AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lizzy hadn’t curtsied correctly for the governor. Mother’s men seized Thomas when they returned home and hit him over and over again as Lizzy and Jacey screamed for them to stop. Dad held them back and told them they had to learn …
Lizzy had eaten two desserts at a fancy picnic. Mother poured ipecac down her sister’s throat as Lizzy gagged and Jacey and Quaid cried for their dad to help, and she was certain her sister would die …
Mother carved small patterns with a sharp knife into Thomas’s back. Jacey couldn’t even remember why. Thomas didn’t cry out, but his thin body shuddered with the pain. Jacey had learned Mother never listened to her. She ran to one of the guards watching, tugged on his shirt and begged him to help. He studied her and then stepped forward and grabbed Mother’s hand. “It’s enough.” Mother looked from the guard to Jacey to Thomas. She tilted her head. Another guard shot the one who’d helped in the back.
The memories grew darker and worse. Jacey’s own screams reverberated in her head until…
Nanny Maria had rigged an elaborate escape for her and Thomas. They were almost free. She could feel Thomas’s agitation and hope as he held onto her hand. Mother’s men found them. They took Jacey to the office where Father and Lizzy waited. There was a video playing on the computer. Father held her on his lap, told her this was Thomas’s fault, not hers. It wasn’t the first time Father had held her, at Mother’s instruction, and they’d viewed something on that screen, of that room with white walls, blood splattered everywhere. Father held her tight. His strong arms usually shielded her from Mother, but this time they were painful steel bands. He made her watch while Thomas begged their mother and Mother sliced Maria’s throat …
Jacey doubled over. The pain, the mind games, the torture, the death all ripped through her. Her stomach clenched and cramped. Her soul felt dark and lonely; her future was bleak. Jacey was a pawn, used to manipulate her dad, Lizzy, and Quaid. She’d never dared form relationships with friends or boys she liked and give her mother more power over her. She’d never even kissed a boy or man willingly. Only the men her mother had forced on her. She shuddered, remembering men twice her age touching her, kissing her.
No wonder Cade’s kisses had been so incredible.
Pushing the longing for Cade’s safety and happiness away, she turned from the screen as well. She couldn’t handle the pain or memories any longer. Why had she wanted to remember? What had she thought she’d accomplish? Her mother didn’t care about her, only wanted to use her. Jacey had no information, was no help. She could be used as a pawn to lure her mother in. That would be helpful, but Quaid would never allow it.
Quaid. Even through all the pain of remembering, she savored the memories of Quaid. He’d been her best friend, her confidant, her protector, her favorite person in the world. When he’d escaped and gone to the Navy, she’d only been fifteen. Maybe she should’ve been upset at him leaving her, but it had been the opposite. She’d been ecstatic he had a chance at life and knew he’d rescue her when he could. He had.
The past year, she’d lived at the idyllic Coleville Ranch with the loving Mama Millie and Papa Jared and all those brothers who cared about her and would protect her. She’d almost come to believe she had value. But now she knew. Her mother would not rest until Jacey was back in her power and Quaid wouldn’t allow that to happen.
What a mess. What should she do?
A door opened and footsteps approached. “Jacey?” Cade’s deep voice was soft, concerned.
She turned to look at him. In the blue light of the computer, he looked as appealing as ever. Her tough cowboy, but never hers. She’d never have a normal or healthy relationship. Never.
And she knew in that moment. She had to get away from Cade. If her mother found her here … An image of Cade’s throat sliced, and him dying as horrifically as Maria had, flashed in her mind’s eye. Quaid assumed Jacey hadn’t witnessed that murder. She’d never forget, and to make certain, her mother had replayed it every time Jacey tried to fight for Thomas or Lizzy or questioned why she had to date scaly, wealthy men, reminding her how Thomas would die if Jacey didn’t obey.
Her body shook.
“Are you okay?”
“No,” she managed. Where to start? He didn’t need this burden, or her memories. She’d decided to get them back to help. The only help she could give him was to get far away and pray her mother never found out about her time here, how deeply she’d fallen in love.
“Your eyes. They’re different,” he ventured.
“I remember,” she admitted.
His eyes widened. He strode to her and lifted her to her feet and cuddled her close. She should have pushed him away, to protect him. He shouldn’t need or want her in his life. Instead, she snaked her arms around his back and clung to him. More tears sprang to her eyes and wet his T-shirt.
Safety. Joy. Love. A life she’d never have.
He held her for a few moments, then said softly, “Sweetheart, I want to hear about anything and everything, hold you, comfort you, talk the night away if that’s what you want, but somebody’s coming up the canyon.”
“What?” She jerked away, her stomach twisting. “My mother?”
“I don’t think so. The camera shows a Jeep. Clint ran the plates and it’s a rental. The rental company is closed for the night so he couldn’t get the name, but he’s closing in on the person now. I doubt your mother would come in a rented Jeep.”
“You don’t know that.” She grabbed his arm. “You have to hide. I will go out and meet her, give myself up. I’ll claim … I’ll claim this place is vacant.” Panic clutched at her chest, made her mind dark and cloudy again. She had to focus. To save him. “They’ll search. Take Jack and ride far away. If she never finds you, she won’t be able to torture you, kill you.” Her voice cracked and broke, and tears traced down her face.
Cade. She could not survive watching him be tortured and killed.
“Sweetheart.” He grasped her hands in his. “Sweetheart. I’m not going to hide. You’re going to hide and I’m going to keep you safe.”
“No,” she yelled at him, ripping her hands free. “No! You don’t understand what you’re dealing with. You are strong and brave, but that’s exactly the kind of people she likes to break. She won’t just kill you; she’ll torture you first. I won’t let her near you.”
“No wealthy lady is going to torture or kill me.” Cade looked as brave and tough as he was, but he did not understand. Nobody could but Quaid, Elizabeth, her dad, and her mother’s top henchmen. Even Catherine’s other close associates didn’t know her like they did.
“I need to leave.” She pivoted from him and ran toward the door.
