After a few hours, they pull into a dimly lit truck stop to fill up on gas and grab food. After doing that, they pull into a dark section of the parking lot and open the van's side door. I squirm against my bindings, not wanting them to come near me, afraid of why we’re stopping in this remote corner.
“Calm down, Wren,” Max says in exasperation, as ifI’mthe annoying one here. “We’re not going to hurt you. Your brother wants to talk to you. If you’re good and don’t scream, we’ll let you out of the van to relieve yourself. If not…” He shrugs. “You can piss yourself in the back of this van for all I care.”
The thought of peeing myself is enough to make me nod in agreement. Troy touches some buttons on his phone, and I hear it start to ring as Max moves to sit on the edge of the van.
“Report,” Robert’s voice barks over the speakerphone, making me jolt in fear.
“We have her.”
“Show me.”
Troy touches something on the screen, then turns it around, showing me Robert’s angry face. When he sees me, his expression softens.
“Remember what I said,” Max tells me as he slowly pulls the duct tape off my mouth. I lick my lips as Robert and I assess each other. I haven’t seen him since I found out his plans for me. But seeing him again brings back a torrent of emotions. He’s my brother, my only living family. I love him. At least… I used to. I looked up to him. I did everything he asked, and he betrayed me.
“How could you?” I ask, my lower lip trembling as the full impact of what he’s done to me starts to fuel my hurt and anger.
“Oh, Wren. I’m not sure what you think I did, but?—”
“You were going to sell me!” I yell, my voice rising with anger.
His brows pinch as he watches me silently, his eyes roaming my face as if trying to figure out precisely what I’m thinking and how much of a problem I’ll be.
“I won’t marry him,” I say, shaking my head. “I’m not some naive little girl anymore. I know what you’ve been doing to me.”
“And what is it you think I’ve been doing?” he asks with a raised eyebrow.
“You’ve been grooming me.”
“That’s an awfully big accusation, Wren.”
“It’s true. H-How could you?! I did everything you asked of me! I tried to be the perfect sister, and this is how you treat me? Selling me to some man twice my age, whom I told you I didn’t like? Why would you do that? I thought we were a team, Robert?”
I feel a few tears roll down my cheeks and hope that seeing me upset will make him reconsider. Maybe if he knows how much this will hurt me, he’ll change his mind and let me go.
“Please, Robert,” I beg as he continues to stare silently. “Just let me go, let me live my own life.”
“My beautiful little Wren. Don’t you understand yet?” he says with a shake of his head. “Your life doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to me, and I can do whatever I want with it. My plan has always been to sell you when I thought it would profit me the most. And I’ve decided that means you’re going to marry Ivan.”
“I won’t!” Max's hand shoots out and clasps around my throat, cutting off my words as I try to pull out of his hold.
“Consider your little holiday with those convicts your first and last taste of freedom,” Robert says with a snarl, confirming that he knows about the guys. “And don’t think that they might come and save you, either. I’ve made sure they’ve been dealt with.”
My heart sinks with fear.What has he done to them?I want to ask, but Max’s hand stays firm as my eyes fill with more tears.
Robert laughs when he sees my reaction. “Aw, you developed feelings for those pathetic murderers, didn’t you? Stupid little Wren. I don’t know how you found each other, but that’s over now. There’s nobody else out there that even knows you exist.” His eyes move to Max. “Teach her a little lesson in obedience, but don’t touch her face. I need her to look good for her future husband.” He grins at me, something dark and sinister—something I’ve never seen on him before. Then he ends the call.
My body shakes with fear as I realize he truly is as bad as the guys told me he was.I’ve been so blind.How did I not see this side of him before?
Max pulls me out of the van by my throat, and since my ankles are bound, I fall from his grasp, landing on the hard ground on my side as the air is knocked out of me. At least his hand isn’t around my throat anymore.
“You heard him. We need to make sure you remember how to be obedient before we bring you back. Are you going to make this easy or hard?”
The two of them stand over me, and my body shakes as tears roll freely down my face. I want to swear at them, to tell them I’ll never obey, but fear of punishment has me quivering. I used to listen to Robert because I feared he wouldn’t love me if I didn’t do what he said. Having noother family meant he was all I had. It felt like everyone left me except him, and I was desperate not to lose him, too.
But now… now I know the truth, and it’s an entirely different fear that has me wanting to listen to Max and Troy. The thought of them hurting me scares me. But the idea that something has happened to my four guys terrifies me. Not just because I’ll never see them again, but because of the injustice. People like Robert and Ivan get to walk around living the lives they want, but my four guys don’t? They deserved that sort of life more than anyone.
“Get on your knees,” Max says, startling me out of my internal spiral. “If you want to do this the easy way, that is.”
