Sally paused as if she was deciding whether or not to tell me, then she spilled the beans. “To my understanding, Sara refused to marry him without the policy.” Why would I be shocked? Sara was very resourceful. Of course, she’d marry Charlie and take his riches. I felt like I didn’t even know my own mother.
My teeth gritted, furiously. It all made sense now. “Go on! Finish!”
“The last one, Francis, he was a liability. He was a loose cannon and was wanted for armed robbery in Texas.”
“What?” I gagged on the word.
“Francis was a small-time thug, though a bit ambitious. He knew about Sara’s arrangement with the Family. After he and your mother gambled their entire fortune away, Francis set out to blackmail Van for more money or else he’d go public and expose the Family’s dark secrets. He
