CHAPTER 3 — THE MAN WHO CALLED FROM THE DEAD
CHAPTER 3 — THE MAN WHO CALLED FROM THE DEAD
The phone slipped in my trembling hand.
RICHARD REYES.
My father's name glowed across the screen as though the last seven years had never happened.
That was impossible.
I had buried him.
I had stood beside his casket.
I had delivered the eulogy.
I had watched mourners lower him into the ground while my mother clung to my arm, unable to stop crying.
People do not call after their own funerals.
The ringing stopped.
A second later, my phone vibrated again.
The same name.
This time I answered.
"...Hello?"
For several seconds, all I heard was breathing.
Then came a familiar voice.
Older.
Rougher.
But unmistakable.
"Alexander."
Every hair on my body stood upright.
"No..."
I whispered.
"No, this isn't funny."
"I know what you're thinking," the voice replied calmly. "But this isn't a prank."
I staggered backward until my legs hit the couch.
"I buried you."
"No."
A long pause.
"You buried the man everyone wanted you to believe was me."
My mind refused to process the sentence.
"What are you talking about?"
"Read your mother's letter."
"I don't have much time."
The line disconnected.
Silence swallowed the room.
I stared at the phone, waiting for it to ring again.
It didn't.
Instead, my eyes drifted to the letter still resting in my hands.
I unfolded the yellowed pages.
My dearest Alexander,
If you're reading this, someone has finally forced the truth into the light.
The man you believe is your father has been protecting you by staying away.
And the man you trusted all your life... wasn't protecting anyone except himself.
I stopped breathing.
The words blurred before my eyes.
No.
That couldn't be right.
My father had built Reyes Industries.
He coached my baseball games.
He attended every school graduation.
He tucked me into bed.
Didn't he?
Memories rushed through my mind.
But suddenly they felt...
Incomplete.
There were strange gaps.
Business trips that lasted months.
Birthday parties he never attended.
Conversations that ended whenever I entered the room.
My mother's letter continued.
You have spent your life believing one version of our family.
I allowed that lie because I believed it kept you safe.
But secrets become prisons.
One day you'll need to know who loved you enough to disappear.
My pulse raced.
Disappear?
Not die.
Disappear.
Before I could continue reading, movement on the security monitor caught my eye.
The front gate.
A black SUV had stopped outside the property.
Three men climbed out.
None wore uniforms.
None looked familiar.
One carried a leather briefcase.
Another held a folder.
The third simply stared toward my house.
My instincts screamed.
Something was wrong.
Then my doorbell rang.
I opened the front door only halfway.
"Can I help you?"
The oldest man offered a polite smile.
"Mr. Alexander Reyes?"
"Yes."
"I'm Thomas Bennett."
He produced an identification badge.
"We represent the Whitmore Legal Trust."
"I think you've mistaken the address."
"No."
He glanced at the folder.
"We're here because of Margaret Reyes."
My mother's name.
Every muscle in my body tightened.
"My mother died seven years ago."
"We know."
"Then why are you here?"
Thomas looked genuinely confused.
"Because yesterday..."
He hesitated.
"...your mother instructed us to deliver something to you."
The world seemed to tilt beneath my feet.
Yesterday?
"My mother is dead."
"According to public records..."
Thomas replied carefully.
"...yes."
He slowly opened the briefcase.
Inside rested a sealed wooden box.
Across the lid were engraved words that froze me.
FOR MY SON.
ONLY AFTER THE HOUSEKEEPER HAS KEPT HER PROMISE.
My knees nearly buckled.
Lily.
My mother had known.
She had expected Lily to remain in my life.
She had planned this years ago.
Thomas handed me a document.
"We were instructed to release this only after receiving confirmation from Miss Lily Parker."
My voice cracked.
"Confirmation of what?"
"That despite everything..."
"...she never abandoned you."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
Everything in my life had been orchestrated years before.
The test I thought I had invented...
Had actually revealed a plan my mother had already anticipated.
She knew I would stop trusting people.
She knew only one person would stay.
Lily.
The woman I had just humiliated.
I grabbed my car keys.
"Where's Lily?"
Thomas frowned.
"I assumed she was here."
"No."
I was already running.
"I need to find her."
Because for the first time in years...
May you like
I wasn't searching for answers.
I was searching for the person who had quietly protected me while I never even bothered to learn who she truly was.
