Chapter 3 - The Call at Two in the Morning
Grant woke to his phone vibrating against the nightstand.
He almost missed it.
The number was Daisy’s.
When he answered, he heard breathing.
Small.
Uneven.
Terrified.
“Daisy?”
“Grandpa?”
Her voice was barely a whisper.
Grant sat up.
“What’s wrong?”
“The lights went out downstairs.”
He looked at the clock.
2:07 a.m.
“Where are your parents?”
A long silence followed.
Then she said, “Florida.”
Grant’s feet hit the floor.
“Who is with you?”
“Mrs. Hall was supposed to come.”
“Is she there?”
“No.”
“Did anyone check on you?”
“No.”
Grant turned on the lamp and reached for his clothes.
“Lock your bedroom door.”
“It doesn’t have a lock.”
“Then push your chair under the handle.”
Daisy started crying.
Not loudly.
That frightened him more.
She sounded exhausted.
“How long have you been alone?”
“Since yesterday morning.”
Grant stopped moving.
He pressed the recording button on the small device he used for legal dictation.
“Daisy, tell me exactly what happened.”
She described the empty house.
The note.
The unanswered messages.
The food on the counter.
She said Toby had told her about the Florida resort but Lauren warned him not to talk about it around her.
She said Ethan had removed her suitcase from the garage two days earlier.
Then she said something Grant would remember for the rest of his life.
“Maybe they wanted a real family picture.”
Grant closed his eyes.
Daisy had been adopted at four.
She knew exactly what she meant.
“Listen to me,” Grant said. “You are not staying there another minute.”
He called a trusted neighbor across the street and kept Daisy on the line until the woman reached the house.
Then he booked the first flight available.
Not to Florida.
To Daisy.
By sunrise, Grant was standing on Ethan’s porch with a leather bag in one hand and fury in his chest.
Mrs. Hall arrived ten minutes later.
Her confusion was immediate.
“What happened?”
Grant showed her the note.
She stared at it.
May you like
“I never agreed to watch Daisy.”
👉 The supposed babysitting arrangement had never existed—and someone had written the note knowing it was false.
