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“I’m surprised you didn’t call Jed and just let him end me there in Vegas.”
“I don’t want him to kill you. Don’t you understand? I’ve been trying to help you by stalling him. I-I’ve been feeding him false information for weeks now…telling him I haven’t seen you.”
“Why would you cover for me? I killed your fucking father.”
“I was never close to Father, and I long thought you did our community a service by slowing down the worst of the depravities. Then I realized that he wasn’t the only insane one. Mother and Jed are even worse.”
“So you kept tabs on me in Vegas, and what…followed me back to LA?”
“No. I knew I couldn’t tail you through the desert without you spotting me.”
“Damn right,” Seth assured.
“So I wrote down the license plate numbers of the Audi and SUV parked in the prostitute’s driveway and paid a friend of a friend to get me their addresses. That’s when I discovered you actually lived in LA. I first scoped out the house registered to the Audi, but you never showed. So a few days later, I tried my luck with the black SUV. Yesterday I finally saw you…and you know the rest.”
The stealthy, methodical lengths Zach had gone to in order to hunt Beck down didn’t give Seth a good feeling. What were the odds he wasn’t being honest? Or that Jed was conducting his own search? Seth didn’t like the answers.
“So you’ve been stalking me and lying to Jed. He’s not stupid, Zach. He’s eventually going to figure you out.”
Zach cringed. “I worry he already has.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’d been checking in with him and Mother regularly since I left. But the past couple of times I called, he barely quizzed me at all…like he didn’t care what I was going to say. And Mother didn’t even stay to hear my report. I’m scared. Not for me but for my daughter.”
Beck cursed under his breath. “Of course you have a daughter. How old is she?”
“Only eleven, but any day she’ll begin the changing. I know Jed is going to—”
“Give her to one of the lecherous old elders.”
“No. Not an elder.” Zach swallowed. “A few weeks ago, Jed informed me that, as soon as Joanna begins her monthly flow, he’ll be taking her as his next wife.”
“Incest isn’t allowed.”
“It is now,” Zach announced grimly. “When Jed took over Messiah City, the first thing he did was marry Harmony.”
“Blessing’s little sister?” Beck bellowed. A string of curses followed.
“Yes. She bore him three boys before finally giving birth to a daughter. Amity is sweet, kind, and beautiful. When her changing time came—”
“It’s called a menstrual period,” Beck bit out, clearly struggling not to lose his shit. “And it isn’t a sign from God that a child is ready to breed, for fuck’s sake.”
Zach cleared his throat. “Mother convinced Jed that Satan was able to possess you because our bloodline isn’t pure enough. Supposedly, God told her that if he didn’t purify it now, Satan would destroy us with another demon like…well, like Gideon. So she told Jed to marry Amity and begin procreating with her.”
The inbreeding bombshell not only had Beck blanching but it also sent Seth’s gut twisting in knots.
“So she’s trying to get her golden boy to knock up his own fucking daughter?”
“Not trying. She’s already seven months pregnant. So I know what exactly will befall Joanna. And I have no way of stopping him.” For the first time, Zach looked genuinely scared. “But if you’ll help, he’ll never plant his seed in her womb.”
“My help?” Beck echoed. “Look, if you need the money and means to get you and your family out, I’ll be happy to—”
“I don’t want to leave; I just want to stop them. You have to return to Messiah City and claim your rightful place.”
Beck reared back as if Zack had punched him. Seth, too, gaped at the surgeon’s delusional brother, equally stunned.
“Fuck no. Not only will Mother and the elders crucify me, I have zero desire to be the fucking Messiah,” Beck spat. “I have a life—a happy one. No way will I ever go back to that hellhole.”
