Page 35 of Wife Number One

At least for me. I was his wife, and everything I did reflected on him and his leadership.

Maybe he’d spare Alice and Hayley Jade.

Maybe he wouldn’t.

He couldn’t catch us. That couldn’t be an option.

I broke into a run, pushing my exhausted body further than I ever thought I could.

Twigs snapped somewhere not too far behind us, and I stifled the urge to scream. They were catching up. Their flashlights lit up the darkness behind us, filtering out before it could touch us, but they were there. No dogs yet, but people called my name.

My father. My mother. Sisters. The other wives. Josiah. Their voices mingled until it was one big blur of terror.

“We’re nearly at the road,” Alice promised. “I can see it!”

I raised my weary head. Through the thick trees and the glistening moonlight, a paved road loomed ahead.

It was an empty stretch of asphalt, but in that moment, it looked like freedom.

I hurried, running faster.

“Kara!” Josiah’s booming voice cut through the night. “Where are you, sweetheart? Come back to us. Come back to the Lord, and He will forgive your sins.”

My fingers trembled, my footsteps faltering.

“Don’t you fucking dare listen to him, Louisa Kara.” Alice grabbed my arm. “He’s a fake and a phony and he’s been abusing you for years. Don’t you listen.”

I nodded, but it was hard. It was so, so hard when it was him I heard in my nightmares. When it was his voice telling me I wasn’t good enough, wasn’t worthy to receive the blessings of the Lord.

Some part of me wanted to curl into a tiny ball and just let his dogs find me.

Let them rip me limb from limb until I was as nothing on the outside as I was on the inside.

I stumbled on a stick half hidden by fallen leaves, and a sharp pain wrenched my ankle. I went down hard, my knees crashing to the freezing ground.

Pain ricocheted through my entire body, but I cradled Hayley Jade from the brunt of the fall.

She cried out before I quickly clapped a hand over her mouth. My ankle screamed in agony, but I shushed the little girl, whispering reassurances into her ear. “You’re okay. I’ve got you. Just stay quiet and we’ll be safe. Okay?”

“Kara get up,” Alice whisper-shouted, pausing and reaching back for me.

I shook my head, knowing I couldn’t go on with my ankle the way it was. “Take her. Go. Please, Alice. She can’t stay here!”

My sister’s determined face got in mine. “Neither can you. They find you, and you’re dead.”

Josiah’s voice filled the air. “Kara! It’s all going to be okay. Just come back to us and repent. Your sins will be forgiven if you bring the child back safely.”

To anyone else, his words might have sounded sweet. Reassuring.

All I could hear was the underlying malice. The vicious danger he barely concealed in his tone.

Alice knew it too. “For her. Get up and run, Kara. For your daughter.”

I nodded, pressing back up onto feet that protested my weight.

A flashlight shined in my eyes.

We were too late.

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