The Call From a Dead Man
Chapter 01 - The Call From a Dead Man
Maya Collins had not entered Sterling House since the night her husband vanished.
Six months earlier, Adrian Sterling’s yacht had exploded off the coast of Maine. The Coast Guard recovered pieces of the vessel, a scorched watch, and enough blood to convince the court that no one could have survived. There was no body, but the Sterling family held a memorial anyway. Maya stood beside an empty coffin with one hand over the new life growing inside her and listened while people praised a man they had spent years trying to control.
Now, eight months pregnant, she returned to the mansion because the family attorney had summoned her for an emergency trust meeting. The marble foyer looked exactly as she remembered: twin staircases, a crystal chandelier, and portraits of generations who seemed to watch every outsider with suspicion.
Bianca Sterling waited at the foot of the stairs in a fitted burgundy dress. She was Adrian’s half sister, the company’s public-relations director, and the person who had made it clear that Maya would never be accepted.
“You should not have come,” Bianca said.
“You sent the notice.”
“I sent a legal notice, not an invitation to play grieving widow.”
Maya held her belly as the baby shifted. “Adrian’s child has rights under the trust.”
Bianca’s expression hardened. “Only if the child is his.”
She produced a laboratory report claiming Adrian could not be the father. Maya recognized the clinic’s logo but not the doctor’s signature. Her own medical records had been sealed, yet the report listed private details from her pregnancy.
“This is forged,” Maya said.
Bianca stepped closer. “Sign away your claim, leave tonight, and I will make sure you are comfortable.”
Maya backed toward the staircase. “Who gave you my records?”
Bianca did not answer. Instead, she whispered, “You have no idea what this family does to people who threaten it.”
A phone began ringing on the polished floor behind Maya. It had slipped from her purse. The sound startled her. She turned too quickly, missed the edge of the first step, and fell.
Pain flashed through her shoulder and cheek. She landed hard on the marble, tasting blood. Above her, Bianca stood frozen. Then Eleanor Sterling, Adrian’s mother, appeared at the top of the stairs in a dark teal suit.
The phone kept ringing.
Maya reached for it with trembling fingers. The caller ID made the room tilt more violently than the fall.
ADRIAN.
May you like
She answered.
For three seconds, there was only static. Then the voice of her dead husband said, “Maya, listen carefully. The man who tried to kill me is inside that house.”
