Chapter 5 - The Shadow over the Valley
The room fell into an absolute, suffocating silence.
Leia felt as though the floor had dropped out beneath her feet again. Henry Foster. The man who wrote her sweet, educated letters. The man who rejected her on the train platform because her shoes were broken. He wasn't just a snob; he was a monster. A high-ranking murderer for the Mafia.
"He used the marriage proposal as a cover," Leia realized, her voice trembling with indignation. "He wanted a local wife to look respectable in town while he carried out Moretti's dirty work."
"And when you showed up poor and ragged," Callum said, his jaw clenching tightly, "you were useless to his cover story. So he threw you away."
"He didn't just throw me away," Leia said, her hands trembling as she looked at Victoria. "He buried a human being alive in the dark!"
Callum stepped toward the window, pulling back the curtain slightly. In the distance, down in the valley, the faint lights of Dry Hollow flickered. "Foster won't leave Victoria buried without checking. When he realizes the dirt was disturbed, he'll know someone dug her up. He'll track the scent to my land."
"You have to run," Victoria begged, trying to swing her legs off the bed. "Sal Moretti's men are ruthless. They have Tommy guns, money, and corrupt marshals on their payroll. If they find me here, they will kill you all. Even the little girl."
Callum turned back from the window. His face was set in granite. The quiet, gentle lumberjack was gone; in his place stood a man who had survived winters that killed lesser men.
"This is my home, Miss Moretti," Callum said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "I buried my wife on the hill behind this house three years ago. I raised my daughter in these woods. No Chicago gangster is going to drive me off my land."
He walked over to a heavy wooden chest in the corner, unlocked it, and pulled out a lever-action Winchester rifle along with a heavy double-barreled shotgun. He handed the shotgun to Leia.
"Do you know how to use one of these?" he asked.
Leia looked at the heavy steel frame. She thought of Henry Foster's arrogant, mocking face on the train platform. She thought of the little girl sleeping peacefully in the next room. She took the gun, her fingers wrapping around the stock.
"Show me," she said firmly.
May you like
That night, they prepared. Callum took Lily to a hidden cellar beneath the barn, filling it with supplies and leaving Brutus outside the trapdoor to guard her. The giant Mastiff sat like a statue in the gloom, his jaws tight, his tail still. He knew what was coming.
At midnight, the sound of horse hooves and automobile engines echoed up the mountain trail.
