PART 2 — THE BLOODLINE FRAUD… AND THE NIGHT OF THE GALLOWS!
PART 2 — THE BLOODLINE FRAUD… AND THE NIGHT OF THE GALLOWS! 😱🔥
The parchment trembled in Clara’s hands.
Born on the exact same stormy midnight her precious Rose had entered the world—and died four agonizing days later.
“You had two families…” Clara whispered, looking at Richard as if staring at a venomous snake. “You were marrying another woman in Tucson while I worked this ranch to the bone to build our home!”
“Listen to me, Clara!” Richard spat, his hand twitching near his holster, his eyes darting frantically between Kaya’s rifle and the open window. “You don’t understand the kind of money we’re talking about! That woman isn’t just anybody!”
The injured woman stepped through the porch door, leaning heavily on Kaya for support. Tears streaked the soot on her bruised cheeks. “My name is Evelyn Wentworth. My family owns the silver mines north of Tucson. Richard didn’t want a wife… he wanted an heir. A legitimate male heir to claim the Wentworth estate before my father pᴀssed!”
Clara’s heart stopped. She looked down at Oliver in the cradle, then at the silver bracelet engraved with E.W.
Evelyn Wentworth.
“He found out I was giving birth,” Evelyn wept, clutching her bandaged arm. “He promised to bring a doctor, but instead, he hired outlaws to burn our wagon on the mountain road and make it look like bandits. He took the child and left me to burn!”
“Lies!” Richard roared. “Bandits ambushed you! I tried to save the boy!”
“Then explain this, Richard,” Kaya’s deep voice echoed through the cabin.
The warrior pulled a small, scorched glᴀss vial from his leather tunic and tossed it onto the wooden table.
Clara froze. She recognized that dark amber bottle.
“The night your daughter Rose took sick with fever…” Kaya said, his dark eyes boring into Richard’s soul, “you were seen visiting the back door of this ranch before you rode off to Tucson. The physician in town sold you this root. In large doses, it mimics a lethal infant fever. In small doses… it leaves no trace at all.”
Clara dropped to her knees beside the cradle, a suffocating realization crushing her chest.
“Rose didn’t die of a sickness…” Clara whispered, her voice hollow, completely devoid of life. She looked up at her husband, her eyes wide with unimaginable horror. “You poisoned our own daughter because she was a girl… and you needed her ᴅᴇᴀᴅ so you could replace her with Evelyn’s son!”
Richard’s veneer of innocence shattered. A twisted, desperate sneer spread across his face.
“A girl couldn’t inherit the Wentworth mining deed under territory law!” Richard snarled, throwing his hands up in manic frustration. “If you had given me a son, Rose would still be breathing! But you failed, Clara! I had to take matters into my own hands to make us rich!”
Before anyone could move, Richard lunged toward the table, knocked the oil lamp to the floor, and grabbed baby Oliver straight from the cradle.
Kerosene ignited instantly across the dry pine boards, sending a blinding wall of orange flame licking up the bedroom wall.
“Nobody moves, or the boy burns with the house!” Richard screamed, holding Oliver by the bundle toward the roaring fire while cocking his pistol with the other hand.
Outside, the thunderous rumble of a dozen galloping horses shook the dirt beneath the cabin.
Shouts and torchlight flickered through the smoke-filled windows. The Tucson territorial marshals—led by Evelyn’s wealthy father—had surrounded the ranch.
Trapped between the blazing fire, Kaya’s rifle, and the posse outside, Richard backed toward the rear doorway, his eyes wild with madness.
“You want the heir to the Wentworth fortune?!” Richard yelled over the crackling blaze.
He didn’t aim at Kaya. He didn’t aim at Clara.
He aimed his revolver directly at the heavy wooden beam supporting the flaming ceiling right above Clara and Evelyn’s heads—and pulled the trigger!
TO BE CONTINUED… 😱🔥
