Chapter 386: Kill the Others, Take It All

Chapter 386: Chapter 386: Kill the Others, Take It All

Aunt Crowe’s harsh words echoed through the spacious room, capturing everyone’s attention. "You see? The moment she arrived, your First Uncle dropped dead.

If we actually go through with the ceremony and make her one of us, a Crowe, won’t the rest of the family suffer?"

After speaking, she gave Wendy Dawson a scrutinizing look, eyeing her from head to toe, before saying meaningfully, "For our own safety, maybe you should find someone else.

It’s not like she’s the only one."

Aunt Crowe’s words were completely unreasonable and far-fetched, but Aaron Crowe and his mother took them to heart.

The expressions on both their faces immediately turned ugly.

Wendy Dawson, who had just come to, was bewildered. ’What jinx? What does she mean, First Uncle is gone?’

Clark Crowe pulled Wendy Dawson into his arms and shot his aunt a dark look. "Auntie, you’re old enough to know what you should and shouldn’t say.

If things are really as you say, then I hope you’re the next one to suffer!"

With that, Clark Crowe swept Wendy Dawson up into his arms and walked straight out of the room, leaving the other six people staring blankly at each other.

"Clark!"

Once she processed what Clark had said, Aunt Crowe stomped her foot in a rage, even sweeping everything off the altar and onto the floor.

Evan Crowe witnessed the whole thing, then silently took his parents by the arm and left.

Only after everyone else had left did Zoe Sawyer close the door.

The two of them sat back down on the sofa with grave expressions, discussing everything they had just seen.

"This family... they seem strange. There are definitely a lot of secrets hidden here," Zoe Sawyer said, ruffling her hair.

’What we know so far: First Uncle Crowe was crushed to death in the wine cellar. Whether it was an accident or murder is still to be determined.’

’The "purification ritual" the Crowes talk about is a form of torture for the bride—you could even call it a complete destruction of her personality.’

’And according to Aaron and Evan Crowe, they are the sacrifices for tomorrow’s ceremony. There’s definitely a secret in there, too.’

"Let’s ask Liam and the others. Maybe they’ve already found something," Heath Hale said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. This feeling of being helpless on a case was just awful.

Zoe Sawyer didn’t waste any time. She quickly used the door to contact Evan Keller and the others, who were still waiting at the office.

After telling them everything she had just seen, Zoe Sawyer turned her gaze to Officer Lee, who was standing nearby, and asked, "Liam, have you found anything?"

Officer Lee pushed up his glasses and handed the files he had already prepared to the group. "I didn’t find the specifics," he said, "but I did find some related information."

Zoe Sawyer took the files from Officer Lee and quickly scanned through them. When she reached a certain passage, her eyes widened in astonishment.

"According to our investigation, none of the Crowes are employed. Every month, each of them receives a fixed sum of money wired from an overseas account." ℴℴ𝘮

"They’ve kept a low profile in the country, nothing out of the ordinary," Officer Lee explained. He then pointed to the files in their hands and said, "This is the statement from Clark Crowe’s maternal aunt. She heard it from her sister.

But since it’s been over a decade, she’s not sure about some of the details. I’ve marked the parts that are questionable."

From the statement, they learned that the Crowe family’s so-called purification ritual was over a hundred years old.

Every time the ritual was held, the men of the main family would gather and commit all sorts of indecent acts against the new bride.

They claimed they knew their limits, but aside from the final step, there wasn’t much of a difference.

At first, Clark’s mother couldn’t understand why her husband’s brothers and father would do such an outrageous thing to her.

But later, she understood.

It was the Crowe family’s way of forcing the brothers to stay united by dragging everyone down together.

Everyone had dirt on everyone else. You want to make a scene? Then your own little family would be ruined and disgraced.

The images and recordings of your wife’s various... performances during the ritual would also be made public.

Not wanting their reputations destroyed, the Crowe men could only swallow their anger and endure the bitter pill, then viciously retaliate during the rituals of their other brothers’ wives.

This vicious cycle was passed down from one generation to the next, creating this bizarre situation.

As for the sacrificed brides, some couldn’t accept it and committed suicide the day after the ritual. Others gritted their teeth and swallowed their bloody tears.

Still others endured it for the sake of their children or themselves, and then began frantically accumulating money.

They understood that the men of the family couldn’t be relied upon, so they might as well take advantage of their husbands’ guilt to grab as much money as they could for themselves.

Clark’s mother was one of these women. While getting her money, she also made sure to ask Mr. Crowe about the meaning behind these traditions.

Then, when she was on the phone with her own family, she would secretly tell them what she’d learned.

And on the day after the purification ritual, the Crowe family’s newlyweds had a second ceremony.

On the surface, it didn’t look any different from a normal wedding ceremony. They would entertain guests and go through the usual proceedings.

But at night, there was a twisted practice.

The newlywed couple had to prepare a pair of "sacrifices" for the Crowe family’s ancestors.

These "sacrifices" had to kneel in a spot chosen by the Crowes, then slit their wrists and let the blood flow.

It wasn’t a lot of blood—just enough to cover the bottom of a small bowl.

However, this process had to be repeated three times a day for seven days, which took a huge toll on the body.

This could be done by either the newlyweds themselves or by the bridesmaids the bride had chosen.

Clark Crowe couldn’t bear to have Wendy Dawson slit her wrists and bleed, so when he heard she wanted to invite her roommates to be her bridesmaids, he agreed immediately.

Clark’s mother also revealed to her sister that the Crowe family had another, very strange tradition. But since she had only just married into the family, Mr. Crowe was unwilling to tell her about it, so she never found out what it was.

But Clark’s mother never did find out, not before she and his father were killed instantly in a car crash. Consequently, the aunt had no further information.

"Clark’s parents died about ten years ago. The car crash was overseas, so there are no records of it in this country.

But according to the information provided by Mrs. Crowe’s sister, the car’s brakes failed. They were on a downhill slope, so the car picked up too much speed and went straight off a cliff," Officer Lee added.

Heath Hale flipped through all the files, an idea already forming in his mind. He then looked at Officer Lee and said, "Do me a favor. Focus on Clark Crowe and look into the other members of the Crowe family.

A big family like this shouldn’t just be these few people."

"Did something occur to you?" Evan Keller asked, looking at Heath Hale.

Suddenly, an idea flashed through Zoe Sawyer’s mind. She whipped her head toward Heath Hale, her voice rising unconsciously.

"That ’strange tradition’... it couldn’t be killing off the others to take everything for themselves, could it?"