Chapter 2 - The Woman on the Phone“Callum.”
Sterling’s voice came through the camera speaker.
“Take Bennett upstairs.”
Octavia turned sharply.
“No.”
Callum ignored her.
He moved toward his brother.
Octavia grabbed his arm.
“Stay where you are.”
Sterling’s voice changed.
“Take your hand off my son.”
Octavia released Callum immediately.
He picked Bennett up awkwardly.
At eleven, Callum had carried his brother hundreds of times.
But never while terrified.
Bennett buried his wet face against Callum’s shoulder.
Callum whispered:
“I’ve got you.”
Octavia lifted her phone again.
The call had ended.
Sterling spoke through the camera.
“Who was that?”
Octavia didn’t answer.
“Octavia.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
She looked toward Callum.
“Not in front of them.”
Sterling’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“You slapped my baby.”
Octavia went still.
Callum looked at the camera.
“You saw?”
“No.”
Sterling’s chest tightened.
The livestream had returned too late.
“But I can see his face.”
Octavia said quickly:
“He was throwing food.”
Callum shouted:
“She hit him!”
“Callum—”
“She called him a bastard!”
Octavia’s face hardened.
Sterling closed his eyes for one second.
When he reopened them, the businessman in the Salt Lake City conference room was gone.
Only the father remained.
“Callum, take Bennett into my office.”
“Why?”
“Lock the door.”
Octavia stepped forward.
“You are not turning the children against me.”
Sterling almost laughed.
“You did that yourself.”
Callum carried Bennett away.
Octavia watched them leave.
Then she turned toward the camera.
“You’re making this worse.”
Sterling grabbed his jacket.
“For who?”
“You.”
That stopped him.
“What does that mean?”
Octavia looked toward the kitchen doorway.
As though she feared the children might hear.
“There are papers.”
“What papers?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“You’re taking my children from my house and you can’t tell me why?”
“It isn’t my decision.”
“Whose?”
Octavia said nothing.
Sterling looked at the clock.
His return flight wasn’t until morning.
No.
He was not waiting.
He texted his assistant.
GET THE JET READY NOW.
Then called the Greenwich Police Department from a second phone.
He kept Octavia on camera.
“Do not leave.”
Octavia laughed weakly.
“You think the police are going to arrest me?”
“I think they’re going to make sure my children stay where they are.”
Her expression shifted.
Sterling noticed.
“You don’t think they will.”
Octavia slowly sat down.
“Because someone has paperwork.”
He stopped.
“What paperwork?”
“Sterling…”
“Who?”
She lowered her voice.
“Vivian.”
The name landed like a stone.
Sterling’s late mother-in-law.
Vivian Mercer.
Caroline’s mother.
Sterling stared at the screen.
Vivian had barely spoken to him since Caroline died eleven months earlier.
She blamed him for everything.
For traveling too much.
For letting Caroline drive the night of the accident.
For not protecting her daughter.
And she had never hidden how she felt about Callum.
Not blood.
Not really ours.
Vivian had once said those words when she thought Callum couldn’t hear.
Caroline had heard.
They didn’t speak for three months afterward.
Sterling said:
“Vivian called you.”
Octavia closed her eyes.
That was confirmation.
“What does she want?”
“She believes the boys are unsafe.”
“With me?”
“Yes.”
Sterling laughed once.
“Bennett was just slapped in my kitchen while I’m gone.”
Octavia’s jaw tightened.
“She doesn’t know about that.”
“She will.”
Fear moved across Octavia’s face.
Not fear of the police.
Fear of Vivian.
Sterling noticed.
“What is she threatening you with?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why do you look like that every time I say her name?”
Octavia stood.
“I need to go.”
“No.”
“She’ll come here.”
“Good.”
Octavia stared at the camera.
“No, Sterling.”
For the first time, the cruelty disappeared.
She looked genuinely afraid.
“You don’t want Vivian coming to this house tonight.”
“Why?”
Octavia looked toward the office where the boys were hiding.
Then whispered:
“Because she isn’t coming alone.”
The kitchen doorbell rang.
Octavia flinched.
Sterling stopped breathing.
Callum shouted from down the hallway:
“Dad!”
Sterling moved closer to his phone.
“Do not open that door.”
Octavia didn’t.
The bell rang again.
Then three hard knocks.
A man’s voice called from outside.
“Ms. Bell?”
Octavia’s face collapsed.
Callum whispered from the office:
“Who is it?”
The man outside answered the question.
“Family transport.”
Sterling stared.
Family transport?
Octavia backed away from the door.
Her phone vibrated.
A message.
She read it.
Sterling saw her eyes widen.
“What does it say?”
Octavia looked at the packed bag.
Then at the camera.
“Vivian says if I don’t hand them over…”
May you like
Her voice broke.
“…she’ll tell the police what I did after Caroline died.”
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