Keeping It in the Family Ch. 02

"It's a sin!" Kelly's tone had changed to something far more alike her mother's. The detective was repulsed by the fact she was near enough close to breaking bread with a family so full of sin it made her feel like she sinned. Her parents would be reeling. Ruth's response proved to irk the religious woman further.

"Is it really? Ruth could see Kelly's seething hate-filled eyes never break away from hers, staring into one another's soul for what felt like eons. The redhead had hoped the family to be the victim of a cruel joke but there was no joke—at least, not on them. "You strike me as a very religious woman, but—"

"You blaspheme!"

"No, listen." Ruth's tone wasn't the slightest bit commanding yet the young detective was rendered silent—albeit reluctantly. Ruth was eager to show that, like how one man's tool is another's weapon, Kelly's faith in religion would be used against her. "In the beginning, there was Adam and Eve. They had two sons, Cain and Abel. In the years that followed, Cain and Abel got married."

Kelly's face scrunched up in confusion. Just where was Ruth going with this? The detective read the Bible as a child, so there was very little point to the older woman's lecture on religion. Of course, Kelly was quick to jump the gun.

Ruth continued, finishing her statement with quite the kicker. "If what the Bible says is true, wouldn't that imply Cain and Abel each married a relative?"

Kelly was numb. She had never thought of that before. But no—she wouldn't let something like that shake her faith so easily. There had to be a rational, divine reason behind Cain and Abel's marriages, surely? Maybe God himself graced them both with wives from Heaven itself? It had to be something like that.

"The Bible isn't a rulebook." Scott put his arm around Ruth. "You don't get bonus points, gold stars or pushed to the front of the line for how pious a life you lead. You just live."

And we live it to the fullest," Ruthadded before sticking her tongue down Scott's throat, drawing oxygen from his lungs.

"B-b-but why do you do it?" the befuddled detective stammered.

"Because it's fun. We each know what everyone likes and dislikes, so there's no possible room for error in what's done," Kendall answered in a casual tone. Kelly didn't even know the half of it. Perhaps the most immoral thing the family had done was that each generation of the family was birthed from the last to preserve the line. Ruth was married to her son Scott, who brought Carolyn into the world; Carolyn and Scott became Jordan and Kendall's parents.

"You could still do your job though, and take us to jail for what we do. But it might not be such a smart idea." Jordan knowingly smiled. Kelly was of the mind to do the right thing, but Jordan's words bit into her viciously. "The very heart and soul of Bridgewood is built on what we do—donations, helping families, development projects—we pay for them so the people don't tattle about what we do here. You put us behind bars—"

—and Kelly would have singlehandedly destroyed Bridgewood. She wouldn't be a detective, but a destroyer of livelihoods. She wouldn't go to Heaven for that. She had it all wrong too. It wasn't that a select few people knew what the Hines' did, but everyone.

"So you have a choice, Detective: leave us to our so-called vices in peace, or singlehandedly destroy Bridgewood in your attempt to make a name for yourself." Ruth crossed her arms in a successful attempt to flaunt her inhuman width, casting a large black shadow over the anxious redhead. "I know what I would choose."

Kelly glowered knowing she'd have to make a decision—and it wasn't going to be the one she preferred.