I blink up at him, watching him closely.
His eyes seem honest enough. His expression open.
Then he lets go of my mouth.
“What do you want?” I breathe.
“Penance. Let an old man have his dying wish.” He shrugs. “What do you say?”
A voice inside me rebels against giving in to him. He doesn’t seem like he’s going to die anytime soon.
Still, this doesn’t feel like another lie.
“Okay, I believe you.”
“Good.” He pats my shoulder warmly. Lovingly, even.
My trust in him is shaky, but it’s there.
That’s why, when he laces his fingers with mine, I don’t flinch. I allow him that touch.
“This way. I’ll hide you over there.”
We walk together in the dark. Lights shine in the windows of the large farmhouse. Empty windows with no one looking out of them.
I hear my twin scream, “We’ll pay! I swear to God, we will.”
And then there’s that feeling of being watched. It returns stronger than ever before.
But…that’s strange. I can’t hear Knox anymore. The rest of the family is nowhere to be found.
“We’ll be at the storm shelter in no time,” he reassures me, boots grinding through the dirt. “No time at all. It’s hidden out here, camouflaged with hay.” Then his foot hits something, and he grins. “Ah. There it is.”
Before he can pry the door open, a shadow cuts across from the left.
Knox.
Tall. Dark. Eyes that promise to devour me and destroy me in the same breath.
A shiver skitters down my spine.
He betrayed me. I should hate him.
But my traitorous body aches for this masked monster. My kidnapper.
The monster who seethes at the older man, saying, “Where the fuck do you think you’re taking her? I told you she’s mine to kill, not anyone else’s. Let me have her.”
11
KNOX
“Would you look at that?” A slow smile spreads across Grandpa’s lips, his hand lashing around the back of Skylar’s neck. “Finally taking your rightful place. Becoming a true part of this family.”
Disgust curls in my chest at the pride in his voice. I won’t ever kill her. Won’t ever treat her like she’s just another living-hide.
I hate how it’s the only way to ensure both she and my family stay alive.
I hate myself more when I look at Skylar. Wide-eyed and frozen, she stares at me like I’ve gutted her. Like our time in the guest room meant nothing to me.
