Page 87 of Three to Fall

He swore under his breath and then jerked his head toward the door. “Go then.”

I twisted the door handle and blinked in surprise. “It’s locked. They’ve never locked the door.”

Hawk moved in to pick it. “Josiah’s clearly tightening up their security.” He fiddled with his little tool, jimmying it around in the lock.

“Or his people are scared,” Grayson murmured. “There are fences everywhere, that should give a sense of security from the outside world. But it won’t when the real thing they’re scared of is inside these walls.”

I stared at him. “What are you saying?”

He shook his head. “If they weren’t locking doors before, but now they are, maybe they’ve realized it’s not the outside world they need to be scared of. Maybe they’ve realized it’s Josiah who is the true monster.”

Instantly, with that doubt in my head, I wanted to save them all. Storm the house. Wake them all up. Beg them to come with us. It didn’t matter what they’d done. They were my family and I loved them. I didn’t want them here, living under the black cloud Josiah had created out of what had once been a peaceful, homestead country life.

Like Hayden could read my mind, he gave a silent shake of his head. “We can’t risk it. Just Jacqueline.”

He always knew what I was thinking. Or rather, could read me in a way nobody else could. That soul-deep connection we’d forged years ago was built on him understanding me, and knowing me until sometimes he knew my heart better than I did.

But he was right. We were reading a whole lot into a lock on the door.

The lock gave a tiny pop, and Hawk twisted the handle, opening the door slowly, his gun pointed into the darkness.

Hayden was right. He couldn’t be in here. He was too amped up.

I squeezed his arm as we passed him, hoping the small touch would be enough to calm him.

But I couldn’t wait around to see.

We made our way up the stairs on silent feet, me holding my breath, because I was sure if I dared to breathe it would be jagged and loud. We moved fast, Hayden’s fingertips grazing myback in a way that might have been distracting anywhere else, but here was just reassuring.

I paused at Jacqueline’s bedroom door and glanced back at Hayden, who gave me a silent nod.

I twisted the handle, and we stepped into her room.

I’d half been expecting Josiah to be sitting in her armchair with a loaded shotgun, just waiting for us.

But what we found on the other side was maybe worse.

Moonlight shimmered over glass beads and white satin. A wedding dress, one too tiny to be for any other member of the family, hung from a hook on Jacqueline’s wall.

Anger speared through me hot and fast, staring at the gown made for the thirteen-year-old asleep in the single bed, a stuffed teddy bear still clutched in her arms like it was the only protection she had.

Not anymore.

I could feel Hayden vibrating with anger behind me, and I knew instantly that leaving Hawk outside had been the right call. He wouldn’t have hesitated in storming down the hallway to my father’s bedroom and putting a gun in his mouth.

I knew Hayden wanted to. Even I wanted to. My eyes burned with hot, angry tears at the betrayal. My father had sold yet another of his daughters.

Was it to Josiah? Was Jacqueline to marry him and take my spot?

I leaned down, sweeping her soft hair off her face.

She looked barely older than Hayley Jade, and my fingers shook with a mixture of adrenaline and fear and anger. “Jacqueline. Wake up. It’s me. Kara.”

Her eyes fluttered open, then widened in confusion.

Her gaze flickered over my shoulder, and terror filled her expression. She opened her mouth.

I clapped my hand over it before she could make a sound. “Don’t scream. He’s a friend. He won’t hurt either of us.”

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