On The Border - Marry Him or Die

9

Alex’s POV

I was standing in front of the window in the guest living room; where any guest coming here would meet with my father to discuss all matters related to town, it was a huge room filled with long black leather couches. It had two entrances, one from inside the house, and a separate entrance through an outer staircase from the front yard.

My hands were clenched in fists behind my back, my mind running at a blinding speed trying to find a solution that would stop both families from killing each other, without wasting a single innocent life.

I had just received a text message confirming that my uncle and Jacob crossed into Canadian territory without any complications. At least that problem was taken care of, for now.

The gunshots have also stopped firing a while ago. Instead of comforting me, it brought a ton weight of worry inside me.

There was a saying that popped into my head just now, that really described this unfortunate situation.

Don’t fear conflict, but fear the silence. Fear the silence before the storm.

And a storm was coming all right, in full f*****g force.

Someone clears his throat from behind me, I turn around to see Mathew standing at the entrance of the room.

Mathew and his wife Sara live with us, in a separate small house next to ours. Mathew is a Snow, he was my father’s right hand. Helping him with all matters related to our business. He was my father’s age. His wife Sara helps mom with taking care of the house and cooking for us. They have been living here ever sense I opened my eyes.

Now that I am the new leader, that meant that Mathew just became my right hand.

“What is it Mathew?” I asked tightly.

“The sheriff is here to see you, Alex” he answered.

That was expected.

“Let him in, and get Lucas, Erik, and David to come here”

He nods his head and disappears.

A few minutes later, we’re all sitting on the couches, waiting for the sheriff to speak.

He looks at each one of us, his eyes landing on me at last, and says “Patrick Walker was found killed in the office of his house two hours ago, don’t bother to act surprised on my behalf please, I know one of you did it. And judging by the absence of your brother Jacob, I’m guessing that was his doing. Because frankly, killing someone in his house quietly and without causing a fuss or putting on a show is not something you’re known for, Alex” he said firmly.

If he was trying to get me to confess to anything, it was a futile attempt, and he knew it.

But then again, why is he guessing that it was Jacob if the daughter has already seen the man responsible? Something wasn’t right.

“Do you have any hard evidence in your hands sheriff, beside a lucky guess?” I asked mildly.

“Unfortunately, no. His daughter was the one who discovered the body, but she said that she didn’t see anyone enter or leave the house at the time of the murder. So there are no witnesses to confirm my theory, but unlike me, his family do not really need any evidence to demand justice for the head of their clan”

This catches me by great surprise.

Why is she lying? How come she kept quiet about my brother despite catching him red handed, literally?

What’s her motive for hiding the truth about her father’s murder?

The sheriff carries on, oblivious to the million questions roaming through my head.

“They know it was one of you, although like me, they don’t believe it was you, they are certain it was someone from your clan. Whether you ordered that hit or not, neither me or them is certain of that, either. But the end result is the same, their leader was killed from right under their noses after you clearly stated to them three days ago that you were going to kill him. Now he’s dead, his clan is promising payback and his brother and nephew are at the head of that promise, and not just any payback, they want to end anyone with the last name Snow. We are on the verge of a full on blood feud, son. I’m sure you already realized that. I prevented them from coming over here by posting my men on every road leading to this house. But I’m only delaying the inevitable here. They will come for all of you and I’m here to try and find solution before this gets out of hand. I also need to speak with Stefan Snow, as the new leader of the Snow clan, he needs to figure out something, fast”

“I’m the new head of the clan now sheriff. My father passed the leadership down to me” I declared to him plainly.

His surprise can be clearly read from his expression, as he registers what I said to him.

“Well, I don’t know whether to congratulate you or console you for taking the leadership at this unfortunate time…” he says reluctantly.

“I think the latter suits the situation best right now” I said dryly.

“So what are you planning to do about this, Alex?” he asks.

I have no f*****g idea.

The fact that I have no possible, non-violent, solution that satisfies both parties was gnawing at me for the past hour.

A true leader should be able to come up with a reasonable, fair solution for every problem without letting things escalate to the point of utter destruction.

But my mind was drawing a complete blank.

It was making me doubt my ability to lead or take care of this town my father left me in charge of too damn early.

Other than going to war, risking many lives in the process, and gaining more enemies, I couldn’t come up with anything else.

War was the only plan I’ve got. It was a guaranteed win because we outnumber them by a lot, but at what cost?

We’ll lose more than we’ll win. Lose innocent lives that will be caught in the crossfire, lose the town people’s faith in us and in our oaths to protect them and keep them safe from everything, and lose our reputation as a peaceful town that coexisted with illegal activities for a very long time without being exposed to the public and seen as a threat to society.

The longer I stayed quiet, the more I considered myself as a failure, not ready, fit, or deserving for leadership.

There is no other choice.

But maybe one last hope for things to take another turn by any miracle, with one last attempt.

I turned to the sheriff and said “I want you to go back to Patrick’s brother, Jack, and convey this message on my behalf: if he wants war to erupt in the whole town, then let it be war, but he should know that whilst their vowing to wipe our name from this town by killing every last Snow, the exact opposite will befall on them all. Because we outnumber them by a lot, we might lose some along the way, but we will be the ones to wipe them off. His brother cashed out his chips the second he decided to stab us in the back and betray our trust by joining hands with an outsider, he made his own bed and he got what he deserved for it. His death was our rightful payback, so he doesn’t get to act like we wronged his brother. It was a life for a life. He has the choice to either let it end at that and accept that his brother was at fault for how things played out or we meet in the town’s square to see who will be the last man standing”

He averted his gaze from me, probably trying to come up with another suggestion, and failing, like me.

He stands up, and we follow suit, as he nods his head and says solemnly “I’m headed over there right now, I hope he agrees to back off and control his clan, for all our sakes”

“I need something else from you sheriff” I add warily.

“What is it?”

I hesitate a little, trying to choose my words carefully “I need you to find out, very subtly, if they know the real identity of Patrick’s murderer. I need to know if they were hiding a witness from you to throw us off into letting our guard down”

He nods his head in agreement and says “I’ll call you as soon as I finish meeting with him to let you know what he said”

“Thank you for everything sheriff”

After the sheriff leaves us alone, Lucas turns to me and asks curiously “Why do you think his daughter lied about seeing Jacob?”

I shook my head in frustration “I have no idea. While there is a slight possibility that she didn’t recognize who Jacob was, she still could have given them his description, at the very least. But why she lied about not seeing anyone at all, that I can’t figure out”

We stay together in the room the entire time, anxiously waiting for the sheriff’s phone call. Mom and April join us after a while as Erik tells them everything that went down with the sheriff.

My mom stays quiet and doesn’t comment on my decision. Which made me want to hear her opinion even more, but I was afraid she might have been disappointed in me for not coming up with a better solution and I wasn’t prepared to hear that right at this moment.

I kept pacing nervously and checking my watch to keep track of the time the sheriff was taking to get back to me.

It has been 40 minutes now, and nothing happened yet.

It was nearly seven in the morning. None of us had any decent sleep in the last twenty four hours. But the tension kept us all on alert.

I ordered Mathew to let all of our men, who were stationed outside the house, to be prepared to take off for battle at any minute.

My phone rang in my pocket. I looked at the screen, and my heart started accelerating as I answered it right away.

“Talk to me Sheriff” I said tensely.

I heard a heavy sigh on the other end, and just that little response, gave me everything I needed to know before he spoke.

They chose war.