Chapter 6 - Someone Was Outside
Evelyn killed the call.
“Lock your door,” she said.
“It is locked.”
“Lock everything.”
My anger sharpened into fear. “Are my children in danger?”
“I don’t know.”
“That is not an acceptable answer.”
She looked me straight in the eye. “Then yes. Act like they might be.”
I called my attorney, Lena Brooks, and then the building concierge. While Evelyn stood by the window, I checked the hallway camera feed.
A man in a baseball cap stood beside the elevator.
He wasn’t a resident.
He looked directly at my camera.
Then the screen went black.
I ran to the twins’ room.
“Shoes on,” I whispered.
Micah rubbed his eyes. “Why?”
“Game. Quiet game.”
Mila sat up immediately. She had always read my voice faster than her brother.
Evelyn called Luca.
“He knows,” she said the second Luca answered. “Someone’s outside Nia’s unit.”
Luca didn’t ask questions. “Service stairs. Garage level two. My security team is six minutes away.”
“We don’t have six.”
A heavy knock hit the front door.
“Nia Carter?” a male voice called. “Building security.”
The real concierge texted me at the same moment.
DO NOT OPEN. MAN CLAIMING TO BE SECURITY IS NOT STAFF.
My blood turned to ice.
I took Micah’s hand. Evelyn took Mila’s.
We moved toward the laundry room, where a narrow service door connected to the stairwell.
The front lock rattled.
“Mommy?” Micah whispered.
“I’m right here.”
The deadbolt snapped with a violent crack.
We ran.
Halfway down the service stairs, footsteps exploded above us.
Evelyn shoved the children ahead. “Go!”
We reached level three.
Then Mila screamed.
A second man stepped out from the landing below.
May you like
We were trapped between them.
And the man below smiled as if he had been waiting for us.
