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This fucker had to give in. He had no proof the test was tampered with. He would have to give in and agree to return the bride-price that was the only thing keeping their miserable family afloat.
But he didn’t.
“I think you’re full of bullshit, Étienne. I don’t think you have a shortage of women. I know you could fuck any woman this side of the mountain if you wanted. That’s always been true. But I think despite all the bullshit you’ve been spewing for weeks, you are in fact very attached to your wife and child.”
Everything seemed to freeze inside me, and I had to fight the urge to curl my fingers against the table, to make any outward sign that his words had affected me.
“Attached to a whore? You’re a fool. I wouldn’t forgive that.”
But Yves shook his head.
"You see, I only let you marry the girl I knew for sure was head-over-heels in love with you. You think I’d risk sending a woman who didn’t love you, knowing the power you held over us with this bride-price? I’m going to call your bluff. I think you have no intention of casting aside your wife. Or of abandoning your child.”
“That’s not my child. I don’t care what happens to it.”
Yves leaned forward.
“I think when this damn bastard child comes out, it’s going to have hair black as night.”
“Have you ever known me to be fucking soft?” I snapped as hairs raised on my back of my neck. “I’m not raising some other man’s child. Give me what I ask or I will send your daughter out to the back of the mountain.”
But Yves only raised an eyebrow.
“Étienne, I was on the other side of the negotiating table for that bride-price. You didn’t negotiate like Étienne Bastide. You didn’t negotiate like the cruel, bloodthirsty killer I know you are. You negotiated like a man in love. You negotiated soft.”
“Bullshit,” I said coldly. “I care nothing for your daughter.”
But my hands were gripping the table, and I heard rather than saw shifting back and forth.
Men getting ready. Men sensing violence in the air.
“I’ve been fucking every woman’s wet cunt I could find since finding out your daughter is a whore.”
Yves raised an eyebrow.
“Have you?” he said, his voice silky-smooth. “I don’t think you have. I think this is all an act. I think you’ve never had the smallest intention of fucking another woman. I think you’ve been hiding Léonie away somewhere safe until you get what you want from us.”
Anger was curling inside me, building along my spine.
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it? Then I have another deal for you. 1/4th the bride-price back and we will send someone to take care of the problem for you.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean leave the gate open where she’s staying one day and let us do the rest.”
The proposal sat thickly in the air between us, stank and festering.
And I realized I had fucked up.
I had made one fatal mistake.
And it was going to fuck up every plan I had made for taking the Pinoteaux down.
I assumed Léonie‘s father valued his only daughter.
But he’d only cared about the bride-price.
