Miles away, in a glass-walled office overlooking downtown Chicago, a man glanced at his phone between meetings.
His name was Daniel Reynolds.
A man who had everything.
Money.
Companies.
Hotels.
Investments.
Respect.
But not peace.
Not the kind you feel in your chest.
The kind you can’t buy.
When he read the message…
he frowned.
Read it once.
Then again.
“Wrong number?” he thought.
But something about that “please”…
felt real.
Too real.
He replied:
“Who is this?”
When I saw the response…
I froze.
That wasn’t my aunt’s number.
My fingers hesitated.
But Noah cried louder.
And that decided for me.
“Sorry… I think I got the wrong number.
My name is Emily.
I just needed to buy milk for my baby brother.”
Seconds passed…
like minutes.
Then another message came:
“Where are you?”
I looked at the door.
At Noah.
At the phone.
I didn’t know if it was safe.
But I knew one thing:
my brother was hungry.
So I sent the address.
Thirty minutes later…
a long, sleek black car pulled up in front of our house.
It didn’t belong there.
The engine sounded different.
Smooth… but powerful.
Like the wrong world had entered the right street.
I felt scared.
