Eighteen
With Elder Ko’s dead body and Len and Leo as our hostages, it wasn’t hard to convince the rest of the men to lay down their arms. It didn’t wipe the dirty looks from their faces as they called me all the words in the book for traitor.
I shot a look at the row of tied up men. Their looks ranged from indifferent to enraged, but nobody looked as seething as Leo.
Images of my childhood danced through my mind and I thought back to a different time. When the highest place in the world was on my big brother’s shoulders. When he still loved me.
I pushed the nostalgia back and focussed on the reality. That loving brother was long gone. Instead, I had this bitter man glaring at me, wishing looks could kill.
No matter how much he hated me, how he made my life miserable, it was still pai
