Chapter 5 - Six Months in DarknessSarah's story came slowly.
Six months earlier, she had discovered irregularities in the Hawthorne family trust.
Millions of dollars had been moved through secret accounts.
Companies Richard had never heard of were listed as beneficiaries.
Sarah began investigating.
Then she discovered something worse.
The Hawthorne fortune wasn't built entirely on legitimate investments.
Decades earlier, Richard's father had created a private network of shell companies.
Sarah had found documents suggesting someone was still using that network.
She intended to confront Richard.
But before she could, Eleanor arrived at the estate.
That night, Sarah vanished.
Eleanor told everyone Sarah had abandoned her family.
Richard never believed it.
But grief had made him vulnerable.
And Eleanor knew exactly how to manipulate him.
She became the perfect grieving companion.
She slowly isolated him from friends.
Controlled household staff.
Managed family accounts.
And waited.
Sarah had been imprisoned behind the walls of the estate.
She survived by drinking condensation from pipes and eating whatever scraps she could find.
But there was one thing that kept her alive.
Mia.
Sarah remembered her daughter's voice.
Every night, Mia had unknowingly spoken to her through the wall.
And Sarah had whispered back.
“I knew Mommy was there,” Mia told Richard.
“I just didn't know how to get her out.”
Richard hugged his daughter.
Then he realized something terrifying.
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If Mia had been able to hear Sarah…
Someone else could have heard her too.
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