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“I can understand that. If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be standing here either. I’m sure life would have gone on as usual.”
“I’m glad you’re starting to see the truth, Ares. I’m glad she found you in time.”
“Me too. Now, what do we need to do?” I ask him.
“First, you have to play the part your father wants you to play. The only time all the men and members will be together in one place is at the ritual.”
“I don’t know if I can wait that long,” I tell him truthfully. He nods his head as if he understands, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t understand this need, this obsession I have with her.
“You don’t have a choice here, Ares. If you want to get her back safely and in one piece, then you will listen to what I say to you.”
“How can you be sure they won’t hurt her?”
“The ritual.”
“What about it?”
“The reason they won’t hurt her before then, Ares, is because she’s the main sacrifice.” I’m confused. I don’t understand, but when he spins the computer screen around to face me, the air leaves my lungs. I feel lightheaded. There she is, right there on the screen, ice-blue eyes staring back at me.
“How …”
“She was adopted, Ares,” he tells me. All the puzzle pieces slowly begin to fall into place. They click and form the perfect fucking puzzle in my mind.
“She was born in Bellmont.”
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It’s like a slap to the face. It’s like a stab wound to the chest. It feels like my chest has been ripped open, and my heart falls to the floor. How? She doesn’t look like anyone in Bellmont that I can recall.
“I see the look on your face. Why don’t you sit down,” Ranger says. I walk around and sit in the chair in front of him. “The story the mother gave me was she had an affair. Her birth father isn’t in Bellmont. Her mother was. I can’t say for sure she’s still there. If they found out about the affair, she would have more than likely been killed.”
“So she gave the baby up because it was a girl.”
“Yes. As you know, girls don’t belong in Bellmont.”
“The women who are there? Karen said they were special somehow.”
“Those women were chosen. They’re breeders,” he says. Now I’m as confused as ever.
“What?”
“They’re breeders. That’s all they’re used for. A majority of the girls are siblings. Same mother, different fathers.” It feels like my brain is going to explode with all this new information. How can that be? They’re forced to have children, to produce boys, and when it happens to be a girl, they just discard her like she’s nothing.
“This is insane,” I say more to myself than to him.
“It’s life in Bellmont, Ares. I’m surprised you hadn’t picked up on more sooner than this.”
“He’s very good at keeping secrets.”
“I can see that.”
“How many other girls have been taken for the ritual?”
“Twenty-one. That’s the rule,” Ranger replies.
“And Karen?” Now I look up at him.
“She was a lucky one. I’ve had men on her since I found out who she was. I’ve kept tabs on her, kept her safe at a distance. The closer it got to the ritual date, the more I had her watched. She wasn’t chosen.”
