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🕑 Added 2025-04-05 15:42:25 +0000 UTCWind in the Smoke
Chapter 176 - The Hourglass
Like any good man trying to take care of his ranch, Dante, who had set aside his duties with the SAMCRO organization for a while, usually woke up early—as long as he didn’t drink alcohol. But the night before, drinks had gone from something casual to a more intimate moment with his girlfriend.
Dante, who had fallen asleep from the exhaustion of the past few weeks, was woken up by the barking of his dogs outside the cabin. But he also heard a heated conversation between Kayce and his wife Monica.
“Monica, I’m taking my son hunting. What’s wrong with spending time with my son and my brother?” Kayce’s words were cold. He obviously loved his wife, but didn’t understand some of the attitudes she had taken against his family.
Monica, standing close to Kayce, whispered in a worried tone, “Did you forget how dangerous your brother is? Unlike you, he doesn’t have control. Dante is the most vivid representation of the Duttons, a man willing to do anything to protect this land. I don’t want our son to inherit that ambition. You know better than anyone that I’m right.”
“I’ll raise my son, not Dante. And what’s wrong with protecting the land that’s ours? We only fight with those who try to take what we’ve worked for over generations. It seems like you still don’t understand what that means to any man on this ranch.”
Dante wasn’t surprised. These kinds of arguments had been bothering his brother ever since they all started living on the ranch together like one big family.
Born on the Indian reservation, Monica had inherited the hatred her ancestors had for the Duttons. But going back to the beginning, these problems shouldn’t exist today.
Dante understood that Monica resented him for the way he had killed the mercenaries who attacked the ranch. He wasn’t in his right mind at the time, so he understood, to some extent, the kind of caution his brother’s wife had toward him.
As Dante walked out of the cabin, Kayce, who didn’t know how to end this pointless argument, looked at his brother and said, “She’s just still a little shaken by what happened at the ranch.”
“Yes, I can understand that. We shouldn’t have killed those men before getting your family out of the ranch. I was inconsiderate, and I’m sorry for that,” Dante said in a much more serious tone.
The man speaking now was the more honest Dante, the one who led a powerful organization.
“Don’t mention that ever again. I’m tired of it.” Kayce was frustrated with the kind of guilt his brother felt for everything he had done. If he really thought about it, he wasn’t much better than Dante in many ways.
Dante could understand Kayce’s anger. As the older brother, there must be times when he felt frustrated seeing what his brother had become.
“Does she understand the sacrifices you made to be by her side and take responsibility for your son, brother?” Dante’s tone hadn’t changed, showing how serious he was about the matter.
“This is much more complex than just you or me, brother. People on the reservation were raised thinking we’re the bad guys. Every Dutton is evil. Everything we do is to bring harm to the weak,” Kayce said, clearly more experienced in this matter.
“My thoughts weren’t like that when they branded you. Back then, I thought if I was strong and had money, I could change things, erase all that hatred between our communities. And now I’m doing it, even if the Indian reservation’s mayor doesn’t like it,” Dante recalled what he’d lived through back then when they branded his brother.
Later, after becoming the man he is now, he studied everything his family had done and uncovered the story of his foolish brother Kayce.
He had been in Pakistan during one of his missions and faced a high-value target who used his own family as a shield. When the man started shooting, he had no choice but to fight back, killing not only the man, but also his wife and daughter.
Although he served his country with dedication, it left him with severe PTSD. Several mistakes and the forced missions he was sent on left him with repressed anger and trauma. Eventually, he was discharged from the military and returned to the Indian reservation.
All of that, in a way, helped convince him to join SAMCRO, giving Dante his first support—someone who would receive everything if something ever happened to him.
An heir. Someone who would take his place in case the unthinkable happened, which wasn’t out of the question in a world full of possibilities.
“That’s why I’ll protect you now, Dante.”
Dante nodded and said frankly, “I’m working hard to develop this part of the family ranch, but if I can also afford a better personal life right now, I’ll make sure my brothers enjoy the same.”
Dante’s dogs, who had laid down once he arrived, got up as soon as he walked past the cabin door.
Kayce decided to ignore the scene that had just happened with his brother and forget about the matter for now.
Dante didn’t have workers to take care of his things at the cabin, so he first fed the dogs and then the horses.
Susie also got up and said to Dante, “I can make breakfast and you can take care of your stuff. Give me half an hour and we can eat together.”
The atmosphere outside the cabin suddenly seemed to improve, and Dante also felt like he was really enjoying that kind of life. After feeding the dogs and taking a quick walk through the garden, Dante returned home with his brother for breakfast.
Dante and Susie, in private, were a couple who gave each other the time, space, and attention needed to resolve their issues. Maybe because they both had grown up in similar worlds, they better understood what one needed from the other.
Kayce, now seeing that his brother’s and his girlfriend’s relationship was genuine, felt truly glad that his younger brother had the chance to experience love—even in a life full of bloodshed.
After breakfast and a short rest, Dante and Kayce rode off on horseback. They still had a lot of work to do today.
