“That wasn’t us,” Chip sneered. “And you know it.”
“Who was it then?”
“Our business partner, Bruno Orlov.” Dickie smiled.
“Dynamo Development,” Kiersten whispered.
Chip smiled. “You’ve been paying attention. We launder his money through our building projects.”
“He’s got a son named Alex Orlov,” Trey said. “Talented kid, especially considering he’s only fourteen years old. We hired him to harassCaitlin Mondello. And to pick a fight at school with your son Luke. And to bully that weird girl with blue hair who’s always wearing a cape. And to show up at the Harvest Festival and plant the idea that his family was going to move in next door. You were supposed to get so frustrated that you’d move to a different school district. I never thought you’d starthomeschooling.”
Kiersten’s eyes narrowed as she struggled to understand so much evil. It was one thing to target adults ... but children too? “All in an effort to drive us away.”
Chip nodded. “The bloody papers nailed to the tree. The noose on Lillian’s porch. The cockroaches and sex ads on Craigslist. You guys were supposed to become so scared and anxious to get out of here that you’d take the first lowball offer that came your way from a buyer who is actually Dynamo Development.”
“Then we tear down those old houses you guys live in and build three new McModern Farmhouses on each lot,” Trey said. “And make millions.”
“Where does Aspen come into all this?” Kiersten asked.
“Aspen documents the construction process on Instagram. She picks out the tile and the flooring and the fixtures, all that dumb stuff. In a couple months, she signs her HGTV contract for her new show,Happy House Life Block Party. By the time those houses are finished, we’ll have millions of views on Instagram and a season’s worth of free advertising on HGTV.”
Chip nodded. “People will get into bidding wars to buy a home on the block she made famous. And then we do it all over again in a different neighborhood. Orlov gives us dirty money. We launder it through our building projects, and it comes out clean. We sell the houses. Aspen gets a TV show and makes even more money, which adds an aura of legitimacy to the whole thing. It’s a win-win-win.”
“For everyone but you,” Trey added. “Sometimes getting to know your neighbors is deadly.”
“C’mon, Margaret, time to go,” Dickie said, attempting to pull his wife up from the cot.
Kiersten froze as the blanket shifted, leaving the bottom edge of her phone visible.
Peggy brushed his arm away. “I’m not leaving.”
Dickie rolled his eyes. “This? Again? Sixty years later?”
She shook her head vigorously. “I’m not leaving. Not this time. If you kill her, you have to kill me too.”
Dickie rolled his eyes. “Suit yourself.”
Chip’s eyes widened in horror. “I am not going to murder my ownmother.”
He went over to Peggy and took her hands. “Please, Mom. It’s time to go.”
“Peggy, you need to go with them.” Kiersten wanted to pull her up from the cot, but she couldn’t with her hands zip-tied behind her back. “Aspen and those little girls need you ... given what the men in this family are like.”
Peggy shook her head. “I’m staying with her.”
Trey heaved a sigh, then strode across the room and picked up his tiny grandmother and carried her out of the room.
Dickie turned and left the bunker. “Let’s finish this.”
The door slammed. Kiersten was alone.
Chapter One Hundred One
Piper
Piper glanced at her watch as Bella whined, “Mommy, I’mhungry.”
“I know, honey. We’ll eat lunch soon.”
