Chapter 4 - The Midnight Meal
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The master suite was a fortress of heavy oak doors and soundproof walls. Richard locked the deadbolt behind him and carried Sophie directly into the massive marble bathroom. He ran the warm water, filling the massive tub with lavender bubbles, ignoring his ruined luxury suit as he knelt on the floor to wash the dog food grease from her tiny, shaking hands.
She didn't speak while he bathed her. She just watched him with wide, cautious eyes, as if expecting him to suddenly vanish.
After he wrapped her in a thick, heated towel and helped her into the new pink sweater with the fluffy white clouds, a quiet knock sounded at the bedroom door.
Richard opened it just a crack. One of his loyal security men, Vance, stood in the hallway holding a silver tray with a steaming bowl of chicken soup, heavily buttered bread, and a glass of milk.
"Don't let anyone else on this floor tonight, Vance," Richard ordered softly.
"Understood, boss," Vance nodded, his face grim.
Richard carried the tray to the large velvet armchair in the corner of the room. He set Sophie in his lap and began to feed her. She ate ravenously, her small hands grabbing the bread and tearing into it with a desperate hunger that made Richard's vision blur with unshed tears.
He waited until she was halfway through the soup, her breathing finally slowing to a normal rhythm, before he asked the questions that would build his case.
"Sophie, baby," Richard whispered, stroking her damp hair. "Why did Maria leave?"
Sophie swallowed a bite of bread, her eyes darting nervously toward the locked bedroom door. "Eleanor yelled at her. She told Maria to pack her bags and go away. She said if Maria tried to say goodbye to me, she would call the police."
Richard’s jaw tightened so hard a muscle ticked visibly in his cheek. "And why didn't you ask the chef for food when you got hungry?"
"Eleanor locked the kitchen doors," Sophie explained quietly, tracing a cloud on her new sweater. "She told all the cooking people that I had a bad tummy bug and the doctor said I wasn't allowed to eat anything solid for two days. She said if I cried or asked for food, she would send me away to a boarding school where daddies can't visit."
The sheer, calculated sadism of the isolation took Richard's breath away. Eleanor hadn't just neglected the child; she had systematically cut off every avenue of help, isolating Sophie entirely to assert absolute psychological dominance while Richard was at the office.
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"You are never going to a boarding school," Richard promised fiercely, kissing the top of her head. "And you will never, ever go hungry again. I swear it on my life."
He watched her finish the soup, his mind already spinning a web of absolute destruction.
