Chapter 14 - The Empty BedroomThat night, the estate lost power.
The house became completely dark.
Richard checked the children.
Leo was asleep.
Mia wasn't in her bed.
“Mia?”
Panic exploded through him.
He searched the hallway.
The library.
The kitchen.
The garden.
Then he heard a faint sound beneath the floor.
Scratch.
Richard stopped.
Again.
Scratch. Scratch.
He remembered Mia's warning.
There was something beneath the house.
Officers arrived within minutes.
They lifted the old wooden floorboards.
Beneath them was a narrow staircase.
It descended into darkness.
Richard went first.
At the bottom, they found another hidden room.
Unlike Sarah's prison, this room was clean.
Organized.
And covered with photographs.
The entire Hawthorne family.
Richard.
Sarah.
Leo.
Mia.
Even Eleanor.
Someone had been watching them for years.
On the center table sat a single envelope.
Richard opened it.
Inside was a photograph of Mia.
Taken that very afternoon.
On the back, four words were written:
THE GIRL KNOWS EVERYTHING.
Richard looked at his daughter.
Mia stared back.
Then she whispered:
“Dad…”
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“What?”
“I know where he is.”
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