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It seemed their goal was to destroy Bridgewater. But if that was the case, why did they need Lily?
LILY
* * *
"You’re the most despicable person I’ve ever met." Tied to a post on the front porch of the cabin I shared with Rye and Keane, I should have been scared and, to be honest, I was. But as I stared into the snarling face of Mr. Richard Garner, all I could think about was how being near him had always made me feel vile.
"Despicable?" He glared at me and spit on the wooden porch floor next to my feet. "You disgust me. Harlot. Fornicator. Can you deny you bed two men at once? Or does your ravenous lust require even more men than that? It’s that sort of sinful, shameful behavior that needs to be eradicated from the earth. It was vile enough when my poor wife found you pleasuring yourself under our roof, but I never imagined you’d stoop so low."
He yanked on the rope around my wrists.
For the hundredth time in the past hour, I lamented my decision to leave Olivia’s house. But, I had to warn Keane and Rye. How was I to know Mr. Garner would be lying in wait?
I’d been running and, since I was unfamiliar with Bridgewater, I was an easy target. He’d attacked from behind and thrown me to the ground, shoving a filthy rag into my mouth.
Thankfully he’d removed that once he got me tied to the porch.
I’d seen Mr. Garner angry plenty of times during my tenure as governess for his children, but he was positively deranged, muttering to himself as he pulled the ropes on my wrists tighter and tighter.
"What do you want with me, Mr. Garner?" I asked.
"Filth like you needs to be eradicated. All of this," he gestured toward the cabin and the rest of Bridgewater, "must be banished from the earth."
"You seem hungry, Mr. Garner," I said, trying any ploy to distract him. "Why don’t you untie me, and we’ll go inside. I’ll make you something to eat."
He slapped me across the face. "Shut up, whore. That’s what you’d like to do, lure me inside and tempt me with your slutty ways. The same way you lured me to your hotel room in Butte."
Black dots danced in front of my eyes. I’d never been hit with such force before, and it took a moment to compose myself. "I did no such thing. You pretended to be delivering room service and barged into my room and attacked me. You did that. Not me." Maybe I should have been more sedate and tried to cajole him into cooperating, but he was clearly irrational. And I was angry. Angrier than I’d ever been in my life.
But that did me little good against a crazed man who had me tied up.
He stepped off the porch, and I wondered if he was simply going to leave me there like that.
No, he had much more devious plans. He returned with a can, unscrewed the top, and started pouring the contents all around me.
The pungent odor hit me. Kerosene.
"I’m going to burn you at the stake and this whole ranch with it." He sneered with satisfaction. "Gone. All of it."
Good lord. My knees buckled and, if I hadn’t been tied to the post, I’d have collapsed.
Oh, where were Rye and Keane?
Had Timothy injured them? Lured them far away so they couldn’t get back to me?
Or worse?
I gazed out into the area surrounding the cabin. Where could they be?
They’d promised to always protect me, but surely no one could have foreseen this.
All my bravado vanished. Replaced with sheer, unadulterated terror.
RYE
* * *
There’d been no signal from either of the groups searching east and west. Something told me we’d find her much closer to home. I was not one for superstition or premonitions, but something in my heart called out to Lily, and I’d swear she answered.
