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CHAPTER 143 PART 2
With a long, grinding crack, the lid slid sideways and thudded onto the grass. A dark hollow lay underneath, and in the hollow sat a small round urn wrapped in red silk.The flashlight beam trembled across the cloth. Jesse let out a low whistle."Got her," Shawn breathed. He reached down with both hands. "Let us go home.""Excuse me," a hoarse voice called behind them.Both men froze. Their hands hung in the air over the open grave, and a cold sweat broke out across their foreheads."Are you robbing a grave?" the voice asked. It was rough and cracked, and it dragged on the words like a rusty gate.Very slowly, Shawn and Jesse turned their heads. Standing between two crooked headstones in the pale moonlight was a hunched, filthy figure with a swollen face.Her hair stood out in greasy ropes. Her eyes were two black pits in a purple and yellow mask of bruises, and a trail of dark crumbs ran down her chin like dried blood."A ghost," Jesse whispered. His voice squeaked up an octave. "Sha
CHAPTER 143 PART 1
The wind on Oak Hill was cold and thin. It came down from the black sky and swept across the rows of pale stones with a sound like a long sigh.Under an old maple tree near the top, a bulky figure sat in the grass in front of a plain gray headstone. The name carved on it was Helen Cole.Diane Morgan hugged her knees and sobbed. In one hand she held a crumpled bag of cheap biscuits, and she stuffed one into her mouth between every sob."Three days," she mumbled with her mouth full. She wiped her nose on her filthy sleeve and glared at the stone. "Three days and three nights, on my knees, on this freezing ground.""Look at me," she wailed to nobody. "Look at what that ungrateful boy has done to me. I was a rich woman. I had a mansion."She had knelt for almost twenty minutes, and her knees had screamed at her the whole time. Then she had given up, flopped onto the grass, and cried herself to sleep.A cold gust woke her near midnight. Her teeth chattered, and her whole body shook under h
CHAPTER 142 PART 2
Ethan shook his head slowly. "I have too much to do. Another time.""Think of the glory," Doctor James pleaded. He trailed after Ethan across the room. "Think of the look on his face when you whisper the answers in my ear.""No," Ethan said flatly. He picked up a jar of crushed roots and tipped it into the furnace."The college is a fine school," Doctor James tried again. His voice grew thin and desperate."The best in the country. They say the students there are brilliant. Why, the Hale girl attends. Harper Hale. The granddaughter of that land tycoon."Ethan's hand stopped in midair. A single leaf drifted from his fingers and fell into the flame, and it burned with a bright green spark."Harper Hale studies there?" Ethan asked slowly. He turned around, and his eyes were sharp."Top of her class, I hear," Doctor James said. He blinked. "Why, do you know her?"Ethan did not answer. The Green Phoenix Vine grew in her private rooms in New York. A public lecture at her own school was the
CHAPTER 142 PART 1
The clinic was quiet after Mason left. A single lamp burned on the wall of the back room, and its yellow light fell across a framed portrait that hung above the old oak desk.It showed a gentle woman with soft eyes and a faint, tired smile. Her hair was pinned back, and she wore a plain white coat with a stethoscope around her neck.Ethan stood before it for a long time. He raised one hand and wiped a thin film of dust from the frame with his thumb."Mom," he whispered. His voice was low and rough. "I know you never wanted me to carry this. But I cannot put it down."He looked into her painted eyes and made a silent vow. He would go to New York, and he would stand in front of every family member who had driven her to her grave.Not a single one of them would be forgotten. Not a single debt would stay unpaid.He bowed once to the portrait. Then he turned away and walked to the back of the room, where a squat bronze furnace sat beneath a cloth.He pulled the cloth away and set to work.
CHAPTER 141 PART 2
"I knew it the moment I saw you at the conference. No one else fights like that.""Ethan Cole," Ethan repeated, and his face was hard. "That is who I am now. Go home, Mason. You have done enough for me.""I will not leave." Mason planted his feet and shook his head. His chin lifted. "Not unless you throw me out by force.""You have a post to return to," Ethan said. He frowned. "The Tiger Guard needs every man it has.""I am not a deserter, sir." Mason's voice cracked, and his fists clenched at his sides. "I walked out in protest. Do you know who runs the Guard now?""Tell me," Ethan said quietly."Charles Sherman." Mason spat the name as though it tasted of rot."That old hound took the command after you vanished. He threw out every loyal veteran who ever fought beside you. He gave the best posts to his own grandson, Ryan Ingram."Ethan did not move. A muscle jumped in his jaw."Evelyn Sherman's boy," Mason went on. His voice shook with anger."Edward Ingram's son. He has never fired
CHAPTER 141 PART 1
The black Bentley rolled back toward the city with its windows still open to the cold night. The smell of Diane Morgan clung to the leather like a bad memory.Mrs. Hayes kept one hand on the wheel and fanned her nose with the other. She glanced at Ethan in the rearview mirror, and her eyes were full of questions."Why did you not just leave that woman in the gutter?" Mrs. Hayes asked. She wrinkled her nose and shook her head."She treated your mother like garbage. Nobody would blame you.""Because she is useful," Ethan replied. He leaned back and watched the dark fields slide past."Tamara Watanabe is using Sophia to reach for the herb supply in the Southwest. Diane knows how that deal started.""So you keep her like a guard dog," Victoria said slowly. She turned to him with sharp, thoughtful eyes. "One that watches for the wolf.""A guard dog that I do not feed," Ethan said. A cold smile touched his lips. "I only need her to stay alive and stay close."Mrs. Hayes snorted a short laug
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