Before the Seventh Sunset

Summary

The day the Lockwood family’s men found Nathaniel, I was out back with him, chasing chickens through the mud on our farm.

They told me he was Nathaniel Lockwood, the heir to a billion-dollar fortune, missing for five years.

"This is for your trouble over the past five years," one of them said, offering me a sleek black card. "The Lockwood family hopes you'll accept it."

I knew what it really was: hush money. A check to buy my silence and erase me from his life.

Nate’s eyes went red-rimmed, his fingers twisting in the fabric of my sleeve. He looked utterly wrecked.