Chapter 8 - Trust in the Mud
The blinding beam of the flashlight illuminated Maya’s shivering, rain-drenched face as she scrambled backward, her hands scraping against the rough stone wall.
"Stay back!" Maya shouted, her voice cracking. "I know who you are! I know about the foundation, and I know about the will!"
David stopped instantly, holding up both hands to show they were empty. He slowly lowered the flashlight, pointing it at the muddy ground so it wouldn't blind her.
"If you know about the will, then you know your mother trusted me," David said calmly, his breath pluming in the freezing air. "Look at me, Maya. Do I look like one of Julian’s thugs?"
Maya squinted through the rain, studying the man. He had deep lines around his eyes, silver-streaked dark hair, and a scar cutting through his left eyebrow—features that bore a striking, undeniable resemblance to her own reflection. The realization hit her with the force of a tidal wave. This was him. The biological father her mother had written about.
"You're... you're him," Maya whispered, her defenses crumbling as a sob finally broke through her control.
David didn't hesitate anymore. He closed the distance between them, ignoring the mud, and knelt down in front of her, pulling his heavy trench coat off and wrapping it around her shaking shoulders.
"I'm so sorry I wasn't there to stop them, Maya," David murmured, his voice thick with emotion. "Your mother and I tried to gather enough proof to put Julian away for good before we made our move, but we ran out of time."
Maya clutched the cream-colored envelope like a lifeline. "He thinks I'm helpless. He and Clara think they've won."
"They haven't won anything yet," David said, his jaw tightening as he pulled a small, waterproof case from his inner pocket. "Because they don't know that your mother transferred the primary offshore accounts to a secondary trust this morning. And we have the flash drive."
Maya blinked, pulling the luxury handbag closer. "The flash drive? It's inside the bag."
David’s expression suddenly shifted from reassurance to absolute horror as a sudden beam of light blinded them both from the tree line behind them.
May you like
"Well, well, well," a smooth, chilling voice rang out from the darkness. "A family reunion in the mud."
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