Chapter 4 - The Midnight Visitor
Before I could process the terrifying implications of what I had just watched, my phone buzzed violently against the wooden tabletop.
I jumped, snatching the device up.
The screen flashed with a caller ID I hadn't expected to see at five in the morning: Dana.
I stared at it as it vibrated, the ringtone cutting through the silent apartment like a knife. I let it ring out until it hit voicemail. Three seconds later, it started again.
I swiped and pressed accept, holding the phone to my ear without saying a word.
“Clara? Where the hell are you?” Dana’s voice rushed through the speaker, breathless and laced with genuine panic—not the performative panic she had used at the hospital, but something sharp and real.
“I’m home,” I said quietly.
“You need to get out of the apartment right now,” Dana hissed, the sound of highway wind rushing in her background. “Pack a bag for you and Leo. Go to a hotel.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Mom found out the USB drive is missing,” Dana said, her voice dropping to a frantic whisper. “She went looking for it in the center console when we got back from the hospital. She knows you took it, Clara. She’s... she’s talking to Arthur.”
Arthur.
My stomach plummeted into an icy abyss.
Arthur Vance was Mom’s lifelong corporate attorney—a ruthless, silver-haired pit bull who had spent forty years burying scandals, intimidating whistleblowers, and rewriting contracts for my father’s old real estate empire before he died. Whenever the family faced a genuine threat, Arthur was the one they called to clean up the mess.
“She knows what’s on that drive,” I said, my voice hardening. “It’s not just a maintenance log, Dana. It’s footage. She drove straight at him.”
There was a long, heavy silence on the line. The only sound was the hum of the car engine on Dana’s end.
“I didn't see the video, Clara,” Dana whispered, her voice cracking slightly. “Mom said it was just a glitch. She said you were trying to ruin her life because you’ve always hated her.”
“Open your eyes, Dana!” I shouted, a sudden rage boiling over. “She tried to run down my seven-year-old son because she was angry! And you helped her cover it up at the scene!”
“I have a family, Clara!” Dana cried out, her composure finally shattering completely. “You don't understand how much power Mom still holds over the trusts, the properties, everything! If she goes down, we all go down with her. Arthur is already drafting legal papers. They’re claiming you took the car without permission, that you’re unstable, and that Leo was injured while in your negligent custody.”
The room seemed to tilt sideways.
“They’re filing for emergency custody?” I whispered.
“They’re coming for him, Clara,” Dana sobbed. “Get out of there. Now.”
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The line went dead with a sharp click.
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