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“COULD YOU FEEL her loyalty, Nila? Her unfailing spirit toward her beloved family?”
Cut’s voice tore me from the hypnosis of learning about Mabel Hawk. She was the only reason the Hawks had become the superpower they were today. Without her, without her determination and willingness to do whatever it took, the Hawks would’ve remained poor and unknown.
I rolled my shoulders, forcing myself to snap out of the trance he’d put me in. I couldn’t forget I stood in a dank mine—the very mine William Hawk started so many centuries ago. Cut wasn’t telling me history for the fun of it—he gave me a prelude to the debt I would soon have to pay.
Listening to Mabel’s tale, I couldn’t figure out what the payment would be. Mabel had given up everything for her grandson. What a strong, commendable woman she was. Even if she was the reason for my pain.
“Yes.” I nodded. “She did so much.” My eyes met Jethro’s. His nostrils flared wide, sucking in damp air, unable to talk with the gag lodged in his mouth. My heart overflowed with love and affection. I fully understood Mabel’s drive to save someone she loved.
She saved them.
I smiled sadly to think two things in both our families had been passed down from generations. One, my family had always had the tendency to breed in multiples. Twins were common and triplets a regular event. And Jethro...his empathy had come from William. Mabel wouldn’t have understood his plight, but listening to the characteristics of her grandson, I had no doubt he suffered what Jethro did.
“Can you see how everything we are is owed to that woman? That she is, without a doubt, the bravest Hawk.” Cut paced in front of me.
Yes, I can see.
I asked a question of my own. “Why don’t you have her portrait up in Hawksridge? You have so many men hanging in the dining room, where is Mabel—considering she is the founder of your family’s fortune?”
Cut paused. “There is a portrait, or as close to her likeness as William could make it. When he returned and created a new life for himself in England, he did his best to describe his grandmother to a local artist. The poor couldn’t afford painters, Nila. And she died before she had the means for such frivolous items.”
“Where do you keep her painting?”
Cut’s lips twisted into a smile. “It’s interesting you should ask that.”
“Why?”
“Because you’ll see, soon enough. You’ll see her portrait, along with many other Hawk women before the Final Debt is paid.”
Jethro growled, struggling in his binds.
Cut chuckled. “Don’t like me mentioning your girlfriend is on borrowed time? I’m glad I gagged you. It’s nice being able to have a conversation and not have you interrupting us.”
Jethro’s eyes glowed with rage.
Turning his back on him, Cut gave me his full attention. “Now you know how we found the diamonds. Let’s continue with William’s story when he returned to England.”
I didn’t approve or deny as Cut moved around me, his voice taking on a story-time timbre. “William grieved his grandmother’s death, but he knew she would want him to reach the heights she’d dreamed. So he left on the boat with his Black Diamond warriors and returned to England without his grandmother.
“When he reached English soil, he went directly to the king. He didn’t try and find someone to value the stone or seek backhanded deals. He knew that was a sure way to get himself killed.
“Instead, he announced he’d been on a voyage and had returned with a gift for the king. It took him four months of hanging outside court, following dukes and duchesses, and slipping through the king’s guard before the king finally agreed to an audience.
“In a meeting attended by courtiers and advisors, William presented the black diamond. The stone was the largest ever found at the time and the king immediately gave him authority to return with a fleet of ships to collect more on his behalf.
“William remembered what Mabel told him. He was willing to give up the wealth he’d found, pay exorbitant taxes, and lavish gifts upon the crown in order to have the most powerful monarchy behind him.”
Cut ran a hand through his hair. “Imagine that. Giving up every stone you’d found, returning home richer than the king, and leaving penniless once again.”
I kept my chin high. I had to admit it would be a hard decision to swallow but smart at the same time. No king wanted a richer subject than he. This way, the crown became insanely wealthy and the Hawks cemented a lifelong partnership, ensuring better things than money.
Friends.
Allies.
Kings in their feather-lined pockets.
Was that how the crown became so rich? Were the jewels on their garments and diamonds on their scepters all thanks to the Hawks?
I gasped, my mind running away with the new angle of thoughts.
Every war. Every triumph and takeover of other countries—had they been possible and financed entirely by the Hawks?
Cut interrupted my epiphany. “William returned to Africa and found yet more diamonds. His Black Diamond warriors increased in number, his mine and village became the most protected piece of dirt in Botswana, and he returned to England with far more than before.
“The king once again welcomed him with open arms. He granted William a title, land, property—anything he wanted. He agreed to the terms that all Weavers—related to Sonya or not—were no longer favoured in court and banished them to Spain. He also approved the Debt Inheritance to be binding for future years.
“By his third trip, the young Hawk boy had become an untouchable aristocrat. He’d grown in wealth and power and wore his self-worth like the expensive tailoring he commissioned. The fleet of ships given to him by the king grew until the crown jewels filled to bursting with diamonds of all shapes and sizes.”
“What about the Debt Inheritance?” I tried to do quick arithmetic. “He would be nearing his thirtieth birthday—if not older. What about claiming Marion?”
Cut’s forehead furrowed. “Don’t rush me, Ms. Weaver. I’m getting to that.” Jamming his hands in his pockets, he continued with his tale. “It was almost a decade before William found another black diamond that trumped even the one he’d given to the king, the one he’d named his entire brethren and brotherhood in honour of. This new one...this black monster found beneath the soil of the African plains, made the one the king owned pale in comparison. To this day, it sits carefully guarded in our safe at Diamond Alley.”
