The Queen They Buried

23

“You should finish your business and get out of here as soon as you can. The village chief definitely has his eyes on you,” Josephine said, her eyes red after the village chief and his group left.

She knew that after she took Samuel down, the village chief wouldn’t let her–or them–off the hook.

Josephone thought her life was worthless, so she no longer cared. But she couldn’t drag Aubree and Bowen down with her.

“It’s just a village chief, so why is everyone so afraid of him?” Aubree asked the question that had been on her mind since her very first day in the village.

She could easily notice that everyone here looked both startled and scared whenever the village chief was mentioned.

Josephine shook her head as she stammered in a trembling voice, “You guys have no idea…”

There was real fear in Josephine’s eyes as she recounted, “The current village chief used to be a thug–a real scoundrel. He was notorious in the village for all kinds of dirty deeds. There was nothing he wouldn’t do. When he ran for village chief, he went door to door, demanding everyone vote for him.

down they wouldn’t vote for him… Well, they vanished without a trace. You can’t even find a shadow of them in the

as chief, he rounded up all the local thugs and formed this so–called ‘security team. They were supposedly here to keep the peace, but in reality, if anyone dares

everyone in the village looked down on them. But now, with the chief backing them, they’re riding high, doing all his dirty work. Even if

the payback would

in the village became scared, and before long, whatever the chief said was final. He had the entire

family. But everyone knew that back when the chief was running

the folks here can’t do anything, don’t

let out a bitter laugh in response, “All these years, the chief’s made a ton of money. He’s no fool. He has been lining the pockets of those above him for ages. If anything significant is about to happen, he receives a warning in advance. They would

stuff.

county head and

already more than enough trouble for them. Adding the county head into the mix turned it into a nightmare. That’s why, for all these years, Ridgehaven Town fiercely resisted anyone trying to bring about change, whether they were businessmen or government officials, all because

what the chief wanted, once those outsiders left, they’d

after getting a nod from him, she turned to Josephine and asked, “Miss Walls, do you know anything