Chapter 6 - The Encrypted Call
The small screen of the satellite phone glowed in the dim light of the chapel, casting an eerie blue reflection across Julian’s tear-stained face. Lily pressed her hands against the altar, her eyes wide with hope and desperate longing.
"Is it... is it really her?" Lily whispered, her voice cracking as she reached out a tentative finger toward the device.
"Answer it, Julian," Cole urged, stepping back to give Officer Miller room to secure the perimeter. "Press the green button. But brace yourself. What you're about to hear changes everything about the last three years of your life."
Julian's thumb hovered over the glowing screen. Every instinct screamed at him to run away from the horror, to pretend this nightmare was just a hallucination brought on by the stress of the wedding. But the memory of Sarah’s smile, and the living, breathing reality of little Lily standing beside him, forced his hand forward. He tapped the button.
The screen flickered, buffering for a agonizing three seconds before the video feed stabilized. The picture was grainy, filmed from a dimly lit room lined with maps and surveillance monitors. But there was no mistaking the face looking back at them.
Sarah sat in a high-backed leather chair, looking older, her dark hair cut short and a faint scar running along her temple. Her eyes welled with immediate tears as she stared straight through the camera lens at her husband and daughter.
"Julian," Sarah’s voice crackled through the tiny speaker, trembling with repressed emotion. "Oh, my God... Julian, thank you for keeping our baby safe."
Julian dropped to his knees in front of the altar, clutching the phone with both hands as if he could physically pull her through the glass. "Sarah... you're alive. You're actually alive. Marcus told me... he told me you were gone."
"Marcus is a monster," Sarah said, her voice hardening with righteous fury. "He didn't just steal my life; he's planning to liquidate the entire family estate tonight and flee the country. You have to stop him, Julian. And Clara... Clara was just a pawn. She risked everything to keep Lily safe from him."
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Before Julian could answer, a loud, metallic screech echoed from the alleyway outside the side exit, followed by the sound of screeching tires and a sickening crash.
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