Diamond Alley?
My eyes flew to Jethro’s.
Oh, my God. He’d shown me. He’d allowed me to hold the menacing stone that’d become the most treasured item in his family history.
Jethro scowled, shaking his head slightly. Don’t mention it.
I bit my lip. I won’t.
“For years, the arrangement with the king prospered but then an aspiring courtier tried to kill William and take his trade routes and diamond mine for himself. The man ambushed the boats journeying home. His entourage robbed the crates of gems when they arrived at port. And they killed members of William’s Black Diamond brothers in order to weaken the wealthy Hawk importer.
“William obviously didn’t put up with such behaviour and fought his enemies by becoming a smuggler.”
I rolled my wrists, encouraging blood to flow into my fingertips. “How?”
“The mines at Almasi Kipanga gave many ranges of diamonds. Some of low grade. Some of high. The lower grade, William mixed with quartz and other invaluable gemstones, pretending the shipment contained millions worth of invaluable cargo. He’d allow the hijacking and sacrifice the haul without losing anything of value.
“The king was aware of the ruse and allowed him to create tales and fiction of robberies and bankruptcy. But what the thieves didn’t know was, William had found better ways to transport. He lost his reputation of respectful decorum and embraced a notoriety of strict and fearful.
“His trusted warriors ensured his mystery increased, killing those who opposed him, creating a formidable empire no one could take down. Not even the king.”
Cut stopped before me. “That wealth started our dynasty and the power that ensured we were above the Weavers, even though they’d been the court seamstresses and royal designers for decades. It was the same power that made the Weavers run like vermin, hiding in their new Spanish home, believing they were safe from any other claimant on the contract.”
I frowned. “So William never made Marion pay the Debt Inheritance? He let her live?”
Cut smiled. “There’s something you didn’t know about William. Something Jethro shares with his great-great—too many great ancestor.”
I smiled, happy I’d seen within the lines of his story. “I think I know what that is.”
Cut narrowed his eyes. “I suppose, after being so close to my son, that would make sense. For the purpose of full disclosure. What is it?”
My arms ached to hold Jethro. My heart throbbed to be with him, away from this place. I held my lover’s eyes as I muttered, “He was an Empath, too.”
“Exactly.” Cut nodded. “An unfortunate trait that runs in the family. It wasn’t diagnosed or even recognised as a condition. But records and voyage logs give hints into William’s emotional perception. His disease prevented him from hurting the one girl he was owed.”
Cut moved toward me, his body heat defiling mine. My feet moved for every one of his, moving in a slow waltz around the room.
“Because William was so weak emotionally, he felt the brunt of inflicted pain. He’d endured discomfort in his merchant world. He’d seen things, done things, and lived through things he couldn’t shake when having to deliver agony first-hand. Unfortunately, the thought of carrying out the same punishment, of whipping her for his grandfather and ducking her for his aunt, and raping her for his father—he knew he couldn’t do it.”
Cut’s story achieved two things. One, it showed that although my ancestors had been conceited and cruel, Sonya had been compassionate and kind. And even though the Hawks were insane today; back then, they sounded upstanding and courageous.
Cut’s voice cut through my musing. “Instead of taking her for his own, William let Marion marry and breed. He married himself and accepted the gift of land from the crown to build our home, Hawksridge Hall.”
Cut stopped moving; I stopped backing away.
His white hair flickered with the electric lamps around the room. His voice turned raspy from delivering such a long tale. “Unfortunately for William, his firstborn, Jack Hawk, was nothing like his father. Jack willingly accepted the Debt Inheritance when he came of age.”
I finally understood why, through so many generations, only a select few inheritances had been claimed. There would’ve been more Hawks like Jethro—especially if it was a common trait. And my family didn’t take the threat seriously because the claiming wasn’t strictly enforced.
Cut didn’t speak again for a minute, letting history fade around us, allowing ghosts to settle back into their coffins.
Taking a deep breath, he finished, “So you see, Nila. We had our own hardships. We knew what it was like to rise from the gutter. And the Weavers couldn’t stop us.”
I squirmed in my ropes, hating he’d come to an end—knowing it meant only one thing. I’d enjoyed the lesson, but I wanted to run from whatever debt he would make me repay. “But you have so much. Why bother hurting others when you no longer need to?”
Cut scowled. “Why do politicians lie? Why do the richest families in the world create war? Why do those who have the power to fix global poverty choose to exploit and murder instead?” His fingers kissed my cheek. “Nila, the world is black beneath the skirts of society. We aren’t any different from others.”
“That’s not true. I don’t believe that.”
“Don’t believe what?”
“That other men do this. Hurt others.”
Cut laughed loudly. “Don’t you pay attention to the news? Do you not see between the lines of what a corrupted, blackmailed globe we live in?”
I looked away.
Jethro continued to wriggle. Nervous sweat beaded on his forehead while wildness glowed in his eyes.
We both understood time had run out. Cut was ready for the next part of this sick and twisted game.
“I do agree some families control every earthly asset.” I stood tall and defiant. “I agree death to them is as simple as a signature or a whispered word. What I don’t agree with is why. Why do you have to do this?”
Cut marched quickly and gathered me close in his arms. “Because I can, Nila. That’s all.” Letting me go, he prowled to the table where items I didn’t want to look at rested. “Now, enough history. I’ve rambled on long enough, and it’s starting to get boring. Let’s get to the exciting part, shall we?
“Let’s pay the rest of the Fourth Debt.”
