Chapter 4 - The Diary No One Was Meant to ReadNo one spoke.
Not Richard.
Not Eleanor.
Not the attorneys standing around the conference table.
Every eye remained fixed on the worn leather journal resting inside the evidence box.
The cover was faded.
Water-stained.
Its corners had been burned slightly, as though someone had once tried to destroy it.
Across the front, written in elegant cursive handwriting, were two words:
Sophia Ashcroft.
Amelia stared at the name.
"I've never heard of her."
Richard looked toward the lead investigator on the video screen.
"Explain."
The investigator adjusted his glasses.
"We searched a concealed room behind the Ashcroft estate's wine cellar."
"A hidden room?"
"Yes."
"We believe it was used to store personal belongings belonging to former daughters-in-law."
Amelia felt a chill crawl up her spine.
"Former..."
She whispered.
"...daughters-in-law?"
The investigator nodded grimly.
"There were seven locked trunks."
"The first six were empty."
"But the seventh..."
He gently lifted the journal.
"...contained this."
Richard carefully opened the diary.
The pages crackled with age.
The first entry was dated almost fifteen years earlier.
He began reading aloud.
"If anyone finds this, it means I failed to escape."
The room fell silent.
"The Ashcroft family doesn't choose wives."
"They choose prisoners."
Amelia covered her mouth.
"No..."
Richard continued.
"Every woman who marries into this family is told the same thing."
"Obey."
"Smile."
"Never tell your parents."
"If you do..."
He stopped.
His jaw tightened.
Eleanor looked at him.
"What?"
Without answering, Richard handed her the diary.
Her hands trembled as she continued reading.
"If you tell anyone..."
"They'll make your family disappear first."
Amelia felt her heartbeat quicken.
"That's why..."
She whispered.
"They threatened you?"
Richard looked at her.
"What do you mean?"
Fresh tears filled her eyes.
"The night before the wedding..."
"I tried to call you."
Eleanor frowned.
"You never did."
"I couldn't."
Amelia's breathing became uneven.
"Victor took my phone."
Richard slowly clenched his fists.
"He said..."
She swallowed hard.
"...if I embarrassed the Ashcroft family..."
"...your shipping company would be investigated."
"...Mom's charity foundation would be destroyed."
"...and innocent employees would lose their jobs because of me."
She looked down.
"I believed him."
Richard's heart broke all over again.
His daughter hadn't stayed silent because she was weak.
She had stayed silent because she believed she was protecting everyone she loved.
The investigator interrupted gently.
"There's more."
Richard looked up.
"What else?"
"We found photographs."
He held one toward the camera.
Every face in the conference room changed.
The woman looked almost identical to Amelia.
Long dark hair.
Warm smile.
Elegant white dress.
Only the date written on the back revealed the truth.
Sophia Ashcroft.
Three weeks after her wedding.
Then came the second photograph.
Gasps filled the room.
The same woman.
Six months later.
Her smile had disappeared.
Bruises covered her face.
The third photograph...
Made Eleanor begin crying.
Sophia sat alone inside what looked like a locked bedroom.
Her wrists were bruised.
Her eyes empty.
Amelia could barely breathe.
"That's..."
She whispered.
"My room."
Richard slowly closed the diary.
His expression became colder with every page.
"How did she die?"
The investigator didn't answer immediately.
Instead...
He removed a sealed medical file from the evidence box.
"Officially..."
He opened the folder.
"...she drowned while sailing alone."
Richard frowned.
"And unofficially?"
The investigator looked directly into the camera.
"There was never a body."
Silence.
"What?"
"The death certificate was issued anyway."
Eleanor stared in disbelief.
"Without a body?"
"Yes."
Richard felt something click into place.
"They declared her dead..."
"...because it was convenient."
The investigator nodded.
"Exactly."
At that moment, another attorney hurried into the yacht's conference room carrying a laptop.
"Mr. Harrington."
Richard turned.
"What is it?"
"We've just decrypted one of the hard drives recovered from the estate."
"What did you find?"
The attorney connected the laptop to the large screen.
A hidden surveillance recording appeared.
The timestamp read:
Eight Years Earlier.
The image was grainy.
Black and white.
But everyone immediately recognized Victor Ashcroft.
Standing beside him...
Was Julian.
Much younger.
Both men faced a frightened woman.
Sophia.
Victor's voice echoed through the speakers.
"You have two choices."
He placed a document on the table.
"Sign everything over..."
"...or disappear."
Sophia shook her head.
"I won't."
Victor smiled.
"Then no one will ever know what happened to you."
The recording suddenly ended.
Nobody in the room moved.
Amelia slowly looked toward Richard.
"Dad..."
His face was unreadable.
Then another notification appeared on the conference room screen.
NEW EVIDENCE RECEIVED
The investigator frowned.
"We weren't expecting anything else."
He opened the encrypted file.
A single photograph filled the screen.
It had been taken less than twenty-four hours earlier.
The room instantly fell silent.
Richard stood up so abruptly that his chair crashed backward onto the floor.
Eleanor covered her mouth.
Amelia stopped breathing.
Because the woman in the photograph...
Was Sophia.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakably alive.
Standing behind the bars of what looked like a small stone room.
At the bottom of the photograph...
May you like
Someone had typed seven chilling words.
She's still alive. Find her before they do.
