Chapter 86: A Forgotten Connection

The fire crackled softly, casting flickering shadows on the wooden walls of the cabin. My pulse raced as the gravity of Dominic’s message settled deep in my bones. He was coming, and it wasn’t just about me—it was about Mikey. The walls of safety I thought I’d built around us suddenly felt flimsy, like paper ready to ignite.

I sat down hard on the worn leather armchair by the fire, trying to catch my breath. Dominic Vale. A man my mother had worked tirelessly to erase from her life—and now I had to uncover everything about him. Somewhere in those forgotten threads of the past lay the answer, but it felt like grasping at smoke.

Ava hovered near Mikey, brushing the curls from his forehead. She shot me a glance, her expression unreadable, but I could see the flicker of fear in her eyes. “What does he want with us?”

I closed my eyes, reaching back into the tangled mess of memories—moments with Natalie, the fragments of whispered conversations, and the constant undercurrent of secret