Page 13 of Wife Number One

“Would you like a sample as well? We like all our new friends to get a taste of what their lives can be like if they join us. Shari here will only be too pleased to accommodate any requests you might have. Our women like to please their men. We teach that the way to serve the Lord is to serve your husband, who was made in the Lord’s image. Pleasing our men is the way our women show their faith and commitment to God. Isn’t that right, Shari?”

Shari nodded quickly, pushing to her feet once more and holding her hand out to Josiah’s guest.

Alice’s mouth dropped open. “She’s just fucked one guy now she’s going to go fuck another?”

“Don’t use language like that,” I said on autopilot while my stomach churned.

My heart ached for the woman, so clearly being used by Josiah and his friends as bait. Was this how they were luring new members in? With promises of easy women? What else did they promise?

I looked over at my sister, who was glaring at the group with barely controlled anger.

She didn’t even seem to see the danger she was in.

She’d been spared so far, but if this was what Josiah was doing, how much longer would it be before it was her, forced to take men into the woods so she could “serve God.”

The new man pushed Shari’s hand away, his dark eyes focused on Hayley Jade. “My tastes run…younger.”

My blood turned to ice.

Alice dug her fingernails into my arm. “Don’t,” she whispered. “Let Josiah handle it. He’s not a monster. He’ll put him in his place.”

My sister didn’t know my husband the way I did.

Josiah motioned for Hayley Jade to come to him.

Onith loosened his grasp on her, and she walked obediently across the clearing to her leader.

Josiah’s gaze rolled over my daughter, his eyes hardening. “Kneel before your leader, little girl.”

“Shit,” Alice mumbled.

I didn’t even reprimand her for her poor language. I couldn’t do anything but watch my daughter and pray she just did as she was told.

Hayley Jade pouted. “I don’t like kneeling. It hurts my knees.”

My heart stopped.

She was too much like me.

Josiah leaned forward, so he was face-to-face with her. The anger in his eyes at her refusal to worship him was visible even from a distance. “It’s very lucky you’re so pretty and worth so much money.”

Onith glanced up with interest. “Wait. You’re selling her?”

Josiah sat back and picked up his beer bottle again. “I’ve got a contact interested, and frankly, I can’t stand to look at her any more. I’ve just been waiting, biding my time because she was so pretty I knew I could get a good amount of money for her. But she’s what, six now?”

“Five,” Hayley Jade said quietly.

Josiah shrugged. “Close enough.”

The newcomer’s greedy-eyed gaze lifted to meet Josiah’s. “What is your asking price? I’ll pay.”

Onith shot a glance at the new man and then shook his head at Josiah. “I’ll pay more than what either of them are offering. I’ve had my eye on her for a while.”

I let out the tiniest of whimpers.

Alice wiped the back of her hand over her mouth. “I’m going to be sick. Does Dad know about this? Does Mama?”

Our father wasn’t among the men sitting around the fire, and I wholeheartedly wanted to believe he knew nothing about this. But these were the same parents who had willingly sold me to Josiah, and the same parents who had allowed him to take my child and give her to another woman, so I didn’t hold out much hope that they didn’t know about Josiah’s plans to sell her.

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