Chapter 2 - The Family GhostsBy the time my shift ended, the atmosphere inside Callahan Global Holdings had shifted from a normal corporate workplace to a silent war zone.
Ethan had given me the rest of the day off, arranging for a secure private car to take me and Lily back to our modest apartment. But before I left his office, he handed me a heavy, encrypted burner phone.
“Keep this with you at all times,” he had instructed, his tone leaving no room for argument. “My security team is reviewing every financial transaction, every phone record, and every police file associated with Caleb’s disappearance four years ago. We are reopening an investigation that my father spent millions of dollars trying to bury.”
Back at our apartment, as I rocked Lily to sleep in her crib, my mind raced in a frantic blur. For four years, I had believed Caleb was just another careless man who broke a promise and walked away. The thought that he might have been taken—or worse, silenced—sent a shrike of cold terror through my veins.
Late that evening, my phone buzzed. It was an unknown number, but a text message flashed on the screen: “Check the lobby mail slot.”
My heart skipped a beat. Wrapping a shawl tightly around my shoulders, I crept down the dimly lit hallway of our apartment building and checked the metal mailboxes. Wedged inside my box was a plain brown envelope with no return address.
Inside was a single photograph and a handwritten note.
The photograph showed a younger Caleb standing outside a high-end law office in downtown Chicago, arguing with an older, severe-looking man in an expensive gray suit—Ethan and Caleb’s father, Arthur Callahan, who had passed away two years ago.
The note, written in hasty, aggressive handwriting, read: “Caleb didn't leave her. Arthur Callahan paid off the police, forged the abandonment report, and made sure your fiancé ceased to exist the moment he refused to hand over his share of the company trust to his brother. If you dig any deeper, Ethan will destroy you to protect the family name.”
I stared at the paper in horror. Arthur Callahan. The patriarch of the empire.
Before I could process the terrifying implication, my burner phone rang. I snatched it up instantly.
“Elena,” Ethan’s voice came through the speaker, tight and strained. “Did you get it?”
“You... you know?” I breathed.
“My security team intercepted a secure server ping from my late father’s private estate,” Ethan said, his voice dropping into a dangerous, chilling register. “My father didn't just cut Caleb off. He orchestrated his disappearance. And if my father was involved... that means someone inside Callahan Global helped cover it up.”
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“Who?” I asked, my hands trembling.
“My cousin, Julian,” Ethan replied coldly. “He’s the current Chief Operating Officer of Callahan Global. And as of ten minutes ago... he’s locked us out of the corporate archives.”
