Chapter 4 - The Diary of Shadows
The air grew freezing cold as they descended the narrow stone steps beneath the estate.
Behind a heavy reinforced steel door in the deepest corner of the cellar lay a small, windowless concrete room.
Inside was a thin mattress on the floor, a single bucket, and a dim lightbulb hanging from a wire.
Nathanielâs heart shattered into a thousand jagged pieces.
For three years, while he was flying across Europe and Asia spending millions to track down international leads, his wife was sleeping on concrete forty feet below his own bedroom.
"She told me you forgot about me," Claire whispered softly from the doorway, her tears falling onto her uniform.
"She said you hired her to take my place because I couldn't give you an heir."
Nathaniel walked over to the mattress and dropped to his knees.
Tucked beneath the thin pillow was a small, leather-bound notebook with torn pages.
He picked it up and opened the cover.
Page after page was filled with handwritten dates, written in Claireâs neat script using small pieces of coal.
"Day 412: Nathaniel came home tonight. I heard his shoes on the floor above my ceiling. I screamed until my throat bled, but the acoustic insulation she installed is too thick. He left for London this morning."
"Day 730: Vanessa brought me a newspaper today showing her standing beside Nathaniel at the gala. She said if I try to speak to him, she will tell him I cheated on him three years ago."
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"Day 1,024: She let me clean the ground floor tonight while Nathaniel is in Tokyo. My hands are raw from the bleach. I just want to hear his voice one more time before I die."
Nathaniel squeezed the diary against his chest, let out a gut-wrenching sob, and stood up with murder in his eyes.
