Chapter 5 - The Voice from the Dead
Maya hung up and walked calmly through the grocery store.
She pretended to compare cereal boxes while Richard remained outside.
Five minutes later, he entered.
“What are you doing all the way over here?” he asked.
“Craving oranges.”
Richard glanced toward the prepaid phone counter.
“You could have asked the housekeeper.”
“I wanted air.”
He smiled.
“You know Trent worries when you disappear.”
The words sounded caring.
The warning beneath them did not.
Richard drove her home.
That evening, Trent searched her purse.
Maya watched from the bedroom doorway.
When he found nothing, he accused her of becoming secretive.
“You followed me,” she said.
“My father happened to see you.”
“Three miles from his office?”
Trent stepped close enough that she could smell whiskey on his breath.
“You’re carrying my child. I need to know where you are.”
“Our child.”
His jaw tightened.
Then Celeste called from the hallway, and Trent walked away.
At 2:13 the following morning, Maya’s bedside lamp blinked seven times.
Her father had installed the smart lighting system years earlier.
Seven had been Alex’s lucky number.
Maya entered the guest bathroom and locked the door.
Her phone displayed a secure message from an unknown account.
OPEN THE VENT ABOVE THE SINK.
Inside the vent was a small black device.
An emergency phone.
Alex called immediately.
He told Maya he had been working with federal investigators before he disappeared.
Carter Sentinel’s government contracts had been targeted through fake vendors and inflated invoices.
Thomas had helped him gather evidence.
Then someone inside the investigation leaked Alex’s identity.
Alex had been moved into protection while the case was rebuilt.
“Trent and his parents are involved,” Alex said.
Maya closed her eyes.
“How deeply?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“My father knew?”
“Yes.”
“And you left me with them?”
“I thought Trent was being watched. I didn’t know he had isolated you until last week.”
Alex told her to leave immediately.
Maya agreed.
He sent instructions for a safe extraction the following morning.
Before ending the call, he activated an emergency application on the phone.
“One press sends me your location and records everything around you.”
A shadow passed beneath the bathroom door.
Then Trent’s voice came from the hallway.
May you like
“Who are you talking to, Maya?”
👉 Maya had less than ten seconds to hide the phone before Trent forced the bathroom door open.
