Chapter 15 - The Vanishing of Sarah
We tied James to the heavy support beam in the basement, ignoring his desperate pleas and warnings that Victoria would never let any of us leave the dry docks alive.
We gathered the three boys, woke them quietly, and ushered them into the secret cellar compartment under the garage—a reinforced shelter James had ironically built years ago during his paranoid phase.
"Stay here, no matter what you hear," I kissed my eldest son’s forehead, pressing a master key into his hand. "If we aren't back by sunrise, call the federal marshal number written on this paper."
I walked back to the kitchen to gather Hope’s diaper bag and supplies, but when I turned toward the hallway, Sarah was gone.
The front door was wide open, swinging gently in the cold night wind. Resting on the kitchen counter was a hand-written note from Sarah alongside her laptop:
May you like
“Eleanor, if you come with me, she will kill us both. Hope needs a mother, not two martyrs. I am going to the dry docks alone to trap Victoria using Marcus’s old black-market ledger. Take Hope, take the boys, and use the drive hidden inside this laptop to clear our names forever. I love you.”
My heart shattered. She was walking straight into a death trap to save us.
