Chapter 3: Four Minutes and Twenty-Two Seconds
Sebastian did not move.
His hands were flat on the lobby table.
His eyes were fixed on my phone like he was afraid to look away from it.
The recording kept playing.
His own voice came through the speaker first — from five years ago, calling my name, asking where I was, saying he had been trying to reach me for hours.
His voice was younger then.
Softer.
The way he used to sound before the Carter name hardened everything about him.
Then Olivia's voice cut in.
*She lost them, Sebastian.
The doctors called your mother an hour ago.
There was nothing they could do.
Hannah is resting.
She asked not to be disturbed.*
Sebastian's jaw tightened.
*She asked—*
*She doesn't want to see anyone right now.
Not even you.
She specifically said your name.*
A long silence on the recording.
Then Sebastian's voice again, quieter.
*Are you sure?*
*I was there when your mother took the call.
I'm so sorry.*
The recording continued.
There was a rustling sound.
A door closing.
And then — faint but unmistakable — a newborn's cry.
Three short sounds.
Then silence, as if someone had quickly moved away from the source.
Sebastian stood up from the table.
He walked three steps toward the lobby door, stopped, and turned back.
That sound, he said.
That was—
The day they were born, I said.
The twenty-third of March.
Ethan came first.
Then Sophie.
Then Lucas.
All within forty minutes of each other.
He pressed one hand over his mouth.
She was in the hospital, he said.
Olivia was there.
She was there, I confirmed.
She intercepted your call from the waiting room.
I was two floors above her, recovering from an emergency procedure, calling your number over and over and getting no answer.
Sebastian sat back down.
His elbows went to the table.
His head dropped into his hands.
Why didn't you— He stopped.
He already knew why.
By the time I was discharged, I said, your mother's lawyer had visited me twice.
The paperwork they wanted me to sign included a clause that would have prevented me from ever making a legal claim against the Carter family.
I didn't sign it.
I left.
I took my children and I left.
He looked up.
Where did you go?
My sister's apartment in Evanston.
She had a pull-out sofa and a spare car seat.
That's where we started.
Sebastian stared at me for a long moment.
I want to meet them, he said quietly.
Properly.
Not like tonight.
I know, I said.
His phone lit up on the table between us.
The screen faced up.
We both saw the name before he could turn it over.
Olivia.
He reached for it.
I put my hand over his.
Don't answer it yet, I said.
There's more on the recording.
He went very still.
How much more?
I picked up the phone and moved the slider forward by ninety seconds.
Olivia's voice returned — but this time she wasn't speaking to Sebastian.
She was speaking to someone else.
Her tone had changed entirely.
The softness was gone.
*It worked.
He believes it.
Just make sure Eleanor doesn't say anything different when he gets home.*
A second voice answered.
Male.
Familiar in a way I couldn't immediately place.
*And the girl?*
*She'll leave on her own.
She has no money, no family nearby, nowhere to go.
She's not a problem anymore.*
Sebastian's face went white.
Who is that, he said.
The man's voice.
Who is that?
I let the recording play for three more seconds.
The man said one more thing before the call ended.
*Good.
Then we're done with her.*
I stopped the playback.
Sebastian was gripping the edge of the table.
That's my brother, he said.
That's Daniel.
I didn't answer.
I didn't need to.
He pushed back his chair and stood up.
Hannah—
I'm going to need you to be very careful about what you do next, I said.
Because Olivia still doesn't know I have this.
And neither does Daniel.
And I'd like to keep it that way a little longer.
Sebastian looked at me like he was seeing me for the first time.
What are you planning?
I picked up my phone and dropped it into my bag.
I'm not planning anything, I said.
I've been ready for five years.
There's a difference.
I walked to the elevator.
He didn't follow.
When the doors opened, I stepped inside and turned around.
Sebastian was still standing at the table.
His phone was in his hand.
Olivia's name had stopped flashing.
May you like
He hadn't answered.
The doors closed.
