We all remain seated as the figure approaches us. His swaying lantern causes us not to have a clear image of the man.

"Welcome to the Drysdale Plantation, cousin." His gruff voice says, breaking the eerie silence that had surrounded us during our short trip. Confusion spreads over us and everyone casts uncertain looks at each other. The man comes to a halt and looms over us, finally steadying his lantern.

"Don't look at me like a cow at a train, Annabelle. Didn't your parents learn you any good manners?" He sneers, kicking the skiff with his heavy boot. Gawking at the man, I finally make out details of his appearance. Although he's wearing a fitted suit, complete with vest and all, it's creased and mud lingers at the bottom of his trousers. A round belly is tucked safely away behind a double row of buttons. A round face with a neatly trimmed moustache balances on top of his shoulders, as if his neck is missing.

"Of course, you don't know who I am." He mutters, before he hides a cough behind his fist.

"Get out of the skiff so I can properly introduce myself." He says with another kick at the skiff. When it stops rocking, the five of us get out.

The man lets out a groan. "And you didn't exactly listen to the letter, did ya?" he says, his eyes lingering over every one of my friends' faces. "I see no reason to trust the people who abducted my sister and husband." I reply.

The man clacks his tongue. "Such unkind words said to your family, Annabelle. Granpa Rod would be disappointed in you." He laughs at my lack of comprehension. "You are my niece, little Annabelle. Which of course makes this all the jollier, don't ya think? A small family reunion before your life will change for good." His eyes turn a darker shade as he turns the lantern away and struts towards the mansion in front of us. We follow silently, the fog swirling around our feet and sending chills down our spine.

As we approach the estate, the door at the top of the staircase opens, revealing a beacon of light into the darkness that has set over the plantation. I try to look at Cilia, but she keeps her dark brown eyes focused on the building in front of us.

In the beacon of light, the shadow of a man appears. Something about his appearance breathes of power, even though his features are still hidden from us. He radiates confidence as we climb up the stairs underneath his torching stare. Finally, as the warmth of the inside, brushes against our cheeks, do we see his face.

The man looks at us with cold, calculated eyes, skimming over every one of us before his eyes finally land on me. Without saying a word, he turns around, allowing us to follow him.

When we enter the plantation, I can hear Cilia's gasp for air. We're standing at the bottom of a massive ebony staircase. A thick red carpet dulls our footsteps. With a sudden turn, the man stops a few feet away from the first step. His dark hair holds gray strands as it is neatly combed over. He towers over us, looming like a predator trying to pick his first course. His steal blue eyes focus on something behind us.

"Carmody." He simply says.

Before anyone of us can register what happens, a gun goes off and Griffin shouts out in pain. Cilia immediately rushes to his side, supporting him before he crashes onto the solid wooden floor. We all turn around in shock, watching as two figures appear from somewhere behind us. Cilia raises her head and audibly groans in anger.

Still pointing his gun at Griffin, Mr. Adler Drysdale approaches, Mrs. Winnie Drysdale silently following behind him like a ghost.

"Let this be a warning, Mrs. Whitacre. You do not follow the rules, I will find a way to make you." The anonymous man says, returning my attention back to him. I glance back at Griffin who holds his arm. Blood is staining his deep green vest, but the injury seems minor. I glare back at the man, trying to kill him with nothing but willpower. A sudden gasp, returns my attention to the scenery behind me.

Cilia is still holding onto Griffin, supporting him to stand up. Adler Drysdale's gun is now pointed at the two of them, his eyes going from one to the other. However, it was Winnie who had gasped for she has turned pale and is shaking uncontrollably.

With a quivering lip, she raises her hand, only to let it hang mid air. "Cilia?" the older woman's voice croaks. Immediately Cilia turns her head, confronting both her parents with her presence. Sadness and sorrow washes over Winnie Drysdales face as it drains her energy not to break down in the middle of room. All eyes are on the three of them, observing their reactions.

"You were banished from these grounds." Adler Drysdale huffs, pointing his gun directly at Cilia. To all of our surprise, Cilia rolls her eyes and straightens her back. "You're not going to shoot me, Papa. You do not have the backbone for that."

Winnie gasps. Mr. Drysdale visibly loses a few tints of color as his hands start to tremble.

"Don't let the wench get to you, Adler." The voice of the man booms through the room once more. With a snap I look back at him. With steady passes, he approaches the Drysdales. "You've always been weak when it came to your daughter. Even now, when she's no longer under your responsibility or care, does she have control over you." He says, taking over the gun that is still shaking in Mr. Drysdale's hand. Mrs. Drysdale is obviously relieved to find the gun no longer in her husbands hands.

