PART 2 — THE SECRET HIDDEN BENEATH HIS WOUND

The tiny metallic click seemed louder than the storm outside.

Luka’s fingers тιԍнтened around the bedframe.

“What is it?” he whispered.

“I don’t know yet. But whatever it is, someone went to considerable trouble to hide it.”

I carefully adjusted the lantern, trying to see beneath the swollen edges of the poorly closed incision. The object was small, perhaps the size of a ʙuттon, but it had an unusual shape.

I didn’t attempt to remove it immediately.

Luka was already dangerously ill, and I wasn’t about to make his condition worse simply because curiosity had gotten the better of me.

“Matei!” I called.

The door opened, and the trapper stepped inside, shaking snow from his shoulders.

“What happened?”

“I need you to bring my medical case from the saddle. And I need clean water.”

Matei hurried outside.

Luka watched me with exhausted eyes.

“You shouldn’t be here when they come.”

“Who?”

“Vlas’s men.”

I paused.

“Why would they come here?”

He tried to sit up but immediately winced.

“Because they know I survived.”

Before I could ask what he meant, a heavy gust struck the cabin. Something rattled against the window.

Then Luka spoke again.

“Three weeks ago, I found a wagon near the northern mine. It was carrying barrels marked with a warning symbol. One had cracked open. The ground beneath it was covered in strange-colored liquid.”

I remembered the stream.

The dark stains beneath the ice.

The metallic smell.

“What happened next?”

“I followed the wagon tracks. They led to a storage building behind the mine. I saw men unloading the barrels after midnight.”

“Did you recognize them?”

“One of them was Petrescu.”

My hands stopped moving.

“Dr. Petrescu?”

Luka nodded.

“He wasn’t there to treat anyone.”

The words made my stomach тιԍнтen.

For two years, I had trusted that doctor with the lives of the people in our valley. He had signed prescriptions, examined sick children, and reᴀssured frightened families.

And now Luka was telling me he had been working with the men responsible for whatever was happening at the mine.

“Why didn’t you tell the authorities?”

“I tried. Vlas controls the patrols. Petrescu controls the clinic. Who would have believed a man living alone in the forest?”

I had no answer.

Because I knew exactly how easily people dismissed someone they didn’t consider respectable.

Luka’s gaze moved toward the object beneath his bandage.

“That thing,” he whispered. “I took it from the mine.”

I leaned closer.

“What is it?”

“Something they didn’t want anyone to find.”

Matei returned with my medical case and a basin of warm water.

While I prepared the supplies, he noticed the strange expression on my face.

“What did Luka tell you?”

“That the mine is connected to the illnesses in the valley.”

Matei looked toward the window.

“Then he knows more than he should.”

“Do you believe him?”

The trapper hesitated.

“My younger brother worked at that mine. He started getting sick last summer. His hands shook, and he could barely walk up the hill. Petrescu said it was exhaustion.”

“What happened to him?”

Matei lowered his head.

“He never came home from his last shift.”

A silence settled over the cabin.

I wanted to ask more, but Luka suddenly groaned.

His temperature had risen again.

I checked his pulse and realized we had little time to waste. His wound needed proper medical attention, and he required treatment beyond what I could safely provide in a remote cabin.

I wrapped the area with clean dressings and made sure he was warm.

Then I looked at Matei.

“We need to get him to a proper hospital.”

Matei gave a humorless laugh.

“The road is buried. Even if we could reach the village, Vlas would have men waiting.”

“Then we’ll find another way.”

Luka reached for my wrist.

“Elena, listen.”

His voice was weak, but his eyes were suddenly alert.

“The object isn’t just evidence. It contains the names.”

“Whose names?”

“The men who ordered everything.”

I looked down at the bandage.

For the first time, I understood why someone had gone to such lengths to keep Luka away from the clinic.

He wasn’t simply a witness.

He was carrying something that could destroy powerful people.

An hour later, the first gunsH๏τ struck the cabin door.

The sound was so sudden that I dropped the cloth in my hand.

Matei immediately moved toward the window.

“Stay away from the glᴀss!” he shouted.

Another sH๏τ followed.

Then a man’s voice came through the storm.

“Open the door, Stoica!”

Matei’s face went pale.

“Vlas.”

Luka tried to rise.

I pressed my palm against his shoulder.

“Don’t move. Your condition is already serious.”

“He’ll take you,” Luka whispered.

“Then he’ll have to explain himself.”

I was frightened.

Of course I was.

But I had spent years watching people in Dorna Vale suffer while the men responsible for their suffering walked through town with polished boots and confident smiles.

I was finished pretending not to notice.

Matei looked at me.

“There are eight riders outside.”

I glanced at the window.

Through the falling snow, I could make out several figures surrounding the cabin. Their horses stood close together, and lanterns illuminated the narrow path leading to the door.

Captain Radu Vlas stepped forward.

His dark uniform was immaculate despite the weather.

“Luka Dragomir!” he called. “You are wanted for stealing government property and attacking a patrolman!”

Luka closed his eyes.

I looked at him.

“Is any of that true?”

“No.”

Vlas continued shouting.

“Bring him outside, Nurse Marin. This doesn’t concern you.”

I moved toward the door.

Matei caught my arm.

“Don’t.”

I stopped.

Then Vlas spoke again.

“If the wounded man dies, we’ll have questions for the nurse who treated him. You understand me?”

My blood ran cold.

He wasn’t threatening Luka anymore.

He was threatening me.

I returned to the bedside.

Luka was struggling to breathe.

“Don’t let them take the metal piece,” he whispered.

“I won’t.”

He looked directly into my eyes.

“There’s something else you need to know.”

I leaned closer.

“Tell me.”

“Petrescu didn’t come to the mine because of the barrels.”

