Chapter 2 - Ninety-Five PercentThree nights later, Richard entered the attic alone.
The space above Ravenwood Manor was dark and suffocating, filled with old furniture, dust-covered portraits, electrical equipment, and the mechanical system supporting the massive chandelier in the foyer.
Richard closed the attic door behind him.
He wore black gloves.
In his hand was a pair of heavy-duty wire cutters.
He approached the primary suspension cable.
For several seconds, he simply stared at it.
Then he began cutting.
One strand.
Then another.
Then another.
The thick braided steel cable slowly weakened beneath the pressure of the cutters.
Richard stopped when approximately ninety-five percent of the cable had been severed.
He wanted it to survive.
Just long enough.
Long enough for someone to walk down the staircase.
Long enough for gravity to finish what he had started.
He wiped the cutters carefully.
Then he looked through the small attic window toward the foyer below.
Eleanor was sitting in the living room, reading a book about newborn babies.
Richard watched her for several seconds.
There was no tenderness in his expression.
Only calculation.
The divorce papers would be complicated.
The inheritance would be complicated.
The insurance policy would not.
Six months earlier, Richard had quietly purchased a multimillion-dollar life insurance policy on Eleanor.
He had told himself that what he was doing was not murder.
It was survival.
But as he descended the attic stairs, even Richard knew the truth.
May you like
He wasn't trying to survive.
He was trying to own everything.
Related Stories
