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)
“So, Sabrina de Souza had the deed but no clue of its value,” Legend clarified. “The family secret died with her husband.”
“But not the Sisters,” Ivy said. “Sabrina had three children and no home or money. She was desperate, so she packed up her kids and came out here where her husband told her they had land.”
“She took her deed to a judge,” said Dad, bringing our attention to him. “My grandmother, Cairo. Your great-grandmother. A Sister.”
I stiffened. Ivy noticed immediately.
“I know, right,” she said. “And to think, you were worried about what I would do to your family when it turns out the Sharpes have a family tradition of screwing over de Souzas. I should’ve stayed away from you.”
Her tone was teasing, but I had a heavy feeling there was no trace of a lie. “What did Granny Sharpe do?”
My father answered. “She told Sabrina, ‘oh, yes, there is a plot of land in your name. It’s been sitting barren for a while, but it’s yours to claim at any time.’ Sabrina was so happy with those overgrown acres and the rickety barn and farmhouse on top, she didn’t do a thing other than hug, kiss, and thank her. She moved her family into what became de Souza Farm.”
“She had no idea she owned everything around her,” Roan breathed. “Neither did your grandmother, your father... or you.”
“No.” Emotion leaked into Ivy’s voice. “None of us knew. The Sisters wanted it that way. Caution for her family’s last hope drove Sabrina de Souza to protect that old deed. She brought a copy to her meeting with the judge, where she was told even though it said eight thousand acres, Bedlam was now an official town. She couldn’t own it, but that twelve-acre farm was all hers.
“Matter of fact, why didn’t Sabrina bring her that crusty old piece of paper? She’d destroy it, and write up a new one that listed their actual property.” Her gaze drifted over his shoulder. “I don’t know where we’d be today if Sabrina had fallen for that trick, but she didn’t. Sabrina kept it locked in a safe deposit box, and didn’t tell anyone about it or where it was.”
“Why did your grandmother try to trick her out of the deed?” Roan asked Dad. “She didn’t even know what she had.”
“That’s exactly why. Things have changed in the last hundred years,” Jack said. “The Sisters have the vote. They have land, businesses, money, choices. Everything they’d lose back then if they didn’t accept Amadeo’s wife’s deal. Now they have a town they control absolutely. They have the power, and they can have the money. Why should they be held back by a clueless farmer?
“Ever since Sabrina de Souza returned to town, the Society of Sisters has had a new goal. Destroy that deed.”
Legend half rose from the armchair. “But... not our mothers, right? They’re not after—”
“Yes, your mothers,” Dad snapped. “Are you kidding? People whisper around town that it’s a mother’s blindness that explains why Josephine, Marjorie, and Eileen don’t rein you boys in or see how you behave. But it’s your blindness that didn’t let you look past what your mothers have told you.
“Boys, by the time my grandmother’s generation took over the Sisters, they reneged on the deal. There were millions beneath their shoes and no de Souzas around to stop them. They’ve been secretly mining the land for decades.
“Started by your great-grandmother,” Dad said to Roan, blowing his brows up his forehead. “Continued by your grandmothers and now your mothers. They are the wealthiest women in this region, boys. By so much more than you could imagine.”
I opened my mouth, but not a damn word came out. For the first time since we came screaming out the womb, we were speechless.
“Naturally, they were careful. They had the same issue as Amadeo, but no right of ownership to back them up. If people found out why Crystal Canyon got its name, it’d be overrun by fortune hunters. And if the de Souzas found out, that’d be even worse.
“They amassed their wealth, but were cautious in explaining it. Josephine Banks lives in a mansion provided by the university. She didn’t buy it. The mayor’s son rides around in a 1957 Corvette worth one hundred and thirty thousand dollars, because her husband bought it for a steal in some romantic tale.”
Arsenio crushed the sheets in his fist. He was told the same romantic tale.
“Eileen was under more scrutiny as a judge, but I’m sure you enjoyed all those vacations in your childhood, Jacques. Especially your summers in France.”
Jacques could’ve been chipped from stone. And Ivy... Ivy didn’t look at either of us, and I couldn’t blame her. Our mothers made themselves rich while she scrubbed chickenshit from her boots and watched her grandmother toil from sunup to sundown. Framing us for murder wasn’t a betrayal. It was years’ worth of karma falling on our heads.