“Then why was he there?”

Luka swallowed.

“He was looking for the original records.”

“What records?”

“The ones showing who owns the mine.”

I stared at him.

He continued.

“Vlas doesn’t own it. Petrescu doesn’t own it. The mine belongs to a company registered in Budapest.”

Budapest.

My hometown.

For a moment, I couldn’t speak.

Luka noticed my expression.

“You know something?”

“No,” I whispered. “But I trained there. I know how those companies register their operations.”

He gripped my wrist again.

“The company has been sending money to people in this valley for years. They want the mine reopened. The barrels are part of something they don’t want inspected.”

Before I could ask another question, the front door shook under a heavy blow.

“LAST WARNING!” Vlas shouted.

Matei moved toward the back of the cabin.

“There used to be an old wood-storage pᴀssage beneath the floor. It leads toward the creek.”

I looked at Luka.

“He can’t walk.”

“I can carry him,” Matei said.

I shook my head.

“Not with that wound. Moving him without stabilizing him could make everything worse.”

Another blow struck the door.

The wooden frame groaned.

I turned toward my medical bag and began gathering what I needed.

“Then we stay here long enough to make sure he survives.”

Matei stared at me.

“Elena, you’re going to get yourself killed.”

“Perhaps. But if I let them take him, all those people in the valley may never learn what happened.”

I looked toward the window.

Vlas was approaching the porch.

Then I noticed something strange.

One of the riders wasn’t wearing a patrol uniform.

He was dressed in a long brown coat, with a leather medical bag hanging from his shoulder.

I recognized the bag.

It belonged to Dr. Iosif Petrescu.

The door suddenly opened.

Not because Matei had unlocked it.

Because someone outside had broken the latch.

Vlas stepped into the cabin with two armed men behind him.

His eyes immediately found Luka.

“Well,” he said, smiling. “The mountain giant is still breathing.”

I moved between him and the bed.

“You cannot take him in this condition.”

Vlas looked me up and down.

“Nurse Marin, I admire your dedication. But you seem to have forgotten who gives the orders around here.”

“I haven’t forgotten anything.”

His smile disappeared.

“Then move.”

“No.”

One of his men stepped forward, but Vlas raised a hand to stop him.

He looked toward the table.

My medical bag was open.

The bandages were stained, the instruments arranged neatly, and the small metal object remained hidden beneath a folded cloth.

Vlas’s gaze lingered there.

“Where is it?”

I pretended not to understand.

“Where is what?”

“The item Dragomir stole.”

Luka slowly opened his eyes.

“Tell your employer he won’t get it back.”

Vlas’s expression hardened.

Then Dr. Petrescu entered behind him.

He removed his gloves and looked at the wounded man with the calm expression of a doctor arriving for an ordinary examination.

“Elena,” he said, “step away from the patient.”

I stared at him.

“You knew about the incision.”

Petrescu didn’t answer.

“You knew someone had opened his wound. You knew what was inside him.”

His eyes narrowed.

“Be careful what you accuse people of.”

I pointed toward Luka’s bandages.

“Four bear wounds. One deliberate incision. You can explain the infection, but you cannot explain why he was taken to the mine instead of the clinic.”

For the first time, Petrescu looked uncomfortable.

Vlas stepped closer.

“Enough.”

He reached toward the folded cloth.

I moved my medical bag out of his reach.

Then Luka spoke.

“Ask him about the names.”

Petrescu froze.

“What names?” I asked.

Luka’s voice was weak but unmistakable.

“The names of the families who were paid to stay silent.”

Vlas turned sharply toward him.

“Shut your mouth.”

But it was too late.

I had seen Petrescu’s reaction.

And so had Matei.

The doctor took a step backward.

“Captain, we should leave.”

Vlas looked at him.

“Not without the evidence.”

Petrescu’s hand moved toward his coat.

For a moment, nobody spoke.

Then a second voice came from the doorway.

“That’s enough, Radu.”

Everyone turned.

An older man stood outside, holding a lantern in one hand and a leather folder in the other.

Behind him were two uniformed officers I had never seen before.

Vlas’s expression changed completely.

“Inspector?”

The newcomer stepped into the cabin.

“I received a telegram from the regional office this morning. It seems someone has been sending reports about illegal activity at the northern mine.”

He placed the folder on the table.

“And I believe we have finally found the witness.”

His eyes settled on Luka.

Then he looked at me.

“Nurse Marin, are you responsible for this man’s treatment?”

“Yes.”

“Then I need you to tell me exactly what you found beneath his bandages.”

Before I could answer, Petrescu suddenly reached for the folder.

One of the officers stopped him.

The leather folder fell open.

Several pH๏τographs slid across the table.

I picked up the first one.

It showed the old mine.

The second showed rows of barrels.

The third showed a list of names and payments.

But the last pH๏τograph made my heart stop.

It showed me.

Standing outside the clinic.

Taken only three days earlier.

On the back, someone had written:

ELENA MARIN — REMOVE BEFORE SHE FINDS THE ORIGINAL LEDGER.

I slowly looked up.

Vlas was no longer smiling.

And Luka, despite his fever and exhaustion, was staring at the pH๏τograph with an expression I couldn’t understand.

“Elena,” he whispered.

I turned toward him.

He swallowed.

“There’s one thing I didn’t tell you.”

“What?”

“The man who put that pH๏τograph in the report…”

He paused, struggling for breath.

“…was your employer.”

Dr. Petrescu lowered his head.

Then the inspector opened the leather folder and removed a final document.

It bore the official seal of the regional authorities.

And beneath the seal was a name I had not heard in twenty years.

The name of my father.

TO BE CONTINUED — PART 3: THE NAME ON THE ORIGINAL LEDGER