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“They’ll be here in twenty minutes.” Rebecca’s voice is close to the top of the stairs, so I duck into the coat closet before she starts coming down. “Do not touch her, Henry. I mean it.”
“I won’t,” Dad grumbles. I know him too well to believe he isn’t resentful that she can see through him. She knows him, too. That’s always been his biggest problem. She saw through him from the second she set eyes on him. She knew she’d found a useful idiot willing to do whatever she wanted if it meant feeding his addiction.
“We need her unharmed and pure. Remember that.” She pauses at the foot of the stairs—I can see her with the door cracked open. “If you disappoint me, you are going to be disappointed. Every dollar I don’t get for her gets taken out of your liquor budget. Understood?” I almost wish I could see the humiliation on his face.
I can’t breathe until she’s outside, and even then, there’s the chance of Tristan popping up in the car and getting her attention. But when a minute passes without any shouting from outside, I take the chance of opening the door and stepping back out into the living room.
Dad’s voice floats down the stairs right on cue. “What are you so worried about?”
Of course, he couldn’t help but go right to her the second Rebecca was gone. I take the stairs two at a time, my blood boiling, my rage enough to make my head pound. All his fault, this is all his fault, and I wouldn’t have to do any of this if it wasn’t for him.
“You’d better get used to men like me. You’re going to be meeting a lot of them soon.”
By the time I’m in the room, he’s standing over her, rubbing himself through his pants while she cowers in fear and disgust with her wrists bound to the bedframe. It’s a shame we couldn’t get to know each other better before you left. I wouldn’t mind getting a taste of that fresh, juicy pussy.”
That’s it. That’s what finally breaks me. After all this time, and all the time before it. Living with his addiction, always coming last to it. Putting up with him selling my stuff so he could afford a bottle of cheap vodka. The fact that we had to come here in the first place.
All of it rushes up from deep inside me like lava about to burst from a volcano. I cross the room so quickly that he doesn’t have time to react before I pull him away from the bed and throw him against the wall behind it.
Before he can say a word, I do what I’ve wanted to do for years. In all the time I’ve imagined punching him in the face, I never came close to the satisfaction that rushes over me when I make contact.
It’s not enough. Again and again, I pay him back for everything. Every insult, every failure, every disappointment. And knowing he’s done this to so many girls, all so he can have what he wants.
“Elijah!” Leona’s weeping by the time I come to, and I’m almost surprised to find my father sliding down the wall in an unconscious, bloody heap.
Only now do I notice what she’s wearing. The sight of it turns my stomach. I quickly untie her wrists. “Quick, put this on.” Her old dress is lying across the foot of the bed like it’s waiting for the next girl to wear it. She pulls it on over what she’s wearing, and I take her by the hand, running down the hall and down the stairs.
Before we can leave, though, I hold her back to make sure there’s nobody nearby who’ll see us. “Okay,” I whisper once it looks like the coast is clear. “We’re going straight out to the car, and you’re going to get in the back and stay low. Tristan’s already there. Don’t say a word, don’t lift your head for anything until I say it’s safe.” She nods, her eyes wide and her face ghostly white.
Here goes nothing.
I almost feel guilty as I shove her into the car, where Tristan gasps in surprise. I didn’t tell him she’d be with us, and I’m sure he’s never spoken to her. The only reason it had to be tonight was that I knew the front gate would be open for the delivery truck to come in. But then I wasn’t thinking about the girls who get taken away on those trucks. I was only thinking about my brother.
Now, as I start the car and begin the slow journey through the compound, I have to think about both of them. I want to hit the gas and get out of here as soon as possible, but I force myself to go against every instinct and drive like I’m not in any hurry.
“Stay low back there,” I grunt, barely moving my lips and staring straight ahead. I need to pretend nothing is strange about this, even when there’s blood rushing in my ears and the adrenaline pumping through my system demands I run.
The front gate is close. It’s open as I knew it would be. The truck will be here any minute. We’ll probably pass it on our way from the compound. First, we need to get out.
“We’re almost through the gate,” I whisper, nodding absently to the man on duty as we roll past the guard house. He doesn’t think anything of it, or at least he doesn’t react. Thank God because I never washed Dad’s blood from my hands.
Even once I’m through the gate, and my heart’s ready to explode, I can’t hit the gas. It would take no time for them to catch up to us, I’m sure. I have to pretend like this is an average trip out to pick up supplies or something—the stores are still open for another hour or two. The sort of thing I’ve done so many times without even thinking about it.
A pair of headlights catch my attention up ahead. The truck is coming our way. My hands are so sweaty they slide along the wheel. I tighten my grip, whispering, “Do not move. The truck is coming. They cannot see you. Stay down.”
It sounds like Leona might be crying, and a second later, Tristan’s soft whispering blends with the sound. He’s trying to comfort her. If I ever had a second doubt that what I was doing is the right thing, it dissolves when I hear it. He is a good kid with a big heart. A heart that would have been hardened before long.
The way mine always was before I met her.
The truck gets bigger with every second until the headlights threaten to blind me. I turn my face away a little, waiting for them to pass.
Then they’re gone, and I glance up into the rearview mirror to find the taillights getting smaller.
Is that it? Could it have been this simple?
Moments later, we reach the main road that leads to Reno, and there’s no sign of headlights behind us—nobody following us. Finally, I let out a long breath. “Okay. We’re out.”
Before pointing the car toward Reno, I look over my shoulder to where my brother and Leona are coming out of hiding. “Tristan, this is Leona. She’s… going to live with us now.”
