Page 43 of Wife Number One

Tears fell down my cheeks as Rebel quickly showed us to a spare bedroom on the ground floor, and I put Hayley Jade down on the bed.

Rebel left us, and I curled up on the fresh-smelling bed covers, my heart breaking over the way my daughter had just completely shut down.

It wasn’t long before her sobs quieted and her breathing became even. When I raised my head from the pillow and leaned across so I could get a glimpse at her face, she was asleep. I couldn’t blame her. It had been the longest night of my life, and I was exhausted too.

I sighed heavily and got up, untucking the blankets from my side of the bed and using them to cover the sleeping child. “I know you don’t understand any of this right now,” I whispered to her. “But there was no alternative.” I swallowed hard. “I hope you can forgive me one day.”

I got up and moved wearily from the bedroom to the sitting room just down the hallway. Inside, the room was full. Alice and Kyle sat next to each other on a couch, chatting with Vaughn and Kian who sat opposite them, hot drinks in their hands. Fang leaned against a wall, watching over his family, and Rebel had settled herself cross-legged on the floor.

She pointed at the coffee table and the steaming mug clearly meant for me. “Tea. I didn’t think coffee was a good idea at this hour.”

“Peppermint and chamomile?” I asked hopefully. A sip of my favorite hot drink would be heaven right about now.

Rebel shook her head. “Just the regular kind, I think. I’m not sure. None of us drink it. It’s only there for guests.”

I picked up the mug and took a sip, trying not to make a face because I didn’t want her to feel bad. I hated regular tea, but it was hot, and the warm mug was comforting in my hands, and I was so grateful for the gesture.

Rebel’s cheeks were tearstained as she watched me sip my drink. “Alice told us everything. I’m so, so sorry, Kara. I had no idea about any of it. How could Dad have let them do that to you?” Her expression crumpled into a mixture of anger and sadness, and she wrapped her arms around herself tightly.

I swallowed hard, knowing that “everything” was just the tip of the iceberg. Alice knew what had happened in the last twenty-four hours, but little of the years before that, other than what she’d observed from a distance.

But I was grateful I didn’t have to rehash it all for my sister and her partners. It was too fresh and raw.

Vaughn shifted to stand with Fang, letting me have his seat, and while it was my instinct to protest and insist he didn’t put himself out for me, I sank down into the comfy cushions, letting them envelop me in their softness.

Rebel reached over and squeezed my ankle. “Hey. You don’t need to worry about any of it anymore. You’ll all stay here. For as long as you need. Even if that’s forever.”

I shook my head fast, though my heart squeezed with love for this woman who hadn’t even blinked an eye at me ignoring her for five years. She’d jumped straight back into being the older sister and protector I remembered.

Her heart was so big, but I was a ticking time bomb. One I refused to let explode all over this beautiful life she’d created for herself. “I can’t stay here. It’s too dangerous. It’s the first place they’ll search for us.” I glanced at Kyle and then at Fang. “His truck can’t be out there. They’ll be looking for it. Josiah saw us leave.”

Fang held his hand out toward Kyle, palm upturned. “Throw me your keys. I’ll put it in the garage.”

Kyle fumbled through his pockets and a tiny bit of my panic subsided. It was only a few hours. I knew we had to get farther away, find some tiny town in the middle of nowhere where nobody would think to search for us. But Kyle was slow blinking after driving all night, and Alice was slumped into the couch. It was like making it to a safe place had triggered something inside all of us and signaled to our brains that we could rest. We couldn’t get any farther right now. None of us could survive on no sleep, and here, surrounded by Rebel’s men and the protection of her home, we were safe. I had to believe that after a few hours in a bed, things wouldn’t seem so bleak.

Rebel’s face fell. “Kara, please. You have to stay. Between me and the guys, there’s always someone here. You won’t ever be alone. I’ll tell Dad to back off and leave you alone.”

I shook my head. “Dad is a pussycat compared to Josiah.”

Kian swore low under his breath. “I knew there was something up with that guy years ago. Only had to meet him once to know there was something weird going on. We should have done something back then.”

I shook my head, not wanting him to blame himself when there was nothing he could have done. “There wouldn’t have been any point. You could have kicked down the fence and tried to get us out, but I wouldn’t have gone with you.”

“I would have,” Alice mumbled, like a know-it-all teenager. “That place and Brother Josiah are the worst.”

But she said that with no experience of how the real world worked.

How it chewed up women and spat them out.

How there were dangers here that the commune protected us from.

She was as naïve as I’d been, and it put her in danger.

“We should all go to bed.” I looked at Alice sharply, noticing the way Kyle’s thigh was pressed against hers. I turned to Rebel and whispered, “Separate beds, if at all possible.”

Rebel clapped her hands. “Right. No hanky-panky for Alice and Kyle! We’re running out of rooms, but Kyle, there’s a guest room out in the pool house. Alice, you can have my room. Obviously Kara can sleep in with Hayley Jade.”

I shook my head. “No, no. We don’t want to inconvenience you.”

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