"Well, this was never meant to be a family reunion, but here we found ourselves once more. Now, perhaps the likes of you would prefer some tea in the greenroom to catch up whilst I go on and both Reed and Judy remain safely locked somewhere in this estate? Or shall we talk business now?" The man says with an emotionless voice. But when he turns around his blue eyes are burning with fury.

"Mrs. Whitacre, you disappointed me by your lack of loyalty. Not only did you not come by yourself, but you brought no more than four other people with you. Which makes this all the more complicated and delicate, as you understand. Now, at least I hope, I can count on your integrity to have a moment to talk with you alone over a nice glass of rhum."

His statement isn't meant as a question and he takes off to a door next to the massive staircase. "Wait!" I yell behind him. He throws me an annoyed glare when he turns around. "If I decide to talk to you, can you guarantee my friends' safity?"

The man lets out a haughty laugh that seems to resound from the walls of the room. "Please, Mrs. Whitacre, you truly believe you have a choice in the matter. I am going to make you a proposal which I know you will accept. The only thing that might want to make you comply a little faster is the fact that I cannot guarantee how many casualties will happen..." he says as he looks at the bunch of people gathered behind my back "if you decide to act difficult."

Without looking back, he steps out of the room into the adjoining space. I look at the people behind me. Joane has a murderous look in her eyes as she burns holes with her stare to wherever the man just disappeared. Farah is standing next to Griffin, taking a look at the wound on his arm. Cilia is also standing next to Griffin, her arm still wrapped around his torso, although I do not believe it is completely necessary. Joane wants open her mouth but it is the man from the jetty who suddenly grabs my arm and pulls me into the direction of where the other one disappeared.

"See this as a family favour, cousin. You don't want to mess with Mr. Leverett." He grunts as he pushes me inside the room and closes it firmly.

"Ah, at last you decided to grace me with your presence, Mrs. Whitacre. I was already considering killing your colored friend." The man going by Mr. Leverett says as he observes his nails whilst he's standing in front of a big window. The thought of him hurting Farah makes my blood coil.

The outside world is dark, causing the windows to reflect the both of us standing in what I assume is the dining room of the Drysdale Plantation. A broad wooden table is placed squarely between us.

"Please, take a seat." Mr. Leverett instructs me. I concide to his order and take a seat at the Drysdale dining table.

"Finally do I have you where I want you, Mrs. Whitacre." He starts, his eyes focused on my appearance in the window. Uneasily I clasp my hands together in my lap, trying to stop them from shaking.

"Of course, you have no idea what's going on." He continues, his voice taunting and mocking.

"You killed Sir Banner." I say, my voice vaster than I had dared to imagine. "And you also killed Mr. Boudrot."

Mr. Leverett turns around and observes me quietly. "Perhaps I did underestimate you, Mrs. Whitacre." He remains silent for a while, chewing his next words.

"You must've been so afraid not knowing where Mr. Whitacre was, finding out he was taken by a murderer and then discovering that bastard has your sister as well." I grit my teeth as the evil man in front of me admits to all his crimes.

"Before you consider me the villain in this story, Mrs. Whitacre, I want to ask you a question. Do you know what's going on outside of the Sacred Dry?"

When he turns his gaze back towards me, I remain silent. "Did your dear husband indulge you in all of his secrets? Or was he as stupid as the rest not to believe the rumors that a foreign army is waiting at the border of the States, waiting for their chance to use our dissension against us and take away our freedom?"

Unbelieving of what I hear, I shake my head.

"You would be surprised if you knew how people do know, Mrs. Whitacre. Your husband is one of them. And what has he done to stop the enemy invading our homes? He protects those who sow dissension in our government. But I can't blame him, he doesn't know any better." Mr. Leverett turns away from the window and stares at me intently.

"But I am certain you do know better. After all, you know what a warm home is. Back in Eauville, your family was the example of loyalty and care. It is in such a way that the descendant of the one who left the founding family in search for better, has turned jealous over it. Oriel Mcgoldnick, the man who did not hesitate to take one of his own nieces and deliver her in my hands, without knowing my plans with her, is standing in the other room. He didn't hesitate to sacrifice you when he pushed you in here. Merely because his father, Caspar Mcgoldnick, turned bitter over his own choice to leave a good and decent home. He had gambled away all his earnings and your great-grandfather refused to take him back for he had disgraced the family."

