Chapter 1 Ice Cream Hacker Invasion

# Chapter 1: Ice Cream Hacker Invasion

I've always believed that a good dessert could solve most of life's problems. That's why I named my little shop "Mama's Oven" – a cozy corner in this sleepy town where I could bake away my troubles and raise my three little troublemakers in peace. Far away from him. Far away from the past.

Until today.

"Mom! We did it!" Leo's excited whisper reached me as I was putting the finishing touches on a birthday cake. At seven years old, my eldest son had already mastered the art of sounding both mischievous and accomplished.

"Did what, sweetie?" I asked absently, carefully piping a rose onto the corner of Mrs. Henderson's anniversary cake.

The shop was quiet this Thursday afternoon. Just the way I liked it. The gentle hum of the refrigerators, the warm scent of vanilla and cinnamon, and the soft afternoon light filtering through the checkered curtains – my perfect hideaway.

"The ice cream is coming! All one hundred of them!" Mia, my second child and only slightly less troublesome than her brother, came sliding into the kitchen in her socks. Her dark curls bounced with every movement, so much like her father's that sometimes it hurt to look at her.

I put down my piping bag. "What ice cream?"

Luna, the youngest of my triplets by four minutes and the quietest of the bunch, peered around the doorframe. Her eyes – those unmistakable Sarratt eyes – sparkled with contained excitement. "The gold ones, Mommy. From Daddy's company."

My blood ran cold.

"What did you do?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

The three exchanged glances, that silent triplet communication that still amazed and terrified me in equal measure. Leo, always the spokesperson, stepped forward.

"We ordered ice cream," he said, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "The limited edition ones. With real gold flakes."

"How many?" I asked, dreading the answer.

"One hundred," Mia said proudly. "One for each of Daddy's billions."

I closed my eyes, counted to ten, and opened them again. My children were still there, still looking pleased with themselves.

"How did you order them?" I asked, though I already knew the answer. I knew it the moment they mentioned Sarratt.

"We borrowed Daddy's login," Luna said softly. "His security questions were easy."

"His mother's maiden name is Williams, his first pet was a goldfish named Bubble, and his high school crush was someone called Veronica," Leo recited smugly.

I grabbed the nearest kitchen towel and twisted it in my hands. "And how exactly did you pay for these ice creams?"

"Oh, we used his executive account," Mia waved her hand dismissively. "The one with no spending limit."

The kitchen timer dinged, but I barely heard it. Five years of careful hiding, of building a new life, of staying under the radar – all potentially undone by ice cream and three too-smart-for-their-own-good kids.

"Children," I said, trying to keep my voice steady, "you cannot just hack into someone's account and—"

The shop bell jingled.

"I'll get it!" Leo dashed toward the front before I could stop him.

"Leo, wait!" I called after him, but it was too late. I heard the door open, followed by an excited gasp from my son.

"It's here! The ice cream is here!"

Mia and Luna raced to join their brother, leaving me frozen in the kitchen, heart hammering against my ribs. I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.

Then I heard it. That voice. The one I'd been running from for five years.

"Is this Mama's Oven?"

Deep, authoritative, unmistakable. Justin Sarratt. Tech mogul, billionaire, and the man who had no idea he was a father.

I forced myself to move, to walk to the front of the shop. The sight that greeted me was surreal. Justin Sarratt himself, all six feet two inches of him, impeccably dressed in a tailored suit that probably cost more than my monthly rent, standing in my modest dessert shop. Behind him, two security guards were unloading boxes labeled "Celestial Gold – Limited Edition" from an armored truck.

And there, in front of him, stood my three children – his three children – staring up at him with unabashed fascination.

"Mom!" Leo called out. "Look who brought our ice cream!"

Justin's eyes snapped to mine, and the recognition was immediate. His expression shifted from polite business smile to shocked disbelief in an instant.

"Joan?"

I ignored him, marching straight to my children. "What did I tell you three about hacking?" I hissed, grabbing them by their shoulders and pulling them behind me.

"Not to get caught?" Leo offered helpfully.

"To use a VPN?" suggested Mia.

Luna, ever the honest one, looked up at me with wide eyes. "To not leave a digital footprint?"

