The night was so merciless that even the most seasoned drivers preferred to stay parked in the safety of truck stops. Snow fell in thick, blinding sheets, headlights barely piercing the white haze, while the wind howled like a wild beast, lashing shards of ice against the glass. The road itself felt alive, silent, and waiting. Sergey Volkov, a truck driver with twenty years behind the wheel, gripped the steering wheel tighter. His instincts — the very ones that had saved him countless times — screamed that something was wrong.

And then he saw it.

A dark figure by the roadside, half-swallowed by the snowstorm. Too late at night. Too empty. Too dangerous. But Sergey couldn’t pass by.

The Encounter

Slamming the brakes, he leapt from the cab into the freezing chaos. There, curled in the snow, lay a young woman. Her lips were blue, her face pale as death, her clothes far too light for the brutal frost.

“Hey! Can you hear me?” His voice trembled as he touched her shoulder.

A faint groan escaped her lips. Alive.

Without hesitation, Sergey lifted her into his arms and carried her back to the warmth of his truck. He cranked the heater to maximum, wrapped her in a blanket, and pressed a thermos of hot tea to her lips, praying she could manage even a sip.

Her fingers twitched weakly, clutching at life, though her eyes remained closed.

The Name That Changed Everything

Sergey’s gaze fell on her coat. Something glimmered — a wallet. For a moment, he froze. Going through a stranger’s belongings felt wrong. But out here, it might be the only way to save her. He needed her name, a clue, anything.

It was a fine leather wallet. Inside — a few bills, bank cards, documents. And then he saw it.

Maria Lebedeva.

The name hit him like a thunderbolt. His breath caught, the blood in his veins turned to ice.

That surname… Lebedev. The one he had spent ten years trying to erase from memory. The one tied to a man who had ruined his life, who had taken everything from him and forced him into hiding.

And now, sitting in his truck, was that man’s daughter.

Coincidence — or a Trap?

Sergey’s hands clenched on the wheel. Could this truly be a coincidence? A girl in the snow, on an abandoned stretch of road, carrying the very name he feared most? Or was it a carefully crafted trap, set to lure him out after all these years?

He studied her pale face, fragile and defenseless, yet carrying the weight of something far more dangerous than the blizzard raging outside. Should he call the police? Drive her to the nearest hospital and disappear? Or take the risk and wait to hear the truth from her own lips?

Every choice was a gamble. Yet leaving her was unthinkable.

The Road Into the Unknown

The truck roared on through the storm, while inside the cabin silence pressed down heavier than the snow outside. Sergey’s heart pounded as he realized: this was no random encounter. This night was the beginning of a story he had been running from for a decade.

And now the past sat beside him, wrapped in a blanket, trembling from the cold, and yet more terrifying than the storm that tried to bury them both.

He didn’t yet know how this road would end. But one thing was certain: his life would never, ever be the same.