THE PHONE CALL

My phone continued to buzz.

“Aren’t you going to get that?” Siena asked.

I picked up the phone and looked at the screen.

Unknown Caller.

I answered slowly. “Hello?”

Static crackled from the other end before a voice finally spoke, distorted and harsh.

“Sierra Montgomery.”

“This is she,” I said carefully, “and who am I speaking to?”

More static.

“You need not worry about who I am. You were with Nathan Powers last night.”

The voice from the other end didn’t sound curious or uncertain. It sounded like a declaration.

I froze.

“In that café near Mathews Street. You’re probably wondering how I know all this.” The voice paused. “Well, I have my ways. In due time, you’ll know what they are.”

The call ends.

I drop the phone onto the table, my hands still shaking.

“How did they know about the café?” Siena asked.

“I-I don’t know,” I said. “But they know something we don’t.”

Siena frowned. “Whatever it is… it has something to do with Nathan. And by the looks of it, it isn’t good.”

Silence settled between us.

I stared at the phone, like the answers might light up on the screen. Except nothing happened.

Nathan’s face kept replaying in my mind — his smile, the way he looked when the call came.

“I don’t like where this is going,” I said quietly.

Siena nodded once. “Neither do I.”

I hesitated. “What if it’s actually tied to Nathan?”

Siena didn’t answer right away.

That pause said enough.

“We can’t guess,” she said finally. “We need answers.”

I swallowed. “So what now?”

Siena’s eyes flicked to me, steady. “We figure out who he really is.”

My phone lit up on the table.

Unknown number.

A message.