The Broken Square and Compasses (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798255807697)

The Broken Square and Compasses

He wanted to belong. He found a brotherhood that asked for everything. Now twenty-five men stand trial for murder-and the only oath that matters was never spoken in any courtroom.

Gilbert was a gate guard who felt invisible. Then he found the lodge. The frankincense. The blindfold. The grip that pulled him from the dark. For the first time in his life, he belonged.

But belonging came with a price.

A Saturday morning. A woman's laptop bag ripped from her shoulder. A message sent: All clear. Moving. A racing driver buried in a Louisiana forest. A general with a bullet in his back for twelve years. A diplomat who left his coffee untouched on a Saturday morning in Tel Aviv.

Twenty-five men in a New Orleans courtroom. Three years of evidence. Forty-seven encrypted messages. A dark blue journal written at two in the morning while a family slept in the next room.

The prosecution has the facts. The brotherhood has something older: an oath sealed in a room where silence is sacred and loyalty is stronger than blood.

The jury cannot agree. Three defendants die in custody. And a different court is already in session-one that asks a single question:

Why did you stay when you knew?

This is not a story about monsters. It is a story about men who wanted to be better and found themselves capable of worse. About a wife who picked up the journal and put it back. About a boy who packed his bag three days before his mother asked. About A doll left behind on a coffee table.

The Brotherhood says nothing. The Sons of the Pyre are watching. And your real trial is yet to come.

Inspired by true events. The bond is real. The pain is real. The rest is fiction.

Author: Maribella Ashcroft
ISBN-13: 9798255807697
Publisher: Independently Published
Language: English
Published: 04/10/2026
Pages: 454
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.33lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 1.01d