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Five years later I was crossing the street in front of my office when my cell phone rang.

  "Leah speaking."

  "Your behavior was despicable, Leah. My sons aren't an old rag that you throw away. You really let me down."

  My heart jumped like crazy in my chest. The fear I always had whenever I looked at the kids was materialized in the male voice from my memories.

  "Who are you? What do you want?"

  "You. I want you and my boys. I wanna see them tonight. Go fetch them. If I go, your brother and your sister-in-law won't like the visitor."

  The call was ended. I was shaking like a drug addict in abstinence. The shrieking of the cars' horns made me finish crossing the street in a jump. My mind was an enormous whirlwind of emotions and disconnected memories. I passed by the building's doorman and by my secretary on fast feet. She talked to my back while I was getting into my office.

  "The plants for the Clints' house were approved. We can start to build it up."

  I stared into her face. The ordinary words of my daily life seemed a weird dream as if she were talking in a tunnel. I managed to nod. "I need some time alone."

  I got into my office and closed the door. My chair received my body without a single squeak.

  My office was a tribute to my professional success. My small construction company was recognized. I had managed to put myself back on my feet and take my life up. Building up big houses for rich people was highly profitable. My name was already known worldwide for visionary buildings whose main focus was the environment protection. Living in nature but never causing harm to the ecosystems. People came to me for that.

  I had already left behind the therapy years ago. The psychiatrist had been blunt telling me that my memories would come to me in their own time when my brain felt strong enough to let me remember the things it had kept hidden. It could take long maybe never happen.

  Thus, I was back to the living and all the foggy and mixed up memories had been carefully thrown to that moment in my past that I had decided to forget.

  My strange story was never known to my clients. Everyone believed I had agreed with becoming the friendly bearer for my brother and his wife. The viable option to provide them with the kids they wanted in order to make their family complete. The boys were a live copy of me and that alone was enough to reassure everyone of the love bonds between us. However, I would never spend time alone with the children. They could spook me yet, but much less after so many therapy sessions.

  And now, five years after the dramatic moments, I was approached by the threatening voice from my past.

  Sitting in my office, I rested my forehead on the cold glass. I don't know how long I stayed there. The telephone brought me back from my despair. It was Marcus.

  "Leah! What the hell is going on? Ana has just called me to tell me a man has called her, said he's the boys' father. He also told her you are going to live together and he would take the boys.”

  I moaned my fear and uneasiness. "I know it. He's called me too. According to his words, I let him down when I gave you the kids. I don't know who he is but he's threatened you and Ana.

  "I'm calling the police.

  "Marcus, hear me, please. I don't know who he is. Are we calling the police because of a voice on the phone? The boys are my kids and they can be his too. I don't know. If it comes out, I'll lose my life. The same very life you saw me building back with so much suffering. Not only that, but you can also lose yours. We know nothing about the man. He's threatened you. I recognized his voice. He's the one I ran away from, my brother."

  I was sobbing already. Marcus sighed irritated, unable to take a hold of his emotions under the threat to his family. "How could I let you go and the boys too? How could I, if this stranger is threatening us, Leah? What kind of man do you think I am, sis?"

  I made an effort to control myself. I knew I had to calm by brother down. That was my problem to solve. "I'm waiting for his call. I'm explaining everything about my amnesia. It seems this is the real cause for this entire situation."

  "You are a guilt-freak, Leah. You tend to take up the blame for everything. You have just said he's the man you ran away from. If that's the case, he's responsible for the amnesia. You owe him no explanation at all." Marcus breathed deep before going on. "If this guy wants you and the boys so much, why did it take him more than five years to get to you? How come he left you unconscious, pregnant, alone? What kind of man does something like that, sis?"

  I had no answer for Marcus's questions. All of them sounded right, logical just as my brother had always been. “I don't know. I'm gonna wait for his call. I'll call you just after."

  I hung off and got up, walking to the coffee machine I always kept ready in my office.

  Chapter Four