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“What was the condition?”
“That I marry Mason Kennedy.”
“So you did?”
Sam barely heard her whispered “yes.”
“What happened next?”
“He forced me to recruit for him.”
“Ah.”
“Then when we came back up here a few weeks ago, he asked me a question about the estate, which I answered honestly. Big mistake. The next thing I know, I’m back in the dormitory, and he’s taken a new wife.”
“Doesn’t he have to divorce you before he can marry someone else?”
“You would think so, wouldn’t you?” She let out a bitter laugh. “Poor Brittany, she seems like such a sweet kid, but now she’s tied to Mason.”
“Brittany?” Sam recognized the name as Cate’s roommate. The one she joined the sorority for. Could it be the same girl? “Is she here?”
“Last time I saw her was when she entered the code on the door so Emmaline and I could escape. We were supposed to contact an FBI Agent who had sent another girl in to work undercover and gather intel. We were then supposed to have the FBI raid the place and rescue the other girls. It was too risky for all of us to leave together.”
Dread curled in Sam’s gut. “Who was the other girl?”
“Her name was Cate.” Was. Did that mean she was dead? How would Gavin and Gray ever reconcile that with their faith? She closed her eyes. Gavin was stronger than she’d been when her parents died. He would get through whatever happened.
“Do you know what happened to her?”
“No. Last I heard Mason was planning to marry her off to someone in New Zealand. I don’t know if when it’s supposed to happen. I doubt she’s left yet. It usually takes a month or more to get a bride ready for her new union.”
“What does that entail?”
“Making sure that by the time they send her, she’s sufficiently afraid to complain. The Alliance doesn’t want any of their marriages to fail, so they use coercion and threats to make sure the women remain compliant once they leave the dorms.”
“How on earth do they get away with it?”
“By killing anyone who objects to their methods.”
People like Grayson and Gavin. If they were to publicly resist Mason. Her stomach roiled as she got to her feet. Something had to be done, but she was helpless in her current state. No. Not completely helpless. Her father and her uncle had both introduced her to an all powerful God. If she couldn’t help the man she loved and his siblings now, she knew who could. The only question left was whether or not He would answer her prayers this time.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Whentheyreturnedhome,Gavin hopped in his Land Rover and headed to Samantha’s. They hadn’t left things in a good place, so he thought the chances of convincing her to attend the wedding with him would be better if he showed up in person. As he pulled into her drive, something seemed amiss. Her Subaru sat in front of the house with the driver’s door open, but there was no sign of her.
He slammed his car into park and jumped out. Banging on her door, he shouted for her to answer. No response. He tried calling her landline and heard it ringing inside, still no response. She could berate him over a broken door or window later if need be, but he was getting inside one way or another. Though trying all the windows and doors first seemed the wisest course of action. Everything on the main level was locked up tight, so he tried the bilco doors to the cellar and found them unsecured. The door leading inside was open, so he found himself back in the finished part of her basement staring at the box they’d gone through weeks early. Had it only been four weeks? It felt like far longer.
He took the stairs two at a time and entered the main level where he continued to shout her name. She was nowhere to be found. Upstairs he paused in her bedroom doorway. It was her intimate space, and he felt like an intruder as he stared at the place where she lay her head each night. When this was all over, he hoped she’d agree to marry him and then his space would become hers, but this wasn’t the time to think about it. He needed to find her and make sure she wasn’t in some kind of jeopardy.
The door to the other bedroom was open, so he walked over to it. Her uncle’s room. He knew without needing to be told. She’d mentioned how she hadn’t felt strong enough to go inside. Something must’ve changed. The first step into the room felt like a violation of her privacy, but if she was in here, she had to be distraught. And if she needed him, he’d be there for her, even if she hated him for encroaching on her private space.
But she wasn’t there. An open safe displayed long guns. A pile of journals were spread on the floor, and a tiny black notebook lay beside them. Stooping down, he picked it up and then gathered the journals into his arms and took them down to her kitchen table. Had something she read spooked her and caused her to take a hike? But what about the open car door? He needed more information, and he didn’t know where to start, so he read. Yes, it was an intrusion into the privacy of a man who was most likely dead, and also a violation of his girlfriend’s trust, she’d claimed she wasn’t his girl, but they both knew that wasn’t true. And right now, he needed to know what had caused her to flee her house in such a panic that she would leave doors open and rifles unsecured, so he read.
Thewallswerepressingin on Samantha by the time the muscle-bound menace returned.
“Think you can remove the restraints? My arms are numb.”
He grunted and set a tray of food on top of the floor. He slid his pocket knife through the zip ties securing your wrists and pain shot through her arms as blood rushed into her limbs. Before she could say another word, he was gone.
