sarah?”
I froze, my hand tightening around the phone as memories of a cold marble floor and a shattered screen flashed through my mind.
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I took a deep, steadying breath, sat up straight in my chair, and looked out the window into the dark, rainy night.
“This is Sarah,” I said, my voice smooth, calm, and completely unbreakable. “Tell me where you are, and tell me who is hurting you.”
