Part 2: Her Missing Husband Returned With Armed Riders—But the Giant Knew His Darkest Secret
“Maren! Open this door!”

Her heart nearly stopped.

She recognized that voice immediately.

Caleb, the husband who had disappeared three winters earlier, stood outside with four mounted strangers.

Torin rose slowly from the stool.

“Whatever happens,” he whispered, “don’t let them take the leather pouch inside my coat.”

Maren stared at him.

“What have you brought into my home?”

Before he could answer, Caleb struck the door again.

“That giant is a thief!” he shouted. “He’s carrying something that belongs to me!”

Maren turned toward Torin.

The enormous man carefully removed a battered leather pouch and placed it on the table.

Inside lay several folded documents, a silver wedding ring, and a photograph of a young woman holding a baby.

Maren’s breath caught.

The woman in the photograph was herself.

But she had never seen that picture before.

“Where did you get this?” she whispered.

Torin’s eyes filled with tears.

“Your father gave it to me before he passed,” he answered. “He made me promise I’d find you.”

Maren felt the room spinning.

Her father had supposedly disappeared in the mountains when she was seventeen.

Caleb had been the one who brought home the terrible news.

Outside, the riders began dismounting.

Torin unfolded the largest document.

It was a deed bearing her father’s signature.

According to the papers, Maren owned thousands of acres of valuable mountain land.

And Caleb had spent years trying to claim it.

“He didn’t leave because he stopped loving you,” Torin whispered. “He left because he thought he’d finally gotten everything he needed.”

Maren looked toward the door.

For three years, she had believed she was worthless to the man she married.

Now she understood she had been worth a fortune to him.

Then Torin revealed something even more shocking.

“Your father didn’t disappear, Maren.”

He swallowed hard.

“I know where he is.”

Suddenly, the cottage window shattered.

And Caleb shouted from outside:

“Don’t believe him, Maren! That giant is your brother!”