Chapter 5 - The Man in the Cabin
The cabin stood at the edge of a frozen lake.
No roads nearby.
No neighbors.
No visible electricity.
Mave stepped out of the SUV and stared at the building.
Her entire body trembled.
Dominic reached for the door.
She stopped him.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“What if he doesn't want to see me?”
Dominic looked at her.
“What if he does?”
Mave laughed nervously.
“I don't know which possibility scares me more.”
They entered.
The cabin was warm.
Someone had been there recently.
A fire still burned.
A plate sat on the table.
Fresh bread.
Coffee.
One chair had been pulled back.
Dominic drew his weapon.
Mave whispered,
“Someone expected us.”
A man's voice came from the hallway.
“I expected her.”
Mave froze.
An older man stepped into the room.
Gray hair.
Scar across his cheek.
Dark eyes.
He looked at Mave for several seconds.
Then whispered,
“Lena.”
Mave's heart slammed.
Nobody had called her that since childhood.
Only her mother.
Only her father.
She stepped forward.
“My name isn't Lena.”
He shook his head.
“It was.”
“You're Adrian.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you come for me?”
Pain crossed his face.
“Because I was told you were dead.”
Mave stopped.
“What?”
“Helena told me.”
Dominic's jaw hardened.
“My mother told you Mave was dead?”
Adrian nodded.
“She showed me a photograph.”
“Fake?”
“Yes.”
Mave looked away.
“She stole my daughter from me.”
Dominic's voice was cold.
“She stole everyone from everyone.”
Adrian walked toward Mave.
“I thought Lucien was your father.”
Mave swallowed.
“He raised me.”
“And he loved you.”
“Yes.”
Adrian's eyes filled.
“I owe him everything.”
Mave didn't know whether to hug him.
Part of her wanted to.
Another part wanted to scream.
“Why did you disappear?”
Adrian sat.
“Because your mother forced me.”
“How?”
“She threatened you.”
He looked at Dominic.
“Helena had people watching Mave. If I came near you, she said she would make you disappear.”
Dominic shook his head.
“My mother couldn't have had that kind of power.”
“She did.”
Adrian looked tired.
“She built alliances quietly. Politicians. bankers. smugglers. judges.”
Mave understood.
“And the ledger?”
Adrian nodded.
“I memorized it.”
Dominic stared.
“You were the ledger.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Adrian smiled bitterly.
“Because Helena could steal paper.”
“But she couldn't steal memory.”
“Exactly.”
Mave sat opposite him.
“What happened to my mother?”
Adrian looked down.
“She didn't die.”
Mave closed her eyes.
“I knew it.”
“She went into hiding.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“She's been alive all this time?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't she find me?”
“She did.”
Mave looked up.
“What?”
Adrian reached into a drawer.
He pulled out dozens of letters.
Every one was addressed to Mave.
Every one had been returned.
All unopened.
Mave's hands shook.
“Who returned them?”
Adrian didn't answer.
Dominic did.
“My mother.”
Silence.
Dominic turned away.
“My entire childhood was built on lies.”
Adrian stood.
“Your father knew some of it.”
Dominic looked at him.
“Did he know Mave existed?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did he allow it?”
“Because he was threatened too.”
“By whom?”
Adrian whispered,
“Helena had proof that Robert had ordered something illegal years before.”
Dominic's face went pale.
“My father?”
“He was young.”
“That doesn't excuse it.”
“No.”
Adrian looked at Mave.
“Your father tried to undo everything.”
“So did Lucien.”
Adrian nodded.
“Lucien saved you.”
Mave wiped her eyes.
“Where is the ledger?”
Adrian smiled.
“I never kept it in one place.”
Dominic frowned.
“Then where?”
Adrian tapped his head.
“I remember every page.”
“You can recreate it?”
“Yes.”
“Then why not destroy the information?”
“Because if I do, people who deserve justice will escape.”
Dominic understood.
“What do you want?”
Adrian looked at Mave.
“I want my daughter to choose whether I deserve a place in her life.”
Mave stood.
“I need time.”
“I know.”
Suddenly, gunfire erupted outside.
The windows shattered.
Dominic pulled Mave to the floor.
Adrian grabbed a rifle.
Three men stormed the cabin.
The attack was fast and chaotic.
Dominic returned fire.
Marco and two guards entered through the back.
Mave crawled beneath the table.
One attacker shouted in French.
Mave translated instinctively.
“He's saying they were ordered to take me alive.”
Dominic looked at her.
“By whom?”
Another gunman answered in Spanish.
“Helena.”
Dominic's face became pure fury.
The attackers fled.
One was captured.
During questioning, he revealed something devastating.
Helena Rossi had been alive all along.
She had been operating under an alias.
And she was now planning to take control of Dominic's entire organization.
But there was more.
She had learned that Mave was Adrian's daughter.
And she wanted the secret back.
Because Mave was the only person who could translate Adrian's memorized ledger into multiple languages.
A living key.
A key Helena needed.
That night, Mave sat outside the cabin.
Dominic joined her.
“You can leave.”
She looked at him.
“Can I?”
“Yes.”
“Would you let me?”
He smiled.
“No.”
Mave laughed despite herself.
“Honest.”
“I promised.”
She looked toward the lake.
“Why are you protecting me?”
Dominic took a long breath.
“I don't know.”
“That isn't convincing.”
He looked at her.
“Then maybe I do know.”
Mave waited.
“You're the first person who has looked at me without being afraid of what I own.”
Her heart skipped.
“I was terrified.”
“You hid it well.”
“I scrub floors.”
“You also walked into a room full of armed men and insulted one of the most dangerous people in Europe.”
Mave smiled.
“He deserved it.”
Dominic laughed.
It was the first real laugh she had heard from him.
And for a few seconds, beneath the cold stars and frozen lake, neither of them remembered the blood, the ledgers, or the danger waiting ahead.
Then Dominic's phone rang.
He listened.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Mave stood.
“What happened?”
May you like
Dominic looked at her.
“They found your mother.”
