Maya's POV
I stood at the corner of Main and Oak at precisely 2 PM, my breath making white clouds in the frozen air.
No one was there.
I waited five minutes. Ten. Fifteen.
Maybe Vale had changed his mind. Maybe this really was a trap, and I'd been smart not to
A black car pulled up to the curb. The back window rolled down. "Get in, Maya." It was the same cold voice on the phone. "I'd rather talk out here," I said, trying to sound brave. "Get in, or I make a phone call, and your sister has a very bad day."
My blood turned to ice. I got in the car.
The man sitting across from me was older than I thought, maybe forty-five, with gray hair and a face that looked like it had been carved from stone. He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Marcus Vale," he said, extending his hand.
I didn't shake it.
He pulled his hand back, unbothered. "Smart girl. Don't trust strangers. That's good sense." He pressed a button, and the car started moving. "We're just going to take a little ride while we chat." "Where are we going?" "Nowhere in particular. I find that people are more honest when they're moving. Harder to run away." He pulled out a tablet and swiped through something. "Your father owes me one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Due in thirteen days. I suppose that's why you're here." "I want to work out a payment plan. I'll get a second job. I'll" Stop." He held up a hand. "Let me tell you how this works. Your father didn't just take money from me. He borrowed money from people I borrowed from. Dangerous people. The kind who don't accept payment plans." "Then what do they accept?" "Payment in full. Or collateral." He turned the tablet toward me. It showed a contract with my name on it. And Lily's. "Your father was very specific about what he could offer if he couldn't pay."
I felt sick. "You can't actually do that, that's illegal. You can't sell people." "You'd be shocked at what's legal when you have the right lawyers." Vale swiped to another page. "But I'm not interested in selling you, Maya. I'm interested in a different arrangement." "Blackwell's offer." "Ah, so you know about that." He looked happy. "Good. That saves time. Yes, Ezra Blackwell has agreed to pay your father's debt in exchange for your job. One year of your life. It's actually quite generous." "Why does he want me?" "That's between you and him. My job is simply to assist." Vale leaned forward. "But I need to make something very clear. If you refuse this deal, if you run, if you cause any problems, your sister pays the price. Do we understand each other?" "You're threatening a college student who's done nothing wrong!" "I'm protecting my wealth. Your father used his girls as collateral. That makes you both assets until the debt is settled." His voice turned cold as winter. "Assets that I will collect on if necessary."
The car turned onto a road I didn't recognize. We were leaving town, going toward the mountain. "Where are we going?" I asked again, fear rising in my throat. "I told you. Nowhere in particular." But Vale was smiling now. "Actually, that's not totally true. We're going to Frost Manor. Mr. Blackwell asked that I deliver you personally." "What? No! I didn't agree to anything!" "You got in the car, Maya. That was agreement enough." Vale pressed another button, and the doors locked with a click. "Don't worry. You're not a prisoner. You're an employee. There's a difference." "Let me out right now or I'll" "You'll what? Scream? Break a window? Jump from a moving vehicle?" He shook his head. "You're better than that. Besides, don't you want answers? Don't you want to know why Ezra Blackwell specifically asked for you?"
I did. I hated that I did, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. Why me? How did he even know I existed? "He's been watching you for two months," Vale said, like he could read my mind. "Following you. Learning your habits. He showed me pictures of you leaving the shop, buying groceries, and visiting your mother's grave. He knows everything about you, Maya." "That's crazy. Why would he do that?" "That's the question, isn't it?" Vale's smile broadened. "Maybe he'll tell you. Maybe he won't. But you're about to find out."
The car went higher up the mountain. The trees got larger, blocking out the winter sun. I tried the door handle even though I knew it was locked. "Don't try," Vale said. "The child locks are on. You're not getting out until I say so." "You're taking me." "I'm escorting you to your new place of work. Very different things legally." He pulled out his phone. "Your father knows you're coming, by the way. I called him this morning. He seemed relieved." "Of course, he was relieved," I said coldly. "He gets to walk away free while I pay for his mistakes." "Family is complicated." Vale put his phone away. "For what it's worth, I don't enjoy this part of my job. You seem like a good person. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong father." "If you don't enjoy it, then let me go." "Can't do that. I have bosses, too. People scarier than me, if you can imagine that." He looked out the window. "We're almost there."
Through the trees, I could see it. Frost Manor. Even bigger and more imposing than it looked in pictures. All glass and stone and sharp edges, like something from a movie. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Vale said. "Blackwell built it ten years ago. Right after his brother allegedly died. Some people say he built it as a monument. Others say he built it as a fortress." He looked at me. "What do you think you'll find inside, Maya?" "I don't know." "Neither do I. And that's what makes this interesting." The car pulled up to the gate. It swung open mechanically. "Last chance to ask questions before I hand you over."
