Wainwright’s Wager

"They told me the Jakobs name was a curse. They told me to walk away. The curse isn't the name. The curse is running from it."

---

I was born with a trigger finger and a grave.

A name built on the backs of the brave

Who never got a headstone. Just a hole in the ground.

I didn't ask for it. Didn't choose.

But I'll be damned if I lose

What could be something more than a noose.

The Jakobs name. The Jakobs shame.

I'll carry it. I'll change the game.

---

WAINWRIGHT'S WAGER. I'M ALL IN.

I BET THE NAME. I BET THE SKIN

I WAS BORN IN. I BET THE BLOOD.

I'M GONNA BUILD IT RIGHT.

I'M GONNA FACE THE GHOSTS. I'M GONNA WIN THE FIGHT.

WAINWRIGHT'S WAGER. DOUBLE DOWN.

I'M GONNA TURN THIS CROWN

INTO SOMETHING THAT DOESN'T CRUSH.

I'M GONNA RISE FROM THE ASH AND THE DUST.

---

My father's hands were made of stone.

I watched them hollow out the land.

I watched them build with borrowed sand

And bones of the workers who built it all.

I swore I wouldn't be that anymore.

Hammerlock looked at me one night.

Said "you're not them. You're the hand that could heal."

I didn't believe him. But he stayed.

The only thing that wasn't a blade.

---

"You ever look at your own hands and wonder if they're yours? Until he took my hand and said 'these are yours. These are the hands that choose.' I chose. I'll keep choosing."

---

I walked the fields where the workers fell.

I learned the names. I let the ground show me its claims.

The Jakobs name was built on pain.

I'm not here to pretend it wasn't.

I'm here to build something different.

I'm not my father. I'm the one who stayed.

To offer my hands. My blood

Not as a weapon. Not as a crown.

But as a promise. I'll burn it down

If I have to. But I'd rather build.

The Jakobs name. I'll make it mean

Something other than a machine.

That's the vow. I make it now.

---

WAINWRIGHT'S WAGER. I'M ALL IN.

I BET THE NAME. I'M GONNA BUILD IT RIGHT.

I'M GONNA FACE THE GHOSTS. I'M GONNA WIN THE FIGHT.

WAINWRIGHT'S WAGER. DOUBLE DOWN.

I'M GONNA TURN THIS CROWN

INTO SOMETHING THAT DOESN'T CRUSH.

I'M GONNA RISE FROM THE ASH AND THE DUST.

I'M GONNA RISE. I'LL MAKE IT RIGHT.

---

"Curses don't break themselves. Someone has to stand in the blood and say 'no more.' I'm not running anymore."