Read Online Curse of Stigmata (The Judas Reflections) by Aiden James, Michelle Wright - Free Book Online Page B

co-operation.
    She appeared from behind the curtain looking more like a madwoman, with her hair hanging loose over her face. Dressed in little more than a see-through nightgown, without saying a word, she sat at the table and grabbed a piece of bread, tearing at it with her teeth like a wild animal. I noticed then she bore fresh stigmata wounds.
    “Did I say you could eat?” I remarked.
    “You don’t tell me what to do in my own home, nor do you scare me,” she replied angrily.
    “I could easily walk away and leave you to the wolves who will be here in less than two days. Dario was deadly serious, Rachel, you’ll be taken away. What makes you think you’re above the law?”
    She didn’t answer, chewing on the bread as if her life depended on it as she stared hard at me. It had become a game she seemed determined to win at any cost.
    A firm decision had to be made, or we could all perish in prison.
    “If you don’t comply willingly, then you leave me no choice but to drag you outside and force you to dig from the front of the door to the top of the hill, until you drop dead from exhaustion. Even if I can sense where they’re buried, you will keep going,” I warned.
    Her expression melted to one of fear. Her immaturity and bravado was no match. It was time to teach her a lesson in authority.
    “Get up, you can eat later,” I demanded. “We’re going outside.”
    It was cold and slowly turning to winter, not long before the ground would be covered with a hard frost, making it impossible to penetrate. The first heavy snowfall was expected within a week. Covered with a shawl, Rachel remained by the door, unable to look me in the eye.
    “Where is it, girl? Unless you want me to work you to death, it’s best you come clean with it now. Or you start digging, right here,” I brought a spade to her, holding an axe in readiness just in case she tried to attack me. In defiance, she dropped it by my feet.
    “Pick it up,” I said.
    “No.”
    Until now, Juan had stayed inside, not wanting to become involved. But her sheer insolence forced him to come outside and drag her off the porch in anger.
    “Foolish girl, you are without a doubt your own worst enemy!” he proclaimed. Her response was to throw her head back and laugh and, with a wild and restless gesture of a hand, she pointed.
    “Mon Dieu, the gold is over there, under the tree. Take it, I don’t care anymore. I only want to be left alone.”
    While I hoped she was telling the truth, something told me she wasn’t. Juan and I raced over and began to dig but an hour later we had nothing to show for our hard work. Meanwhile, Rachel was back inside warming herself by the fire, surely unaware Juan often possessed a much shorter fuse than me. She was in for a surprise when he stormed into the hut to retrieve her.
    “Where is it girl?!” he shouted. “Do not play games now or you will suffer worse. I swear it!”
    I could hear her pleas to him she was being honest, and that she was certain her father had buried the gold beneath the bigger tree to the left. Juan didn’t believe her any more, and could be heard berating her as a liar and a host of other things…
    “If you don’t tell me what you’ve done with it, Judas, you will feel my rod against your back. Where is it boy?” My father’s voice echoed over Juan’s. Centuries dispersed into a thousand tiny particles. I was no more than twelve years old, already with an acquired taste for the finer things, which I soon understood couldn’t be obtained without funds. My father found me employment helping fishermen unload their boats on the Galilee. I despised the work as much as I did the condescending fishermen who mocked my aspirations of becoming a merchant. I wanted to be like my father but was told on numerous occasions I wasn’t smart enough. Instead, he demanded I knuckled down to hard work for a pittance.
    Determined to prove him wrong, I found an easy way to make money. As I grew into late