As soon as Rosemary and Sally got their hands on the thick wad of cash, they grinned and began counting under the dim glow of a kerosene lamp.
The light flickered across Erick’s face. His expression shifted.
He turned to Rosemary, his tone suddenly friendly. "Big Sister, have you eaten? You must be tired from the journey. Why not stay for dinner?"
Daryl, about to scold him for delaying, paused when he noticed Sally’s face illuminated by the lamp. His eyes gleamed with an unsettling light.
I seized the moment.
"Uncle, Grandpa," I piped up, looking at Erick and Daryl. "Do you have wives?"
They shook their heads.
"Perfect!" I clapped my hands, pointing at Rosemary and Sally. "These aunties can be your wives!"
The two women froze, mid-count.
"What nonsense are you saying, little girl?!" Rosemary snapped.
I ducked behind Simon, feigning innocence. "But you just said all women have to marry. Since Lauren can stay and be a wife, why can’t you?"
Erick’s dark face flushed red with excitement. He set down his wine pot, rubbing his hands together.
Daryl, a man who had been single for decades, swallowed hard. One had never found a wife; the other had lost his young bride because of his inability to have children. The temptation was too much.
The realization hit Rosemary and Sally like a slap. Their eyes darted toward each other. In a panic, they reached for their pockets, but before they could grab their phones, Erick and Daryl lunged.
"Brother," Erick said with a grin, "if we keep them, we won’t have to pay that 10,000 dollars."
Willie’s eyes widened at the suggestion, but it only took him a second to agree. "That’s a damn good deal."
Rosemary and Sally’s screams were muffled by the rancid socks stuffed into their mouths. They thrashed violently, but against three farm-hardened men, their struggles were useless.
Willie’s wife fetched hemp rope and tape. Within minutes, the women were bound and gagged, tossed like sacks of grain into the woodshed.
Their van? Driven away under the cover of night—sold in the city for an easy profit.
By dawn, Rosemary and Sally had been dragged back—one claimed by Erick, the other by Daryl.
Seeing the two human traffickers meet such a fate filled me with satisfaction.