"Oh, quit your yelling, I tried to warn you, Sammy." The sheriff said through the echoes of the shot still resonating through the camp.
I dropped to my knees and screamed into the snow until I had burst every capillary in my face.
"Jesus Christ, son." The sheriff said in disgust. "Enough theatrics, I didn't even act like this when your mother died."
"You killed her!" I screamed at him. "You murdered her!"
He shrugged. "I've killed a lot of people. Although, I must say, I do regret that I'm not gonna get a turn with her again. Usually I don't like redheads, but there was something about her. Like father, like son I guess." He laughed.
"I told her not to come, I told her not to come," I mumbled, barely coherent. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut the fuck up!" I screamed at him. Grigg took a step toward me but my father stopped him with a hand.
"Let him throw his tantrum. He did the same thing when I took away his toys as a kid, this ain't no different."
Richards stepped over Kimber's lifeless body and exchanged a few quiet words with the sheriff. I couldn't hear them over the dry heaving of my stomach, which didn't stop until my abdominal muscles ached from the force of them.
"Richards just had an interesting idea - you're in for a real treat, Sam. Get him up," the sheriff said to the men behind me. They hauled me to my feet and shoved me in the direction of my father. I stumbled but didn't fall.
"We don't use it too much anymore on account of the noise, but how about we throw your girlfriend's body into the Shiny Gentleman and scatter her bone fragments all over the mountain?" He slapped me on the back. "That way she can be here at the mine for all eternity! I bet she'd like that."
I was shaking so violently I could barely wipe the blood out of my eyes. "No." I said and fell back down on my knees in the snow.
"No? Are you sure?" He asked. I could hear the smile in his voice.
"No. No, please." My voice broke over my words.
The sheriff's smile fell into a look of distaste. "Don't beg," he spat. "It makes you look weak. Get off your fucking knees."
"Please don't touch her." I continued.
"You know what your problem is, Sam? You're not man enough to take what you want. You're not strong enough to say: fuck what's polite, fuck the consequences, fuck the law."
"You're a fucking cop!" I choked.
"See? Now there's a bit of spirit. Sometimes in life you just have to claim what should be yours. That's what society is built on. Now our operation may not work within the laws of the land but we sure as hell work within the government."
"But Whitney. Look what it did to her. This place- "
"I ain't gonna warn you again, boy, keep my daughter's name out of your mouth."
"Which daughter?" I asked.
The sheriff sneered. "What can I say? Whitney is a beautiful name."
"It's sick. You're sick. You need help."
"I have help. Look around you, Sammy." He gestured to the fourteen men standing in a half circle around me. "I am a sultan. These are my governors and that is my harem."
