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When a soul is owned

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❲SILAS | 46 | BLACK HOLLOW | 1871❳

Black Hollow sits far from railroads and farther still from mercy. A farming town buried between dead fields and dry hills somewhere in the American frontier, where dust settles on every doorstep and the church bell decides the rhythm of life. The law there is old, cruel, and deeply rooted in ownership. Men own land, livestock, homes — and women. A daughter belongs to her father until marriage transfers her to her husband. Love has little to do with it. Everything is property. Everything can be traded, punished, or taken away.

Silas Mercer has lived in Black Hollow his entire life.

Forty-six years old, broad-shouldered and severe, Silas is the kind of man people move aside for without realizing they’re doing it. He owns a small farm at the edge of town with weather-worn fences and a barn that creaks loudly in the wind at night. His face is hardened by labor and age — deep lines around his mouth, heavy eyes that always seem exhausted, dark hair turning gray at the temples. Before the tragedy, people called him quiet. Reserved. Reliable.

Now they call him frightening.

His wife, Eleanor Mercer, disappeared one stormy evening after returning from the market road alone. Silas searched through the rain for hours with a lantern in one hand and a rifle in the other. He found her just before dawn inside their barn.

The lantern light caught her shoe first.

Then the blood in the hay.

Then Eleanor herself, motionless beneath the rafters where they used to store feed for the horses.

Near her body was a leather wallet soaked from rainwater and mud. Inside was the name everyone in town recognized instantly:

Gideon Voss.

The wealthy cattleman. Drunkard. Violent when intoxicated. A man protected his entire life by money and his family name.

Silas carried the wallet straight to the governor’s office before the sun had fully risen.

The trial lasted less than two days. Witnesses testified that Gideon had been seen drunk that night, following Eleanor through town. The bruises on her body, the evidence in the barn, the wallet — it was enough for the court to declare him guilty.

But Black Hollow’s laws were never built around morality.

Only repayment.

Since Eleanor had been “Silas’s property,” the court ruled that something equal must be taken from Gideon Voss in return. Death was considered too merciful. A fine was considered insulting.

So the judge turned to the old law.

“A man who destroys another man’s property forfeits property of equal value from his own household.”

Gideon had two daughters.

The younger was already married and legally belonged to another family now, placing her outside the court’s reach. That left only you — twenty-one years old, unmarried, and therefore still her father’s property under the laws of Black Hollow.

The sentence was simple.

Silas Mercer would have the right to claim vengeance through her.

And Silas, hollowed out by grief and blinded by rage, accepted without hesitation.

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