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Samson, who hesitated before he turned and disappeared through a door to the left of the staircase.
Dread weighed and pressed, and I was barely breathing by the time he returned with three young women. They shuffled in with their heads bowed, each wearing a loose beige linen dress.
I gasped when the one in the middle looked up.
My sister.
Her face gaunt and at least twenty pounds underweight.
And I didn’t know if it was relief or grief that speared through me at the sight of her, the way my ribs felt like they’d just been rended apart and my heart was bleeding out in the middle of it. The only thing I was certain of was Jessica and I were feeling the exact same things.
Relief.
Grief.
Sorrow.
Regret.
Because I thought we both knew there was no coming back from this.
“Bring them,” the mayor demanded.
Samson shoved them forward. “You sure this is the direction you want to go?” he asked.
“I don’t see another choice. We’ve been compromised, and we have to clean up the mess Hayden created. We’ll start fresh. Take care of the girls first, and we’ll deal with the Sheriff later.”
No, no, no.
I didn’t even realize I’d whimpered it aloud.
“Oh, yes,” Jack murmured.
Samson nodded, taking it as a final command. This bastard who Ezra had trusted. Someone who was supposed to care for the town and its people.
He forced all three women to their knees. They whimpered, though I thought they must have learned a long time ago not to fight because they went willingly.
Without a struggle.
Not me.
When Samson grabbed me by my bound wrists and yanked me off the bed, I kicked out with trussed feet. They struck Jack Harris in the stomach, hard enough to knock the air from his lungs, and I flailed, fighting against Samson’s hold as he shoved me to the ground.
I tried…I tried to break free, but I was already so battered that I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to stand, let alone fight off this man while I was tied.
From behind, Jack Harris took me by a fistful of hair and pushed the barrel of the gun to my temple. “You stupid bitch. You should have stayed home where you belong and left your sister where she did. You and Brianna both, trying to interfere. It broke my heart, killing her. But you?” He leaned in and uttered close, “I’ll take pleasure in it.”
Jessica whimpered where she was lined up one down from me, the four of us on our knees. I didn’t know the other women. I didn’t know their stories. I didn’t know their pains or their failures. Their hopes or their dreams.
And I wondered if they’d felt alone like Jessica and I had.
Abandoned.
Only themselves against the wicked world.
But I guessed that wicked world had just caught up to all of us.
Jack Harris cocked his gun before an earsplitting bang exploded in the room.
FIFTY-FIVE
EZRA
I dropped down on the other side of the stone wall that surrounded the mayor’s estate, hitting the ground in a crouch, eyes scanning through the bare light that remained. The sky was drawn in the darkest blue, a knitting of indigo and slate, the first stars dotting the heavens that felt too fucking far away right then.
My heart pounded so loud that I was sure this bastard could hear me coming from a mile away, though I didn’t sense any movement as I searched through the shadows that blanketed the exterior of the mansion.
Three stories tall.
At least that’s what I’d always believed.
Until I found the drawings at the back of the journal that stated otherwise.
This asshole had a secret basement.
Cody slipped over the wall behind me, landing hard.
Ryder and Caleb hit the ground beside him.
“There’s still time to turn back,” I grumbled, knowing what we were likely up against, and every cell in my body rejected the idea of putting them in the line of fire.
“Not going to fucking happen,” Ryder spat low. “You’ve been at our sides when things got rough, and you can be sure we’re going to be at yours.”
The rest of my officers were on their way, ten or fifteen out, all except for Samson who I hadn’t been able to get in touch with.
And this couldn’t wait. Every second felt like hope was ticking away.
Rage burned through my insides, adrenaline thudding hard through my veins, my throat so goddamn tight as I pulled my gun from my holster.
Cody, Ryder, and Caleb pulled out theirs, too.
I didn’t even pretend like I wasn’t breaking a thousand rules, having them here like this, their weapons drawn.
But you know what is said when it comes to desperate times.
“Yeah. Thought we already established who you’d want taking up your back when you’re in trouble, and here I am,” Cody joked, trying to keep a lightness that none of us felt. “Now let’s go get your girl.”
