𝘊𝘖𝘕 𝘖𝘍 𝘙𝘌𝘝𝘌𝘕𝘎𝘌 | ᴘʀᴇ ʀᴅʀ2

Chapter Twenty-Two

A few days passed. Rosalie continued to stop by the orphanage to see Annie. The little girl was still making considerable improvements with her English, and it was obvious that she felt more confident in her ability to speak the language, as she played with the other children more often. Rosalie had taken notice of this change before, but now, Annie would always be playing dolls or hide and seek with the other kids when she came by.

Rosalie considered not even making her presence known when she came by and saw her playing. It was more important for Annie to build relationships with kids her age rather than spend time talking with Rosalie, but those attempts at remaining undetected usually weren't successful. Annie would catch a glimpse of Rosalie out of the corner of her eye and propel herself into her arms. It was sweet. Rosalie knew it would be hard to leave her when the time came.

During the meeting between her grandfather and the rest of the Van Der Linde gang, her grandfather confessed that this 'William Forswood' character usually played dirty, and was known for his underhanded tactics. He was not a good man.

The Forswoods were a new-age family who wanted to get their foot in the door of the tobacco and alcohol business, but it was difficult to compete against the Montgomerys, whose business had been established since the 1700s. The Forswoods were a small name compared to the Montgomerys.

Rosalie told her grandfather about how they had already caught them smuggling goods in from ports in New Orleans, and that Forswood was doing business with the O'Driscolls.

Her grandfather didn't ask about what business Rosalie had specifically with the O'Driscolls, or why she knew of them in the first place. She was thankful for that. He probably assumed it was because her father was an outlaw, so she would be generally familiar with these people because of that. Little did he know that it was far from the truth.

Charlie seemed to be well aware of the lifestyle she led, but he didn't ask too many questions, as it seemed as if he would rather be spared the details. He would sleep more soundly if he didn't know what she spent most of her time doing. Rosalie wouldn't mind leaving that information out anyway. The less he knew the better.

George, on the other hand, was definitely interested and somewhat suspicious of her knowledge of the O'Driscolls. He seemed to think there was another reason she was so interested in the gang.

He never asked outright, but he could tell there was something more to her and the O'Driscoll gang. Rosalie knew he had questions just from his staring throughout the conversation between Dutch and her grandfather. There was a look in his eye that made it seem as though he wanted to ask more, but did not think it was appropriate with their audience. Rosalie was thankful for his tactfulness as it was not a subject she treaded easily.

Dutch told Charlie they would put a stop to the smuggling at Lake Catherine by the end of the month. If they eliminated both Colm and Cormac, Forswood would have no one left to do business with.

Rosalie wasn't sure that just killing Colm and Cormac would solve the problems of snakelike business tactics. If this Forswood character wanted to undercut her grandfather and stooped as low as working with a criminal gang, then what other means did he have? She thought they needed to get rid of him too, but she wasn't sure how. It wouldn't be a clean business, that was for sure.

Not that being clean per se was something that Rosalie was concerned with. They would get rid of him by any means necessary. As Dutch said, playing dirty was something they were capable of, especially Rosalie.

"We could frame him," Rosalie offered. "Maybe for embezzlement? Or theft? He does have an established business, so maybe that's how we get rid of him?"

Dutch shook his head. "No, that's not good enough. We're talking about a man with a lot of money. He could just pay someone off if we put him in the position to be 'caught'. The local law might not even care."