The grave of Arthur Vance stood alone on the hillside, quiet and cold.
But what greeted them there turned the silence into something far worse. The headstone had been doused in animal blood, dark and crusted in streaks down the polished stone. Carved into its surface, gouged deep enough to be permanent, were words meant to desecrate:
"Old Dog Vance got what was coming to him."
The moment Sarah Vance saw it, her eyes rolled back and she collapsed, fainting on the spot from the sheer force of her grief and rage.
Tobias Vance trembled in his wheelchair, his reddened eyes burning as he muttered through clenched teeth, "They deserve to die. Every last one of them deserves to die."
Elias Vance's fists tightened slowly at his sides, his fingernails digging so deep into his palms that blood w
