Chapter 8 - The Diary
They reached Sophie’s apartment too late.
Drawers overturned.
Mattress cut open.
Closet emptied.
But the thieves had missed one thing.
A recipe book.
Grace had hated cooking.
That alone made Sophie suspicious.
Inside the spine was a thin diary.
Grace’s handwriting filled every page.
Sophie sat on the floor and read.
March 7.
Charles believes Victor is stealing through Harrington.
March 19.
Thomas says Marcus altered the audit.
April 2.
Celeste is frightened.
April 14.
Eleanor wants us to leave Chicago.
May 1.
Thomas says there is a second operation.
Not theft.
Something involving foundation property.
Sophie turned pages faster.
Then:
May 6.
If I disappear, Sophie must never know until she is old enough to survive the truth.
Adrian sat beside her.
The final pages were written after Charles died.
Victor thinks Thomas died with the evidence.
He is wrong.
Thomas hid it before the fire.
Only three people knew the location.
Charles.
Thomas.
Me.
Charles is dead.
Thomas is dead.
That leaves me.
Sophie swallowed.
Next entry:
Eleanor has offered enough money for Sophie and me to disappear.
I hate taking it.
But I hate the thought of Sophie growing up without a mother more.
Then the entry that changed everything:
I don’t believe Victor acted alone.
Someone inside Blackwood Manor helped him after Charles died.
Someone who still has access.
Someone Charles trusted.
Adrian looked up.
“Who?”
The next page had been torn out.
Sophie slammed the diary shut.
“Of course.”
Adrian stood.
“Someone took it.”
“Years ago?”
“Maybe.”
Sophie examined the binding.
The torn edge looked old.
Then she noticed faint pressure marks on the next page.
Writing indentation.
Adrian found a pencil.
Sophie lightly shaded the paper.
Letters appeared.
M.
A.
S.
O.
N.
Adrian stared.
“Mason.”
Sophie frowned.
“Who is Mason?”
Adrian’s face had gone white.
“My head of security.”
Sophie slowly stood.
“The man controlling every camera in this house?”
“Yes.”
“The man who told us Marcus disappeared?”
“Yes.”
“The man who was standing ten feet away when the power failed?”
Adrian reached for his phone.
No signal.
The library doors slammed shut.
The lock clicked.
Sophie turned.
Smoke began slipping beneath the door.
Adrian ran toward it.
“Mason!”
No answer.
The fire alarm remained silent.
Sophie stared at the spreading smoke.
“He disabled it.”
Adrian grabbed a chair and smashed the library window.
Cold air poured inside.
They climbed out onto the lower roof.
Below them, security guards gathered.
Mason stood among them.
Looking up.
Pretending to be shocked.
Adrian climbed down first.
When Mason approached, Adrian punched him once.
Mason fell.
“Mr. Blackwood!”
“You locked us inside.”
“That’s insane.”
Sophie held up the diary.
Mason’s face changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
Adrian saw it.
“Search him.”
Two guards moved forward.
Mason ran.
He reached the driveway.
A black SUV accelerated toward the gate.
Adrian shouted.
But Mason escaped.
Minutes later, they searched his office.
Inside a hidden drawer they found photographs of Sophie.
Her apartment.
Her workplace.
Her mother’s grave.
And one recent photograph that made Sophie’s skin turn cold.
It showed Bianca entering the hotel café.
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On the back:
IF SHE TALKS, USE PLAN B.
