Chapter 10 - The Spring
Ryan held a pistol against their mother’s back.
Margaret looked exhausted.
Her hands were tied.
Cassandra stood twenty yards away with federal agents hidden beyond the tree line.
Ryan had demanded she approach without a visible weapon.
“You ruined everything,” he said.
“You declared me dead.”
“You left.”
“I served.”
“You always thought that made you better.”
“No.”
“You thought it made me absent.”
Ryan laughed.
“Grandma loved you more.”
“She trusted me more.”
“Because you listened only when she offered you land.”
The spring moved quietly between them.
It had supplied the farm for more than a century.
Ryan wanted Cassandra to sign a deed transferring it to Grayson’s company.
In exchange, he would release Margaret and surrender the original family records.
Cassandra held the unsigned paper.
“Mom helped you.”
Margaret began crying.
“I did.”
“Why should I risk my life for her now?”
Ryan tightened his grip.
“Because you always need to be the hero.”
Cassandra looked at her mother.
For years, Margaret’s approval had controlled her more effectively than any command.
That power was gone.
“I am not here to prove I am good.”
“I am here because murder does not become acceptable when the victim betrayed me.”
Ryan’s eyes narrowed.
She dropped the deed into the spring.
He moved the gun toward Cassandra.
Margaret drove her heel into his foot.
The shot struck a tree.
Agents emerged.
Ryan dragged Margaret toward the water.
Cassandra closed the distance.
She struck his wrist with her injured left arm.
Pain exploded through the surgical plate.
The gun fell into the spring.
Ryan tackled her.
They rolled across the mud.
He reached for a knife.
Margaret picked up a rock and struck his shoulder.
Agents restrained him.
Ryan screamed that Cassandra had stolen his future.
She stood above him, breathing hard.
“No.”
“You built your future on my grave.”
Inside Ryan’s coat, agents found the original birth certificate.
They also found a second document.
Margaret’s private adoption record.
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Cassandra was biologically Walter and Margaret’s child.
Ryan was not.
