❝ You know, I have the feeling I'm gonna marry you someday, Oak.❞
- What would you do if you found out murder ran through your own blood?
And that, that blood was going to be the reason for the island's biggest case in the history of its existenc...
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WARD CAMERON AND ARTHUR CLIFTON have always been two peas in a pod. And it all goes back to the year 1971, when the two met by act of their parents. They were just kids, and they grew up on different sides of the Outer Banks, but they had a Pogue-Kook bond no one in the island had seen. When Arthur's parents sent him all the way to Poland for college, Ward had thought it would be the last time he saw his best friend.
But as a strange coincidence, he came back and married his sister.
Beatrice Cameron.
Ward and Arthur became twice as inseparable, united by their psychopathy and their odd obsession with money and success. They'd even tried to line up the pregnancies of their children in hopes of making them grow together and thrive in life as they'd done.
But because of that toxic love for power and recognition, the two men share something that makes the lives of their black sheep children a living hell. Ambition. Ambition so strong they don't care who steps in their way— be them their child, their partner, a whole city— they'll push. And they'll shove hard.
A year ago, when Ward had gotten into the whole Merchant mystery of the gold, Arthur had tried to negotiate with him a fair split if he offered to be their own personal attorney if anything were to go down between John Routledge or any of the kids. They were powerful, rich men, and that many times could mean getting into business they'd later regret.
Ward agreed. And the adventure began.
He hadn't been able to join the adventure out on the high seas. He had four children, one barely seven years old, and one that constantly gave him a hard time. Plus, the three men wanted anything but having eyes on their backs and drawing too much attention. So, Arthur simply waited patiently for them to come back with his gold.
But they never did.
And he was furious. He'd made deals, gotten himself into expensive cases, promised and sworn, spent and booked— all for it to be a futile and miserable journey.
And ever since that day, he made a promise to himself that he'd be the only person to have that gold. But silently.
And it's not until Ward Cameron informs him of his possession of a very peculiar compass and the truth behind the whereabouts of both their daughters alongside the filthy Pogues, Arthur is so downright infuriated, the rational sympathy a father has for his daughter dissipates into the air and all he can think about is getting that information out of his daughter.
No matter what it takes.
The two men stand inside Ward's office, discussing something about Arthur's job opportunity all the way back in Lublin, Poland, while the Clifton children and their cousins hang somewhere around the large Cameron household.
