Chapter 5
The Keeper of Secrets
The warmth of the cabin felt like a lie. The crackling fire in the stone hearth, the smell of coffee and pine—it was a sanctuary built on a graveyard. Elara stared at Liam, the man who had been her only lifeline, now the keeper of a deadly secret.
“Protect it?” she whispered, her voice raw. “You protect a secret that got a man murdered?”
“It’s not that simple.” Liam ran a hand over his face, the weariness etched deep.
He placed the metal box on his rough-hewn kitchen table.
“My family… we’re not criminals. We’re guardians.
Have been since my great-great-grandfather built Havenwood.
” He tapped the box. “This contains proof of a theft. A theft that funded this entire town over a century ago. The Holt fortune was built on a lie.”
He explained in low, urgent tones. His ancestor, the man in the photograph, had been a surveyor.
He’d orchestrated the theft of a shipment of gold meant for a Union payroll during the Civil War, hiding it and falsifying claims to the land.
Havenwood was built as a watchpost, a place to guard the secret and the remaining, hidden gold.
“The legend of ‘cursed land’ was a story we spread to keep people away,” Liam said, his gaze fixed on the storm outside.
“But over the years, others have heard the rumors. Treasure hunters. Greedy men. Alex Price wasn’t just a writer looking for solitude.
He was an investigative journalist, digging into local legends.
He found the old ledgers. He pieced it together. ”
“And someone killed him for it,” Elara finished, the pieces clicking into a horrifying picture. “Who?”
“I don’t know for sure,” Liam admitted, his frustration evident.
“But they’re organized. They have resources.
They knew he was getting close. They made it look like he just…
walked away.” He looked at her, his eyes full of a pained apology.
“When Roy rented Havenwood to you, I thought it was a mistake. A famous crime writer? It was like waving a red flag. I tried to scare you off. The locked gate… that was me. I was hoping you’d turn around. ”
The admission should have made her angry. Instead, it made the danger feel terrifyingly real. He had tried to protect her in his own, misguided way.
“The lantern I saw in the woods…” she breathed.
“They’re watching the house. They’ve probably been watching it since Alex disappeared.
Waiting to see if he’d left anything behind.
Now they know he did, and that you have it.
” He picked up the metal box. “This is the trigger. The proof Alex had gathered. Land deeds, old letters. With this, the Holt legacy, what’s left of this town… it all crumbles.”
A heavy thud hit the side of the cabin, making them both jump. It was followed by another. Not the wind. Something solid.
Liam was on his feet in an instant, moving to the window and peering through a slit in the heavy curtains. His body went rigid.
“They’re here,” he said, his voice a low growl. He turned from the window, his expression grim. He grabbed a heavy rifle from a rack on the wall and checked the load. “There are at least two of them. They’re surrounding the cabin.”
Elara’s heart seized. “What do we do?”
“We can’t stay here. They’ll smoke us out or burn it down.” His eyes met hers, a fierce, protective light in them that had nothing to do with the family secret. “We have to run. Deeper into the mountains. I know a place.”
Another thud, louder this time, against the front door. The handle rattled.
Liam shoved the metal box into her bag and grabbed her arm. “Back door. Now. And stay close to me.”
He blew out the oil lamp, plunging the cabin into darkness save for the fire’s embers. As he unbolted the back door, a voice, distorted by the wind, called out from the front.
“We just want the box, Holt! Send the woman out, and you can walk away!”
Liam’s answer was to pull Elara out into the blizzard’s fury, into the teeth of the storm and the men who hunted them.
The hilltop holiday was over. Now, it was a fight for survival, and the only thing she knew for certain was that her life was in the hands of a man whose family had built an empire on a lie, and who was now risking everything to keep her alive.