“I know. It’s just so hard to say goodbye to good people.”
“He was the best.”
We shared a smile as Jethro held out a box of matches. His half-grin fluttered my heart, and my lips ached to kiss him.
Taking the offered box of matches, Jethro cupped my cheek and kissed me softly. “It’s all yours.”
Tonight, when we were alone, I would show him how thankful I was for everything he’d done.
I moved away and stood beside the kindling. The bonfire would burn for days with the amount of fuel Jethro had gathered.
Stroking the matchbox, I closed my eyes and said a prayerful goodbye.
This is to find your perfect freedom. The Debt Inheritance is gone. It’s over.
Stepping to join me, Jethro’s gaze glowed with love and support. Holding out a folder, he murmured, “This isn’t the original—I’ll get that from the lawyers next week and burn that too—but this should be destroyed with the rest of what we’ve done.”
Taking the folder, I opened it. Tears sprung to my eyes. Inside were the pieces of Debt Inheritance I’d been given after each round of the table along with the amendment I’d recently signed under Jasmine’s duress.
“Thank you. This means a lot.” Holding the folder, I struggled to open the matchbox to set it alight. It would be the first piece to burn. The catalyst to decimate everything else.
A flick of flint and glow of flame appeared in my peripheral. Jethro held out a monogrammed lighter. I’d seen it the night he’d dragged me into his office and made me sign the Sacramental Pledge.
“The wood is drenched in kerosene, so it will catch easily.” Holding the lighter to the corner of the Debt Inheritance folder, he waited until the paper caught fire. Taking a step back, he smiled. “Whenever you’re ready.”
I looked at my brother and father. They stood like two sentries against the darkness. Hawksridge loomed behind them, leering over all of us as no longer foe but friend. A few of the windows gleamed with golden lights, spilling rectangle wedges of illumination across the grass.
Jasmine sat primly in her chair, her eyes reflecting the smoking flame inmy hand. The folder rapidly dissolved into leaves of blackened char.
Evil had vanished. Only happiness remained.
With no hesitation, I threw the burning paper onto the bonfire and watched with soul-singing satisfaction as the entire thing erupted with orange heat.
The icy air was battered back as flames whipped into existence and my mind quieted from thoughts of Jacqueline, my mother, and secrets. My family stood all around me, cementing me in a brand new world where nothing could separate us.
There was nothing else to say.
The flames spoke for us.
The smoke purged the past.
And the crackling spoke of a future where no debts existed.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Jethro
SOOT TAINTED MY mouth.
Smoke laced my hair.
And my eyes still burned with sparkling orange and yellow from the bonfire. We’d stayed vigil for hours. Nila and Vaughn were the only ones who threw the documented debts onto the flames.
The rest of us paid our respects and supported them silently.
I didn’t save any evidence. I didn’t put aside valuable proof to incarcerate the men who’d hidden my family’s secrets. Partly, because their sins were our sins and it would be hypocritical to lay the blame at their feet when we all shared the crime. And mostly, because I wouldn’t use others’ pain as a bargaining chip.
I had more respect than that.