I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole. Justin's eyes narrowed, his gaze moving from me to the children and back again. I could practically see the wheels turning in his brilliant mind – the same mind that had built Sarratt Group into a global tech empire.

"I think," he said slowly, "that someone needs to explain why my system flagged an unusual order this morning. One hundred gold-flake ice creams at $500 each, ordered under my authority, to be delivered to a small-town dessert shop I've never heard of."

He stepped closer, and I instinctively backed away, keeping the children behind me.

"And perhaps," he continued, his voice dropping to that dangerous, velvet tone I remembered all too well, "you could also explain why these three children look exactly like my baby pictures."

The security guards had finished unloading the ice cream and now stood awkwardly by the door, clearly uncertain whether to leave their boss alone in what was quickly becoming a personal confrontation.

"You can go," Justin told them without taking his eyes off me. "Wait in the car."

When the door closed behind them, silence filled the shop. Heavy, pregnant silence.

Justin's gaze moved to the children, studying each of their faces with increasing intensity. Then his eyes locked on Leo, who had inched out from behind me, curiosity overcoming caution.

"You," Justin said, pointing at my son. "What's your name?"

"Leonardo Sarratt Chen," Leo replied proudly before I could stop him. "But everyone calls me Leo. I'm seven."

Justin's jaw clenched. "And who taught you how to hack into corporate systems?"

"Mom did," all three chorused.

I closed my eyes briefly. "I taught them computer skills for educational purposes," I clarified. "Not to commit corporate espionage against Fortune 500 companies."

Justin's lips curled into a cold smile that didn't reach his eyes. "And yet here we are, with a hundred ice creams and a hacker signature that reads 'Daddy's Firewall.' Care to explain that?"

Before I could respond, Leo stepped forward, raising his hand as if he were in class.

"That's easy," he said with a bright smile. "Because we finally broke through your DNA firewall!"

Justin blinked, momentarily thrown off guard. "My what?"

"Your DNA firewall," Leo repeated patiently, as if explaining to someone particularly slow. "Mom said you put up firewalls everywhere, even in your genes. But we got through!" He looked immensely pleased with himself.

Justin's eyes snapped back to mine, dark with accusation. "You told them about me?"

"Not exactly," I muttered, wishing I could disappear.

"She told us our daddy was a very important man who didn't know about us," Luna piped up, her small voice clear in the tense atmosphere. "So we decided to find you ourselves."

"Using ice cream?" Justin asked, his voice softening slightly as he addressed my daughter.

"Everyone likes ice cream," Mia reasoned with the impeccable logic of a seven-year-old. "Even billionaires."

A muscle twitched in Justin's jaw as he turned back to me. "Seven years, Joan? You kept this from me for seven years?"

"Five," I corrected automatically. "They're five."

"That's supposed to make it better?" His voice rose slightly, and I saw the children flinch. Immediately, his expression changed, softening as he looked at them.

"I'm sorry," he said, crouching down to their level. "I'm not angry at you. I'm just... surprised."

"Are you really our daddy?" Luna asked, stepping closer to him with that fearless curiosity that always terrified me.

Justin looked at her, then at the other two, and finally at me. His eyes asked a thousand questions I wasn't ready to answer.

"Yes," he said finally, his gaze never leaving mine. "I believe I am."

The children exchanged excited glances.

"Does that mean we get to keep the ice cream?" Leo asked hopefully.

Despite everything, I felt a laugh bubble up in my throat. Trust my son to focus on the important things.

Justin stood up slowly, his expression unreadable. "We have a lot to discuss, Joan."

"Not now," I said firmly. "Not in front of them."

He nodded once, understanding passing between us. Then he turned to the children with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Yes, you can keep the ice cream," he told them. "But next time you want to contact me, maybe try a phone call first?"

As the children cheered and raced toward the boxes of ice cream, Justin leaned closer to me, his voice low and dangerous.

"This isn't over," he whispered. "Not by a long shot."

I met his gaze steadily. "I never thought it would be."

What I didn't tell him was that I'd been running from this moment for five years. And now that it had arrived, I wasn't sure whether to be terrified or relieved.

One thing was certain: life as we knew it had just changed forever.