# **They Mocked the Woman Who Came to Feed Them. By Winter’s End, Every Man at Grady Ranch Would Know Who She Truly Was.**NVP
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Chapter 2 / 30
Chapter 2 - Shadows in the Mailbox
While Edith cooked, Nora sat at the heavy oak desk in the main office, sorting through months of backlogged correspondence. Among the land tax notices and cattle receipts, one unsealed yellow envelope caught her attention. It bore no return address, only a faint smudge of dark red wax. Inside lay a single folded piece of parchment. Nora opened it carefully, her eyes widening as she read the terse message written in sharp, precise cursive: “Silas was only a pawn. The true debts of Fort Ellis remain unpaid.” Her hands trembled as she hid the note.
