Chapter 6

Dad's words stunned me. I froze for a second, then stared at him like I could not believe what he just said. "Dad, what did you say?" "I said you walked right into a setup." He sounded angry and tired. "With that brain of yours, how could you ever outplay the Fords? When the cemetery project came down, half the village fought to get the contract. Why do you think the Fords were the only ones who got it?" "No. No way." I shook my head fast. "Dad, you're saying Freddy and Alana teamed up to set me up? What would they even get out of that? Did they just want to beat me up? "I won't deny that Freddy still hates me, but getting his newlywed wife to lure me in? He doesn't need to go that far just to take a swing at you." Dad let out a long breath and shot a question right back at me. "Luca, do you even know why they let you go today? You think I said a few nice words and they felt neighborly enough to release you? You tried to seduce his wife. He could've killed you on the spot, and no one would have blamed him." "Dad…" His words hit me like lightning. I finally understood something. At that moment, he pulled out a piece of paper and slammed it on the table. It was a signed land transfer agreement. "We sold the family plot in Greenridge for 5,000 dollars." Then, he set a stack of cash on the table. Mud stained the bills, and some of them even had blood on them. I had no idea what he went through that night to make the Fords back off. Not only did he sell the Greenridge land for cheap, but he even dropped to his knees and took slap after slap from Brandon. And that 5,000 dollars was money the Fords threw on the ground. Dad picked it up one bill at a time. I stared at the contract and the cash. My lips trembled, and my hands shook hard. "Dad, you sold the land? What about Mom?" "Your mom's grave stays where it is," he said. "Luca, this ends here. You'd better learn from this. You heard what Brandon said. He was not bluffing. The whole town bows to the Fords. If you do this again, no one can save you." At that, he sighed and walked back to his room. His shoulders sagged. I saw nothing but defeat in his back. I clenched my fists. I felt like a complete fool. Ever since the Stonebrook cemetery project started, the village and the Fords pushed again and again to get Dad to sell that land. Dad refused every offer because that land was his lifeline. But tonight, because of me, he took every insult they threw at him. He sold the land he swore he would never give up. My stomach twisted with regret. That night, I lay in bed and could not sleep. My body hurt, but my mind hurt more. I hated myself for what happened to the land in Greenridge. I knew there was nothing I could do. I felt cursed. Every year, I brought trouble to our home. It wasn't until 4:00 am or 5:00 am that I finally fell asleep. When I did, I had a nightmare. I dreamed I was locked in Brandon's house again. I heard someone pound on the wall next door. I looked through the crack, and a blood-soaked red eye stared right back at me. I jolted awake, drenched in sweat. As I barely slept, I dragged through the next day. Dad saw the state I was in and told me not to blame myself so much. He said that even if this plan had failed, the Fords would have found another way to steal the land in Greenridge. His attempt to comfort me made me feel even worse. However, what was done was done. No one could change it now. "Dad, I saw a woman locked up at Brandon's place yesterday." Over lunch, I told him what I saw and asked if he knew who she was. The moment he heard it, he dropped his fork. He stared at me and spoke in a sharp, cold voice. "Luca, listen to me. You saw nothing last night." I froze. He grabbed his fork again and smacked it against my forehead. The cut there still had not healed, and the pain shot straight through me. "Did you hear me?" "Yeah. I heard you." From his reaction, I knew that he understood something about that woman. I saw a deep fear in his eyes. It was a fear he did not want to name. Even if Dad refused to explain, I had already pieced most of it together. More than ten years ago, our village was dirt-poor and cut off in the hills. Back then, people actually bought wives. Freddy's mother was one of them. When I was a kid, I heard people say she tried to run away many times. Every time she ran, the men in the village dragged her back. Every time they brought her back, Jeremy would beat her until she could barely stand. By the time she gave birth to Freddy, she had already been beaten until she lost her mind. Two months after he was born, she fell into their old outdoor toilet and drowned. Word was that Jeremy pushed her in on purpose. But in those days, when the law barely meant anything, no one cared enough to investigate. I never thought someone in this day and age would still have the guts to buy a woman and chain her in his home. But the more I thought about the woman I saw in Brandon's house, with her hair hanging wild and her ankle in chains, the more sure I was that Brandon had done terrible things to her. I felt bad for her, but I could not help her. I did not even plan to try. I was not going to stick my nose into Brandon's business. If I did, he would carve my head off. If the police saved her one day, that would be good luck for her. If they did not, then her fate was sealed. Most likely, that woman would die here in Stonebrook. After lunch, Dad warned me again not to meddle with Brandon. He only went to wash the dishes after I promised. And right then, I saw Freddy walking toward our house with Alana in his arms. "Luca." When I saw the two of them, I ignored them and turned to go back inside, but Freddy rushed toward me at once. "Are you deaf? I called you. Didn't you hear me?" I kept ignoring him. One of my feet was already inside the main hall. He grabbed my shoulder and yanked me back. "Luca, you think you're some kind of tough guy?" I turned and glared at him. "Freddy, our land has already been transferred to your family. You got what you wanted. What else do you want?" "What else?" His face twisted. He grabbed my collar and pulled me close. "Luca, you think one little piece of land settles what's between us? What about my eye, you piece of trash? How the hell are you paying for this?"