Chapter 5 - The Phone Call That Wasn’t Supposed To Ring
Claire’s fingers shook violently as she reached into her pocket.
The silver revolver dangled loosely in her left hand.
She knew if she raised it, I would end her life before she pulled the hammer back.
She tapped the screen and pressed speaker.
A woman’s cold, aristocratic voice crackled through the phone’s tiny speaker.
"Claire, call it off immediately," the voice commanded without waiting for a greeting.
It wasn't a stranger.
I knew that voice.
I had heard that voice across dinner tables at Sofia’s family gatherings five years ago.
It was Evelyn Vance.
Sofia’s maternal aunt.
The woman who sat in the front row at Sofia’s funeral and held Emma on her lap.
"Aunt Evelyn...?" Claire whispered, her voice cracking.
"Alex’s private jet never took off from Van Nuys airport," Evelyn snapped through the line.
"My contact in civil aviation just flagged the tail number. The plane is sitting empty in the hangar."
"He played you, Claire. He never left the city."
"Get out of that house right now before his security team boxes you in!"
Claire looked up at me, terror finally consuming her beautiful, deceitful features.
"He’s already here, Evelyn," Claire said in a hollow, lifeless tone.
Silence fell over the phone line.
Dead, heavy silence.
Then, Evelyn spoke again, but her voice was no longer frantic.
It turned smooth, icy, and calculating.
"Put Alex on the phone."
I didn't lower my weapon.
I stepped closer until I could smell Claire’s expensive French perfume.
The same perfume she had accused Maria of stealing three days ago.
"I’m listening, Evelyn," I said, my voice dropping an octave into pure gravel.
"Alex," Evelyn sighed through the speaker, as if discussing an inconvenient business contract.
"You were always so stubborn."
"Sofia chose you because you were a protector, but you never understood the scale of the money you were sitting on."
"Eighty-four million dollars doesn't belong to two little orphans who will squander it on art degrees."
"That money belongs to the Vance bloodline."
"You touch a single hair on Claire’s head, and my associates will detonate the offshore accounts."
"Emma and Lily will wake up tomorrow with nothing."
"No trust fund. No estate. No private school. Not a single red cent."
"Try me, Evelyn," I said, thumbing back the hammer on my Sig Sauer.
The sharp metallic click echoed down the marble hallway.
Dr. Vance behind Claire dropped his medical bag.
The glass vials of diazepam shattered against the hardwood, filling the air with a sharp chemical odor.
"Wait! Don't shoot!" Dr. Vance screamed, raising both hands into the air. "I only brought the sedatives because Evelyn threatened my medical license! I didn't want any part of this!"
"Shut up, you coward!" Claire shrieked, spinning toward the doctor.
In that split second of distraction, I lunged forward.
My left hand seized Claire’s wrist, twisting it inward until the silver revolver slipped from her fingers.
It hit the floor with a dull clatter.
I shoved her hard against the wall, pinning her shoulder with my forearm.
"Evelyn," I spoke into the phone lying on the floor.
"You have twenty-four hours to leave this country."
"Because after I deal with what’s inside this house, I’m coming for every asset, every account, and every breath you have left."
Evelyn chuckled softly on the other end.
"You think you’re in control, Alex?" she whispered.
"Check the front gate cameras."
"The police are already rolling up your driveway."
"Claire’s lawyer filed the emergency report twenty minutes ago."
May you like
"They have an arrest warrant for you, Alex."
"For the murder of your first wife, Sofia."
