Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“It wasn’t right that those guys got away with what they did to her. It wasn’t right that Clein wouldn’t be punished for Gran. It just wasn’t right, so... how could I be wrong for making him pay?”
“But it wasn’t just about Clein and your farm, or giving a bunch of rapists what they deserve,” I gritted. “Mariner was a fucking psychopath who took money to kill us. She said you were supposed to kill me.”
“That’s how it all changed, Cairo. They were about righting wrongs, but I didn’t know until it was too late what that meant to Scott and the others. I didn’t know that meant all collateral damage was acceptable because they were being sacrificed for a greater purpose.”
“What purpose?” Legend snapped.
“Stop acting like you don’t know! I remember everything,” she cried. “Including what you and your parents and their parents have been trying to stop since Crystal Canyon became Bedlam. They want it back! Decades ago, this town wrestled away the wealth, power, and lives of the Men of Honor, and they. Want. It. Back.”
I whipped to Legend and Jacques, eyes as wide as theirs. “Are you fucking trying to say Scott and all your old friends were—?”
“Are,” she sliced. “They are the descendants and recruits to the Men of Honor. They know about the diamonds. They know they once owned the lands filled with them, and by their reckoning, they’re reclaiming what was stolen from them. Like my farm,” she stressed. “Taken over by my great-great-great-grandmother after she joined the riot against her uncle, Jonathan de Souza. He was a bastard that beat his wife and daughters black and blue, until one after the other, they died by his hand—while the sheriff looked the other way.
“My three times great-grandmother didn’t lift a finger to stop the crowd when they stormed his home and killed him.” Her gaze pinned us through. “But I don’t have to tell you this. You all know the story. The townspeople took up arms and wiped out every trace of the Men of Honor and their families. My ancestor was spared because she hated them just like the rest. The next morning, they woke up with wealth and land that didn’t belong to them.
“Distant male heirs would inherit the properties and a hell of a grudge to go with it. They were destined to take over and make their lives hell once again. So they said no.” Her eyes found me. “You know the history of how they took up arms and violently defended Bedlam from militias and the government. And you three in particular know that after the battle was won, certain people in town banded together to form the Society of Sisters.
“They forged documents and deeds naming themselves heirs and family, so they could keep the town they stole. There had been so much chaos and so many dead, the government couldn’t sort out the truth from the lies. In the end, they accepted what they were told—thankful the bloodshed was over.
“Ever since then, they kept the secret of Crystal Canyon. Preventing anyone from digging and building here, and leaving the vast fortune beneath our feet alone.” She shook her head. “What’s the point of digging it up when it’ll just be seized. No one cares about our little speck on the map, but they will if they ever find out we’ve got millions under our shoes.
“Bedlam would be leveled. The phony papers that gave us our land will be ripped to shreds in court. Either it’ll be in the hands of the government, or men like Steven Ellis.”
“Ellis?” Jacques repeated. “What’s he got to do with this?”
She shot out of the sheets. “He started this. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Steven Ellis isn’t moving in on this town for no reason. You know that, but you don’t know that he always had his sights on Bedlam. His great-great-grandfather was one of the Men of Honor. Their family name was Eliason then.
“Joshua Eliason, his wife, and their son were spared the bloodshed because they happened to be out of town when it all happened. They came back to a barricade around the town. After the fighting ended, Joshua tried to reclaim what was his, and was killed for it. His wife got the hint and never returned to Bedlam.”
My head bobbed on its own power. “She raised her son in another town, feeding him the story of the home that was once theirs, and the barbarians who stole it from them. They passed it down until Steven Ellis decided to do something about that bedtime story.”
“Yes,” she said softly. “The family had money from when they used to sit on a land of diamonds. That money funded the company Ellis now owns, but it’s not enough for him. His legacy was stolen. His town was stolen. In his eyes, all of this should be his.” She swept out her hands. “It should be his sons’. You can’t steal what was taken from you in the first place. Whatever he has to do to get it back, is just the price of righting a wrong. It’s a sacrifice.”