CHAPTER 2 — THE WOMAN IN BLACK Police searched the judge's mansion before sunset. Inside Sophia's bedroom, detectives found something strange. A half-finished cup of herbal tea. Laboratory tests revealed powerful sedatives mixed inside. Enough to slow breathing until it became almost impossible to detect. Not enough to take a life. Just enough to fool someone into believing it had ended. The judge couldn't understand. "Why would someone do this?" Then investigators found another clue. The family's longtime housekeeper finally spoke after years of silence. "The night before Miss Sophia collapsed... I heard Mrs. Eleanor arguing with someone on the phone." Detectives recovered deleted security footage from the home's backup server. The video showed Eleanor entering Sophia's room carrying the same teacup. Minutes later... She walked out alone. When confronted, Eleanor smiled calmly. "You have no proof." But Detective Harris placed another document on the table. A life insurance policy. Forty million dollars. Recently updated. Sophia's name. Eleanor listed as the sole beneficiary if both father and daughter passed away together during an overseas business trip scheduled the following month. The room became silent. The judge slowly looked at the woman he had trusted. "Why?" Her mask finally broke. "Because everything was always hers!" "The house." "The fortune." "Your love." "I spent ten years living in another woman's shadow!" She laughed bitterly. "I only wanted one chance to start over." She was arrested before sunrise. But the judge wasn't celebrating. He sat quietly outside the intensive care room, praying his daughter would wake up. And Ethan... The forgotten little boy... Waited alone in the hospital hallway.

2 chapters