Three screaming toddlers went completely silent the moment they saw me, then reached across a crowded diner and called me Mama in front of the most feared man in the city. Fourteen months earlier, a hospital had told me my triplets were gone, but the three children staring at me had the same dark curls, the same ages, and the same hazel eyes I remembered seeing in my mirror throughout my pregnancy.

The line went completely dead, leaving a suffocating silence in the mountain cabin.

I looked at Damian, my mind racing with absolute terror at Mark's brutal ultimatum.

Denny had been cruel to me, but he did not deserve to die a gruesome death because of my past.

I told Damian I had to go to the docks to save an innocent man.

Damian immediately refused, stating bluntly that I was not leaving this cabin under any circumstances.

He grabbed my shoulders gently but firmly, telling me this was an obvious trap meant to isolate me.

He promised to handle Mark himself, relying on his violent reputation to end the threat tonight.

For the next few hours, I stayed in the bedroom, holding my sleeping toddlers and trying to memorize their beautiful faces.

I finally accepted that I was a mother, and these incredible children needed me alive.

Damian's head of security, a tall man named Silas, came into the room to bring me a plate of food.

Silas had been with Damian for ten years and was the only guard trusted with the safe house location.

I thanked Silas, turning my back to him to grab a blanket for little Max.

Suddenly, a heavy cloth soaked in a terrible chemical smell was clamped violently over my mouth and nose.

I kicked and scratched, trying desperately to scream for Damian, but the drug worked too fast.

My vision blurred, and the last thing I saw was Silas looking down at me with a cold, hollow expression.

When I finally regained consciousness, I was tied to a metal chair in a damp, freezing warehouse.

My head pounded relentlessly, and I struggled to focus my blurry eyes on my surroundings.

I saw Denny tied to a post nearby, completely unharmed but shivering in absolute terror.

Mark stepped out of the shadows, smiling proudly as he twirled a heavy metal wrench in his hand.

I demanded to know where Damian was and how Mark had found the mountain cabin.

Silas stepped out from behind Mark, holding Damian's encrypted satellite phone.

Silas coldly explained that he had locked Damian inside the cabin's underground bunker before smuggling me out.

The loyal guard had been paid a fortune by the rival syndicate to betray his boss.

Mark laughed, leaning down so his face was inches from mine.

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My father bet twenty dollars that I would walk through his front door al...

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He told me I was finally going to learn the real truth about who arranged the sale of my babies.

Mark pointed toward the heavy iron doors at the back of the warehouse, which were slowly swinging open.

Chapter 6 - The Trap