I gawk at him, trying to understand this new information and how Mr. Leverett had come to know of my family's history. "My great-grandfather? What does my family have to do with a foreign army waiting to invade us?" I blurt out, trying to wrap my head around the conversation.

"Families like yours, Mrs. Whitacre, families who believe blood is earned and have an undying devotion for their own, are the only thing that keeps the States safe. It's families like yours that I am trying to protect."

"By kidnapping and forcing them?" I resort.

"I am not an evil person because I want to protect my home, Mrs. Whitacre. I thought you would understand. You risked not only your own life but also the lifes of your friends to rescue your husband and sister."

I swallow. Mr. Leverett was right, when it came to that. I endangered my friends by letting them join me. But they will forever be endangered. It didn't even matter what I did. Or they would be threatened by Mr. Leverett or they would be threatened by this foreign army he kept talking about.

"This is bigger than you." He say, repeating the words Joane used to shake me awake. "That's why I make this simple proposal: you and your dear spy husband leave the Sacred Dry so that I can focus on what needs to happen. Your sister will return safely to her home in Eauville. I ask of you not to return nor to contact anyone. Just disappear. As long as you do that, I promise I will make sure your family will be safe under my power."

"You will protect my family if I leave?"

"As long as you keep your promise to leave and never come back." Mr. Leverett says, observing the ring around his finger.

"I truly wish this nightmare to end." I start to which he raises his gaze back at me. His blue eyes seem unnerved. "But a man like you should be punished for your crimes. No matter your intentions, your ways are vile and dishonest. You murdered Mr. Banner and Mr. Boudrot. They had families, they deserved your protection against this enemy as well."

"Not when they are the reason, they are gaining power." Mr. Leverett replied, anger seeping through every word. A dark curl falls in front of his forehead but he doesn't brush it away. "I am trying to be diplomatic here, Mrs. Whitacre, for I can't have any more blood on my hands. I want you to leave with a clear conscience for I know that's what it will take for you to fully stand behind your decision. Men like Banner and Boudrot are corrupt. They give their votes and power to those who pay. Unfortunately for us, the men sitting in the Counsel aren't all rich bastards trying to keep their fortune. Some of these men are hungry for the end of the States as we know them. This isn't about keeping the Sacred Dry to the rich. It's about an entire country, on the verge of being sacrificed to an even more corrupt and dangerous people."

"Shouldn't it be the task of the government to protect us against this enemy?" I interject.

"Our government is incapable. You've witnessed so yourself. Or how else do you explain you sitting here instead of the pretentious Night Guards taking Mr. Whitacre's disppearance seriously?" Mr. Leverett says, rubbing a finger along his neatly shaven, square chin.

I remain silent, letting the new information drown me. Joane was right all along. This wasn't about me. This wasn't even about Reed. We were just pieces on the board that needed to disappear for greater things to start working.

"Believe me when I say, Mrs. Whitacre, that I am not a bad man. I merely want to protect our homes." Mr. Leverett interupts my thoughts. His voice is sincere and low, as if indulging me in a secret.

The fatigue of the dayslong search, the constant rush of emotions and physical exhaustion hits me square in the gut. I need more time to think, to comprehend what has actually happened in this room. But that's the thing, I don't have the time to weigh my options. Instead I need to choose for the safety of the ones I hold dear. Tears of weariness and disappointment threaten to escape my eyes. I clench my fists, pressing my nails in the palm of my hand.

I want my mom. I think before I realize that should I continue even that small wish will forever remained unfulfilled.

"Fine." I let my head down in defeat. A strand of hair tumbles over my forehead but I am too drained to care. Mr. Leverett straightens his back and walks towards the door.

"Oriel, the girl and Mr. Whitacre." He orders before he returns to me.

"Before we go, I need to know why my sister is involved in all of this?" I ask, standing up and walking towards Mr. Leverett.

He remains silent and looks genuinely sorry when he catches my eyes. "A miscalculation. I had never expected you to bring your friends. I needed something to bargain with." I grit my teeth, my fist trembling at my side. I want this to stop so badly but there's no point of return.

"She was treated well, Mrs. Whitacre. I promise you I will keep her safe." Mr. Leverett says, his hand folded on top of his chest. I can't help but look at him in disdain. "You keep your part of the deal, I'll keep mine." I warn.

"You've made the best decision." He says finally before I step through the door.

"It's not like I had a choice."