Love Forged in Flames of Hate

ome felt diffe

of my hometown didn't fill me with a sense o

my home. It was

I went to see w

en struggling to keep his farm afloat for years. He wa

ut at his fields of corn, his shoulder

ile on his face. "What bring

te time with

the same way Tiffany had laid it out for me. An

ckly followed by the familiar suspicion of

e asked, his voice rough.

't just tell him it was a scam.

. The loans are predatory, technically illegal. The contracts th

u want me to take a loan fro

amily, they destroyed our family once. They profit by scaring people into pa

a deep

e their money, and when they come asking for it, we'r

the way the company operated outside the la

f. And I showed him the twenty thousand dol

d see the gears turning in his head. The desper

tly. "If you do it, others will follow.

hone to the fields

are we talking

one,"

his wallet. "Alright, Ch

Each of them paid the five-hundred-dollar "processing

eived five thousand dollars in fees, a

mediate: Wow! You wo

lled a community meeti

s with worry lines etched on their faces, young families trying to make ends meet. T

ont of the room,

Ben stood

told them about his own struggles, about the l

t was

n't mention Tiffany by name, just a "rich coll

oles. I explained how the system

et hall. "They think we're simple country folk who will roll over

tunity. They want to take your farms, your h

sing, "is that we are not isolated. We are a communi

pt system against them. We take their money, all of us. We use it to pay our

one scared farmer. They will be facing all of us. An

, but I also saw a glimmer of hope. The

room, Mrs. Gable, who owned

voice shaking. "The bank turned us down

roke t

, they cam

ht, I had a list of o

families, re

ion, inputting applications, and forwarding tens of

ic. Her texts

rocksta

is so i

them

idea what

he was buildi

ng her own grave. And I w