Chapter 4 - The Unraveling of the Lies
"Get out," Maris spat, her hands trembling as she held Leo close against her side. "Get out of my shop before I call the police."
"Call them," Cassius said coldly, reaching into his inner coat pocket. "Call the chief of police. Call the mayor. Call the FBI. See if any of them can stop me from taking what belongs to me."
He pulled out a thick, faded leather wallet and extracted a single sheet of paper, folded into quarters. It was yellowed at the edges, handled so many times over five years that the seams were nearly split.
He didn't hand it to her. He slammed it flat onto the bakery counter directly in front of her.
"Read it," Cassius commanded softly.
Maris hesitated, her pulse racing. "I don't want to read your legal lies—"
"Read it, Maris!" he barked. "Read the document you ran away from five years ago!"
Maris swallowed hard. Keeping one arm firmly around Leo, she leaned forward and looked at the paper.
It was an official debt transfer agreement and an offshore immunity release, dated five years ago.
At the top was the emblem of the Mercer Syndicate—the most dangerous, ruthless loan-shark cartel in the Midwest.
Below it were two signatures.
One was Cassius Vane's bold, sweeping signature. The other, written in a shaky, frantic scribble, belonged to her brother, Penn.
Maris’s eyes scanned the text, her breath catching in her throat as the words began to register.
...In consideration of the sum of $2.4 million paid in full by Cassius Vane, the Mercer Syndicate hereby releases Penn Sterling from all financial liabilities, gambling encumbrances, and physical retributions...
Maris blinked, her mind scrambling to comprehend. "What... what is this?"
"Your brother," Cassius said, his voice flat, devoid of emotion, "was a gambling addict. He had been stealing from your family’s trust fund for three years before you and I ever met."
"No," Maris shook her head denial. "Penn wouldn't—"
"Penn did!" Cassius snapped. "By the night of that charity dinner, Penn owed two point four million dollars to Victor Mercer. Mercer’s enforcers were planning to break Penn's legs that exact weekend. And when Penn couldn't pay, do you know what he offered them as collateral, Maris?"
Cassius leaned closer, his eyes burning into hers.
"He offered them you," Cassius whispered ruthlessly. "He offered to give Mercer access to your private accounts and your inheritance."
Maris felt the world beneath her feet crumble. The color drained from her face until she looked like paper. "No... Penn loves me. He would never..."
"Penn is a coward!" Cassius growled. "I found out two hours before that dinner. I confronted Penn in the side room. The document on that table was me paying off his entire debt out of my personal account. The hand on the back of his neck? I wasn't threatening him to hurt him, Maris! I had him by the collar because I told him if he ever came near you again, if he ever put your name in the mouth of a criminal again, I would kill him with my bare hands!"
Maris stared at the yellowed paper. Her eyes dragged over the legal stamps, the monetary amounts, the dates.
It was all there. The exact date of the charity dinner. The exact debt release. Cassius hadn't been destroying her brother. He had been buying Penn's freedom and shielding her from a syndicate that would have devoured her whole.
"I paid his debt," Cassius whispered, his voice cracking with a profound, agonizing grief. "I saved your family name. I took the hit so you wouldn't have to know how rotten your brother really was. And you looked at me for four seconds... and decided I was a monster."
Maris dropped her hands from the counter. Her knees buckled. She staggered backward, hitting the wall behind her.
Five years.
Five years of running. Five years of living in fear, hiding in the cold fog of Maine, raising a child in secrecy, believing she was protecting her son from a ruthless villain.
And the villain had been a savior all along.
"Cassius..." she gasped, her throat tight, tears pouring freely down her cheeks. "I... I didn't know... Penn never said..."
"Of course he didn't say!" Cassius yelled. "He was ashamed! He let you run because if you stayed, you would have found out what he did!"
Little Leo, terrified by the loud voices, began to cry softly, clutching Maris’s leg.
The sound of his son’s tears instantly cut through Cassius’s rage. He closed his eyes, taking a deep, shuddering breath, forcing the fire in his chest to cool into icy resolve.
Cassius looked at the weeping boy, then looked up at Maris.
"I spent five years mourning a woman who abandoned me," Cassius said quietly, his voice cold as steel. "I spent five years deprived of my son's first steps, his first words, his first birthdays."
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He stepped back, pulling his leather gloves back onto his hands.
"I am not leaving this town without my son, Maris," Cassius stated, his tone absolute and final. "You have twenty-four hours to tell him who I am. Because tomorrow morning, I am taking both of you back to Chicago."