My mind raced. There were a thousand things I wanted to ask, but one rose above all the others. "Why did you help Blackwell? You could have just collected the bill some other way. Why arrange this?"
Vale's smile faded. For the first time, he looked almost serious. "Because three months ago, Blackwell saved my daughter's life. She was taken by people I'd done business with. Bad people. Blackwell found her and brought her home safe. He didn't ask for money. Didn't ask for anything. Just said that someday, he might need a favor." "And the gift was me." "The gift was you." The car stopped in front of the manor's door. The doors opened. "He called it in two weeks ago. Said he needed Robert Chen's daughter given to him. Said it was important. I don't know why, and I didn't ask. When Ezra Blackwell asks for something, you don't ask questions. You just deliver."
The car door opened from the outside. A woman stood there, the same one from the previous night. Mrs. Winters. "Welcome, Miss Chen," she said kindly. "Mr. Blackwell is waiting for you."
I looked at Vale. "What if I refuse? What if I get back in this car and tell you to drive me home?" "Then your sister gets a visit from some very nasty people. And your father's debt becomes very complex." Vale's face was unreadable. "You're not a prisoner, Maya. You can leave anytime you want. But the effects of leaving will follow you for the rest of your life."
Mrs. Winters offered her hand to help me out. "Please, dear. It's cold. Let's get you inside."
I had no choice. I'd had no choice from the moment Dad signed that deal.
I got out of the car and followed Mrs. Winters toward the house. Behind me, I heard Vale's car driving away, leaving me alone on the mountain with strangers.
The front door opened before we reached it.
A man stepped out. Tall, dark hair, gray eyes. Ezra Blackwell. The same one who'd sent me the message yesterday.
He looked at me for a long moment, his face unreadable. "Maya Chen," he said quietly. "I've waited a long time to meet you."
"Why?" The word came out sharper than I meant. "Why me? Why all of this?"
Ezra looked at Mrs. Winters, who quickly disappeared inside. Then he stepped closer, studying my face like he was looking for something. "Because you have something I need," he said. "Something I've been looking for since the night my brother died." "I don't understand." "You will." He turned and walked toward the door. "Come inside. We have a lot to talk about. And not much time." "Time for what?"
Ezra stopped at the threshold, his back to me. "In three days, someone is coming to Pinewood Falls. Someone who's been hunting my family for ten years. Someone who will kill anyone related to the Blackwell name." He looked back at me over his shoulder. "Including you, Maya. Whether you know why or not."
My heart stopped. "What are you talking about? I'm not connected to" Yes, you are." His voice was soft but certain. "You're linked in ways you can't imagine. And that link is the only thing that might save us both."
He walked inside, leaving the door open.
I stood frozen on the steps, my mind reeling. Was someone coming to kill me? Was someone hunting the Blackwell family?
None of this made sense. I was just a shop clerk. Just a girl with a gaming addict father and too many bills to pay.
But as I stepped through that doorway into Frost Manor, as the door closed behind me with a heavy thud, I realized something frightening.
Ezra Blackwell knew something about me that I didn't know about myself.
And whatever it was, it was worth one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
It was worth following me for months.
It was worth bringing me to this isolated house in the middle of winter.
Mrs. Winters arrived with a tray of tea. "This way, dear. Mr. Blackwell is waiting in his study."
I followed her down a long hallway lined with photos. Black and white images of people I didn't know. Places I'd never been. But as we passed one particular picture, I stopped.
It showed two young boys, maybe ten years old, identical twins. They stood on either side of a woman with dark hair and sad eyes.
My breath caught.
The woman looked exactly like my mother. "Mrs. Winters?" My voice came out as a whisper. "Who is that woman?"
Mrs. Winters looked at the picture, her expression softening. "That's Sarah. The boys' mother. She vanished when they were very young. No one knows what happened to her." She touched the frame gently. "Mr. Blackwell has been searching for her for nearly twenty years."
The hallway tilted. The floor felt shaky beneath my feet. "What was her full name?" "Sarah Blackwell. Before she married, her original name was Reeves." Mrs. Winters looked at me curiously. "Why do you ask, dear? You look like you've seen a ghost."
I couldn't answer. Couldn't breathe.
Sarah Reeves. My mother's given name.
My mother, who'd apparently died three years ago.
My mother, who Dad said had faked her death once before.
My mother, who had secrets she never shared. "Miss Chen?" Mrs. Winters touched my arm. "Are you alright?"
Before I could answer, a door at the end of the hallway opened.
But it wasn't Ezra who stepped out.
It was someone else. Someone who looked exactly like Ezra but was different somehow. Colder. Harder. More dangerous.
He stared at me with ice-gray eyes, and when he spoke, his voice was nothing like his twin's. "So you're the secret," he said. "The one our mother left behind."
This wasn't Ezra.
This was Elijah.
The brother who was meant to be dead.