Chapter 5
The ferry ride across the Salty expanse of the Puget Sound was quiet, save for the rhythmic churn of the vessel's diesel engines against the grey waves. Julian kept his sedan parked toward the front of the car deck, choosing to remain inside the vehicle with Clara and Lily rather than standing out on the public viewing platform where maritime cameras could capture their likenesses.
Julian sat in the driver's seat, his hands resting lightly on the steering wheel, his eyes fixed on the horizon through the salt-streaked windshield. Clara sat in the passenger seat, watching the misty shoreline of Orcas Island slowly draw nearer. In the back, Lily was quietly flipping through the pages of her spiral notebook, humming a tuneless melody as she colored in another wolf sketch.
"You've changed," Clara observed quietly, breaking the heavy silence that had filled the cabin for the past hour.
Julian didn't turn his head immediately. He took a measured breath, feeling the cool air from the cracked window. "Thirteen years in a corporate shark tank tends to strip away whatever illusions you have left about family, Clara. I built walls. I became the exact image of the man who drove my brother away."
"Yet here you are, risking your entire empire for a niece you met twenty-four hours ago," she noted, a faint, melancholic smile touching her lips.
"She’s a Vause," Julian replied simply, though his tone carried none of the corporate coldness he had used in the city. It was a statement of raw obligation, of blood and survival. "And more importantly, she’s Luka’s daughter. If I let my father or Marcus touch her, I prove that everything my brother fought against was right."
The ferry bumped against the wooden pylons of the Orcas Island slip with a dull thud, breaking their train of thought. Deckhands shouted indistinct commands, and the line of vehicles slowly began to move forward off the boat and onto the winding, tree-lined asphalt of the island roads.
Julian navigated the narrow, mist-shrouded roads with practiced ease, turning onto an unpaved logging trail that wound deep into the dense pine forests. The canopy overhead was so thick it blocked out most of the autumn daylight, casting the forest floor in deep, moody greens and shadows.
After twenty minutes of bumpy driving, the trees parted to reveal a weathered cedar cabin sitting quietly near the edge of a jagged cliff overlooking the crashing Pacific surf below. The paint was peeling, and the porch steps groaned underfoot, but the structure remained as isolated and hidden as it had been decades ago.
Julian parked the car behind a thick cluster of ferns. They stepped out into the crisp, pine-scented air. Clara pulled her trench coat tightly around herself, looking up at the weathered structure.
"This is where he used to hide?" Clara asked, her voice hushed.
May you like
"This is where he planned his exit," Julian corrected, walking up the creaking wooden steps and pulling a heavy iron key from his pocket. He unlocked the rusted padlock, pushing the heavy oak door open with a soft squeak. "If Luka left any breadcrumbs behind before he vanished, they'll be buried inside this cabin."
***
