Chapter 5 - Reunion in the Shadows
The extraction point was a secluded farmhouse hours outside the city, a safehouse my unit maintained for emergencies. When the transport vehicle pulled up, I was already at the door.
Maren stepped out, her face gaunt but her eyes burning with a mixture of shock and relief. She had the twins in her arms—two tiny, shivering bundles.
I didn't say a word. I didn't need to. I stepped into the rain and took them from her, guiding her into the warm glow of the kitchen. For a long time, we just sat there, surrounded by the three children who were the reason for our suffering and our salvation.
"How?" Maren whispered, her voice cracking. "How did you find out?"
"I found the safe," I said, holding her hand. Her skin was rough from hard work, a testament to the hell I had forced her into. "I saw the files. I saw the lies. Maren, I am so sorry. I didn't listen. I let them manipulate me, and I left you to suffer because of my own arrogance."
Maren looked at me, and for the first time, the pity in her eyes vanished. She reached out, tracing the line of my jaw with her thumb. "I waited, Rowan. I waited because I knew that if there was any piece of the man I married left, you would eventually find the truth. I just didn't know if we’d survive until you did."
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We spent the night in the shadows, sharing the stories of the last year. She told me how she had been threatened, how they had taken the children, and how she had lived in hiding, working menial jobs to stay off the grid. She hadn't been unfaithful; she had been a target.
"We aren't staying," I said, looking at the sleeping faces of my triplets. "We’re going to dismantle them. Not with money, not with law, but with the truth."
