Chapter 2: The Voice Behind the Walls
Chapter 2: The Voice Behind the Walls
Elias didn't move.
Beneath the bed, every instinct screamed at him to burst into the open.
Instead, he waited.
Grace's breathing grew steadier.
Then came a sound that made his blood run cold.
A phone vibrated on the nightstand.
Grace answered immediately.
"I told you..." she whispered through tears. "Please don't call here."
A distorted electronic voice replied through the speaker.
"You have forty-eight hours."
"I don't have it."
"You do."
Silence.
Then the voice continued.
"Tell your husband to sign the warehouse contracts."
Grace's voice shook.
"He doesn't discuss business with me."
"Then convince him."
"If you refuse..."
A faint recording began to play.
A little girl laughing.
Grace's younger sister, Emma.
Grace gasped.
"No..."
"We know where she teaches."
"We know what time she leaves school."
The recording stopped.
"You'll receive new instructions tomorrow."
The call ended.
Grace buried her face in her hands.
"I'll never help you hurt Elias," she whispered to the empty room.
Only after she left the bedroom did Elias crawl out from beneath the bed.
His face showed no anger.
Only absolute calm.
The kind of calm that frightened even his closest allies.
He picked up the phone.
One call.
"Marcus."
His head of security answered instantly.
"Yes, boss?"
"Lock down every Harrison property."
"No one enters."
"No one leaves."
"And find out who just threatened my family."
Marcus paused only long enough to ask one question.
"Alive?"
Elias looked toward the bedroom door.
"If possible."
May you like
"If not..."
His silence completed the sentence.
