I startedmy period three days ago, and my mother has been monitoring my pad usage. It’s weird and embarrassing.
We gather for morning Bible Study, which has gotten stranger. Daddy explains the scripture to us, but a lot of the time I don’t think it means what he says it does. I used to question it but don’t anymore, because questioning the Prophet leads to kneeling on rice for hours at a time. The last time I said Daddy was wrong about the meaning of God's word, I got hit with a wooden paddle on my back, after kneeling for sixteen hours. The pain was intense, and I have permanent marks in the shape of rice on my skin.
My father stands, with all eyes on him, as we sit waiting for him to speak.
“I bring you good news today. God has chosen a new wife for me.”
He already has six wives, and now he’s taking another? It’s all so confusing to me, but I don’t dare question it. Instead, I wait for him to announce who she will be.
“Heather, stand up.”
Surely he must be talking to someone else.He can’t possibly intend to marry his own daughter,I think to myself, as my mother grips my arms and pulls me to my feet.
I stand staring at him, wide-eyed, as my heart sinks.
“Heather and I will be married this evening.”
All eyes turn to me, and I’m sure they are thinking the same thing I am. You can’t marry your daughter. Dread fills me, as I think of everything Abigail had to do on her wedding night. I don’t want to do it at all with anyone, but with my father? I fight the vomit threatening to come up. My mother is speaking to me, but I can’t hear a word. The only thing I hear is ringing in my ears.
Daddy approaches me, and strokes his hand down my long blonde hair.
“It has been ordered by God. By following his word, you will please Him. This is your ticket to Heaven. Eternal salvation is yours, if you take it and obey the word of God. If you don’t submit to God's will, then you will suffer eternal damnation.”
CHAPTER THREE
KNOX
September 2025
“There’s another body,”I say to my brothers.
“For fuck's sake,” Killian nearly growls out while Carter laughs. We all know the pretty blonde we’ve had our eye on is responsible for this one, just like she was the last two bodies we found. Any normal person would call the police and let them handle it, but we can’t do that due to our profession. Cops snooping around a chop shop is bad for fucking business.
“She’s going to attract attention we don’t need,” Killian says while staring at the beer bottle in his hand, as if it holds the answers to all of life’s problems.
We sit in our lounge like most nights. Killian and Carter sit on the red ‘L’ shaped sectional, while I sit across from them in a matching oversized chair. This building is both our workplace and home. The front is like any garage, while the back has our bedrooms, and a large kitchen. We aren’t mechanics. Not really. This place is a front for our chop shop. We do enough work here to appear legit, to the law. But the gorgeous blonde dumpingbodies on our property is definitely causing us problems with her extracurricular activities.
“We should kill her, and be done with it,” Killian grumbles. Kill is in charge of our operation, mainly because he naturally took on the role. Carter nor I ever fought it.
“No,” Carter responds with a narrowed gaze, as he visibly grips his beer tight.
Killian glares at him and smirks. “Then you can clean up her messes.”
Carter shrugs and rises from his spot.
“I’m going for a run after.”
By that he means he’s planning to find her, and do a little stalking. We’ve all done it, but none of us quite like Carter.
“We have a Supra coming in next week,” Killian says after our brother leaves.
I nod before taking a swig of my beer.
“Also a Prius Triple.”
He chuckles softly.
“I hate those tiny cars, but we make good money on the parts.”
