Hello?"
There was no greeting from the other side.
A man's voice came through, calm and unfamiliar.
"We have your daughter."
The call ended.
Dayo stared at his phone.
For a few seconds, his mind refused to accept what he had just heard. The words were simple, but they seemed to keep repeating inside his head until they stopped sounding real.
His vision blurred.
A sudden wave of dizziness hit him, and he reached for the edge of the desk to steady himself. His other hand went to the side of his head as he tried to make sense of the last few minutes.
Jennifer.
The empty crib came back to him.
The small blanket.
The toy on the floor.
The security guard lying unconscious on the camera footage.
The men entering the house.
Then the phone call.
"We have your daughter."
"Fuck!"
The word came out louder than he intended.
Dayo pushed away from the desk and started calling the number back.
The call failed.
He tried again.
Nothing.
A third attempt produced the same result.
