Chapter 9 - The Empty Cell
Three days later, the news stations were saturated with headlines: Sterling Family Empire Collapses Amid Shocking Human Experimentation Charges.
The matriarch, Arthur, and half a dozen estate associates were being held without bail in a high-security federal penitentiary pending trial. Julian was discharged from the hospital, his color slowly returning as we packed our bags in a sterile, temporary apartment far away from the ancestral home.
We thought it was over. We thought the nightmare had finally been put to rest behind iron bars and concrete walls.
It was late evening when my phone buzzed on the kitchen counter. An unknown number.
I picked it up, expecting a call from Detective Miller regarding the final court dates. Instead, the line was silent for a long moment, save for the faint, rhythmic clicking of an old wooden cane against a hard floor.
"Did you really think wood and steel could cage a legacy, child?" a raspy, familiar voice whispered softly into the receiver.
May you like
My breath caught in my throat. I dropped the phone, the clatter echoing loudly across the empty kitchen floor.
On the screen, a text message popped up from an unlisted sender. It was a single photo taken from outside our apartment window: Julian sleeping soundly in our bed, completely unaware.
