AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“But you’re not denying it. And that’s because you think you’re the smartest man in the room. Did you ever even truly believe anything you were extolling in Canaan? Or was it all an act? Did you see being an ‘elder’ in the village as a way to flex your power and control people?”
His cheeks reddened. “Donotquestion my faith.”
She was hitting a nerve.
She glanced at Duke, and he nodded. He must know something she didn’t.
She needed to keep talking.
“Is a power trip really faith?” she continued. “True faith demands sacrifice. Taking up your cross. Loving your neighbor as yourself.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“You started by putting the women and children in their places,” she said. “Power. Then you manipulated leaders into giving you that land. You probably wanted that village to grow and grow. For people to hold you in high esteem. In fact, you probably had mommy issues. She wasn’t very nice to you, was she?”
His nostrils flared even more as he seethed.
“Did she emasculate you? Is that why you have such a hard time right now? But you’ve learned to hide it behind a mask of propriety.”
Tommy turned toward Duke as if he were personally in charge of Andi. “Don’t you know you need to put her in her place? You’re letting a woman talk to a man like that? Women should be silent! They’re troublemakers and gossips. All they do is make life harder for the men around them. That’s why they need to be disciplined!”
All of this was coming from a man who apparently was never married.
And . . . Tommy had a lot to learn. Did he think Duke and Andi were together?
Duke remained tense as he said, “Andi is her own woman, and I wouldn’t change anything about that.”
A touch of satisfaction stretched through Andi at his words.
Andi waited to see what Tommy would say next.
She knew this fight was far from being over.
* * *
How was Tommy going to talk his way out of this one? Duke wondered. Certainly not by setting the women’s rights movement back fifty years.
At once, Tommy seemed to realize he’d given away too much. He straightened and rolled his shoulders back.
“You’re all out of your mind,” Tommy said. “So desperate for answers that you believe anything.”
“You’ve gotten away with this for eight years.” Duke stepped closer. “You thought you were going to get away with it for a lot longer—until Craig started digging into things. There’s no need to deny it anymore. We all know that’s what happened.”
Sweat beaded across Tommy’s forehead and his shoulders—rolled back seconds earlier—now slumped again.
The next instant, he raised something in his hand.
Some type of remote with a single red button.
“This place is rigged to go up in flames,” Tommy announced. “All I have to do is press this igniter, and you’re all doomed.”
Gasps filled the room.
“Put your phones down,” Tommy demanded. “On the floor in front of me. Then stand together.”
Duke hadn’t seen this one coming.
His only comfort was in knowing Ranger was nearby.
