CHAPTER ONE
“Angela!”
Angela Reynolds was startled at the sound of her name, which was followed by a rush of familiar tension. She wanted to keep walking. To ignore the man who was trailing after her.
She took a breath and forced her shoulders to relax. Then, she turned to face the man, hoping her expression didn’t show how she truly felt about him.
“What do you want, Craig?” Angela asked.
The tall, stocky man stopped a few paces away, a smug look on his face as he crossed his arms. Fear curled inside her as his gaze wandered over her.
He may have had the role of brother by virtue of them having been adopted by the same people, but she had never considered him that. Just like she didn’t like to think of Jim Reynolds as her dad.
“Dad wants you back at the farm,” he said. “You need to help with the garden.”
Angela shook her head. “I can’t. I have to work.”
Craig’s expression hardened. “Your job is at the farm. Not here.”
Herewas the small town of Briar Hollow in central Kentucky. The homestead was located about half an hour to the northwest of the town, though she wished it was on the other side of the country. Or maybe even on the other side of the world.
Unfortunately, they hadn’t been able to get very far away when she and her sister, Kiara, escaped the homestead. Thatmeant that at least once a week, Jim or Craig would track them down and insist they return to the homestead.
The homestead where she’d been raised was the last place on earth she wanted to be. It had been their world for so long, giving them barely a glimpse of anything beyond the boundaries of the homestead as they’d grown up. And had the people she’d lived there with been different—kinder—it might have been an idyllic life. Unfortunately, it had been anything but.
Angela wrapped her arms around herself. “Kiara and I both have jobs here. Our home is here now.”
“You both are ungrateful little brats,” Craig spat out. “You owe Dad everything.”
Angela’s insides trembled. “We have helped him plenty. Now it’s our turn to have lives of our own.”
Her words sounded braver than she felt, but she had to stay strong. For her sake, and for Kiara’s.
There was a reason Jim and Craig always approached her and not Kiara. If one of them was going to cave under the pressure, it would be her.
Angela didn’t like to admit that about herself, but the reality was that she wasn’t as strong as Kiara.
“We’re not coming back,” Angela said firmly as she lifted her chin. “You and Dad have to accept that.”
“Not sure that we do,” Craig said, glancing around the street where they stood. “Watch your back.”
As he ambled down the sidewalk to the old pickup truck parked in front of the hardware store, Angela wasn’t sure if what he’d said was a caution or a threat.
Not wanting Craig to catch her watching him, Angela swung around and rapidly continued in the direction she’d been headed before he’d stopped her.
She tugged her coat more tightly around her body as she hurried toward the grocery store. A brisk late November wind cut through to her bones, though she wasn’t sure it was all the wind. The interaction with Craig had left her shivering.
A bell chimed as she stepped into the store. The place wasn’t very big, but it carried all the basics, along with a few specialty items. From what she’d heard from others in town, the prices weren’t very cheap, but she and Kiara had no choice but to shop there.
They’d never gone beyond the homestead or Briar Hollow, so she’d never shopped at the bigger grocery stores where prices might be more reasonable.
“Good afternoon, Angela.”
Angela turned to smile at the older woman behind the front counter. She and her husband were the owners of the store, and she’d always been friendly to Angela.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Martin. How are you doing?”
“Just fine, hun. And you?”
