Chapter 2

Three years in prison had already changed me. I was no longer that hot-headed brat who acted before thinking. As for Alana, I had long stopped dreaming about her. Still, I felt shocked. She was only 19. How could she already be getting married? She wasn't even past the legal age. She had good grades. At this point, she should have just finished senior year and gotten ready for college. What shocked me even more was that she was marrying Freddy. "Dad, what happened?" I asked. Dad stayed quiet for a moment, then said that Alana had done badly on her high school entrance exam. She barely got into a low-level school in the county. Her grades kept dropping. She picked up bad habits. Before senior year even ended, she dropped out. Then, earlier this year, her father, Johnny Jeffers, got sick and needed expensive treatment. To get money fast, she agreed to get engaged to Freddy. Speaking of this, I had to explain what the Ford family had become by then. Before I went to prison, our village had already been selected by the local government as a cemetery project site. The Ford family used the compensation money my parents paid them to secure the main contract for building and managing the graves. Once the plan rolled out, the village committee bought land from villagers at adjusted prices, and outsiders who wanted to bury their dead in our village had to pay anywhere from two to ten thousand dollars for land alone. On top of that, they had to pay extra to have the grave built, the tomb walls laid, and the site finished. Most of those jobs were handled by the Ford family. For every grave they built, even after deducting costs and kickbacks, they earned one to two thousand dollars. Wealthier families building large tombs could bring in several thousand more, even tens of thousands. On the motorcycle ride back to the village, I could already see the hillside from afar. They were packed tightly with grave mounds, easily numbering in the thousands. This meant the Ford family had made several million over those years. In the early 2000s, that was an enormous fortune. The money for Johnny's "treatment" came from the Ford family. The condition was that she had to marry Freddy. "Everything with Freddy is already in the past. Once you're back, don't bring it up again. Be polite when you run into anyone from the Ford family, especially Freddy. Don't start a conflict. "And about Alana, you can't think about her that way anymore. You both are no longer from the same world." Dad warned me on the way home. "Okay," I said, nodding. When we finally got home, it was still the same house, but the one person I wanted most to see would never be there again. To welcome me back, Dad made a whole table of dishes. We shared a little wine while we ate. After dinner, he took me to Greenridge to visit Mom's grave. As I knelt there in front of her tombstone, I didn't know what to say. In the end, I just knelt quietly for more than an hour. I stayed there until the sky dimmed, then we finally headed home. Not long after we returned, someone knocked at the door. When I opened the door, I found Freddy and his father, Jeremy, standing outside. Jeremy used to be the village stonemason. He was a rough, unkempt man. But now he was wearing a suit, glasses, and holding a thermos like some kind of official. And Freddy, who used to be a typical street punk with a long hairstyle, was now sporting a buzz cut and looked more mature, though his blind left eye still ruined the look. The moment they saw it was me who opened the door, both of them froze. There was no dramatic enemies-meeting-again tension. In fact, Jeremy even smiled at me and said, "Luca, you're back." "Yeah." I nodded, but the awkwardness in my chest made it hard to say anything more. Dad came out at that moment. When he saw Jeremy and Freddy, he greeted them with a smile and even congratulated them. Jeremy then had Freddy hand Dad a gift box and a wedding invitation. He said that the wedding was in two days and we had to come for the celebration. "We'll definitely be there," Dad said. "Good. We still have a few more houses to visit, so we won't bother you." The two turned to leave, but after taking a few steps, Freddy suddenly looked back. With his one remaining eye, he stared straight at me and said, "Luca, you must come." ... It was the day of Freddy and Alana's wedding, and I really didn't want to go. However, Dad insisted that I go. He said everyone lived in the same village. It was better to deal with the awkwardness now than let it drag on. The Ford family had made a fortune and built a big new house. The wedding banquet was lavish and full of expensive dishes. Everyone was smoking a cigar. I sat with Dad. Some villagers came over to greet me, mostly asking when I had gotten out. Right before the meal started, a big, dark-skinned man sat down next to Dad. "Luca, when did you get out?" "A few days ago, Mr. Lowe." Even after all these years, talking to Brandon still made my chest tighten with fear. He was in his 40s now, unmarried, and the man no one in the village dared to cross. When he was younger, he had been a real street thug. He had been notorious in town. Back in school, Freddy only managed to act like a big shot because he'd bragged that he was Brandon's nephew. Of course, that whole "nephew" thing was made up by Freddy himself. He and Brandon weren't related in any way. Back then, in our village, every kid addressed Brandon respectfully the moment they saw him. It wasn't out of respect but fear. Over the years, the Ford family made a fortune off the cemetery project, and there was no way they were going to leave Brandon out of it. If he didn't get a cut, he would flip the entire village council office upside down. Now, Brandon had become the Ford family's so-called "project supervisor". In plain terms, he was a paid enforcer. The Ford family didn't just support him. They supported a whole crew under him. Any dispute involving the cemetery project was handled by his people, usually with fists. After giving me a brief nod, Brandon ignored me and took a cigar from behind his ear. He handed it to Dad. "George, how about letting go of that Greenridge plot of yours?" The moment he said that, Dad's brows tightened, and my stomach dropped. Two days earlier, Dad had told me about the situation. A rich man from the county had taken a liking to our Greenridge land and wanted to move his father's grave there. Word was that he had offered the Ford family a very generous price. Naturally, the Fords came to Dad, hoping he would transfer the land to them. But Mom was buried there. Dad didn't want her resting place disturbed, so he refused. After that, the Fords and Brandon kept coming back, trying to pressure him, but Dad refused every time. I didn't expect that on the very day of Freddy's wedding, Brandon would bring it up again. "Brandon, that land really won't do," Dad said firmly. "My wife is buried there. You know that. I don't want anyone disturbing her." "Move her somewhere else," Brandon said casually. "We'll find another prime spot for her." The moment I heard that, my blood rushed straight to my head. Before Dad could speak, I cut in. "Mr. Lowe, my mom is already buried there. There's no way we're moving her. Why don't you introduce that 'prime spot' to the rich guy instead?" Brandon's expression shifted instantly. He stared at me with a cold, flat look that made my skin crawl. Back then, I didn't understand what that look meant. It wasn't until years later, after I had seen enough of the darker side of the world, that I finally understood. That look Brandon gave me was the look a man gave a dead person.