Final Debt (Indebted #6)(46)

Cut spun, running his hand over his chin. “The silly girl fell in love, and in a night of passion, ruined the life Mabel agreed to save.”

I shivered. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, the first condition was fulfilled. Mabel wanted Sonya to get pregnant, to give birth to many offspring for William to inherit. He would never be of age to inherit his original indebted. But there would be others. Amendments to be made. New rules to be scratched into parchment. Sonya wasn’t married, but had stupidly gotten with child from her secret lover. Mabel immediately ensured the earl took care of the dowry and married the pair.

“Percy Weaver stood by in shock as his daughter accepted the terms because her name would be disgraced if news got out she’d slept around. He hated that his ex-housekeeper and sex-slave had left his employ and was now protected by a man he couldn’t touch. Mabel wasn’t stupid; she didn’t antagonise the Weavers without putting solid foundations down first. And with the one good deed of marrying Sonya to her lover, she held her life in her hands.

“That very life she offered to give back to her on one condition.” Cut paused for dramatics.

The rhyme of his words wrenched to a stop, leaving the silence in the cave eerily cold. My eyes landed on Jethro. We shared a silent conversation.

I love you.

I love you more.

Whatever happens, I’ll find you.

Whatever happens, we’ll be together.

“What was that one condition, Nila?” Cut asked, coming close enough to run his fingers through my hair.

I shook my head, dislodging his hold. “From what I’m beginning to learn of Mabel, the one condition would be their deaths.”

Hurry up.

I’d listened long enough. I didn’t want to become consumed with past rights and wrongs. I always ended up feeling hatred toward my own flesh and blood and unwillingly on the Hawk’s side.

Despite that, I needed to know. I would never have guessed the story was so tangled or full of deceit and double-cross. I ached to think of Bennett Hawk living such a sad existence only to die unhappy and tormented by his past.

Cut smiled, his goatee bristling. “You’re a fast study. Good girl.” He continued his journey around the cave. “Exactly. Sonya would live a full life with a husband and children…if she agreed to kill her parents.”

My heart raced. A hard bargain but, dare I agree, a justified end?

“Sonya sullenly agreed, and Mabel found a woman in the ghetto selling potions and poisons. The same witchcraft that her daughter was killed for thanks to the Weaver Wife. With money from her earl, she purchased two vials of deadly poison and gave them to Sonya.”

Cut’s voice sped up, reaching the end and rushing toward other things. “Two weeks later, Sonya met Mabel in their agreed meeting place. There was a new wedding band on her finger, a growing baby in her stomach, and the news that both her parents—the very same ones who’d raped, mutilated, and killed the Hawks—were dead from fatal poisoning.”

“Did the police not investigate?”

Cut laughed. “No. The authorities didn’t get involved. Weary from the paperwork and previous nightmares caused by the Weavers, they stayed out of it. The Weavers’ standing within the community was tarnished and nobody really cared about a suspicious death when it solved so much propaganda and ill will.”

Cut clapped his hands. “So there you have it. Mabel Hawk single-handedly ensured the continuation of the Weavers by Sonya’s pregnancy, made it so her mentally broken son impregnated a whore, and the two people who’d been the crux of her pain were dead.

“Unfortunately, Bennett had died before her triumph. Her revenge came years after his brutal rape, but it didn’t dampen the pleasure in knowing she’d won the first battle.”

My voice replaced Cut’s deep one. “That doesn’t explain how she became so wealthy or how the Hawks crushed the Weavers. A scandal like that would fade in time. My ancestors had a skill. They worked for the crown. Even if Mabel married the earl, her title wouldn’t be enough to be highly influential in court—not to mention she was a commoner, regardless of marriage.”

Cut smiled, savouring the rest of his secrets. “Don’t rush the story, Nila. I never said she married the earl. In fact, quite the opposite. After a time, she faded from his affection, and he tossed her out on the street. He finally saw she’d used him and wanted nothing more to do with her. Over the years, he’d become a drunkard and a wife-beater, ripping apart what they could’ve shared.

“Mabel went from living in a nice abode to begging for scraps on the street. The only possession she took with her was her grandson, William. The boy had just turned twelve and was a troublesome child.”

Moving closer, Cut whispered in my ear, “And that leads to the next part of the tale. The part where the true rise to diamond power began.

“The part that destroyed your family, once and for all.”





TOO MANY YEARS had passed since my family fell apart thanks to Percy Weaver and his hellish family. So many years since he’d raped me for the final time. Excruciating years since I secured our lineage and ensured my son’s heritage was passed to another.

My daughter was dead, drowned for lies of witchcraft. My son was dead, raped and mentally broken. And my husband was dead, leaving me to defend our legacy on my own.