Page 19 of Bounty

“Colin and I didn’t agree with Father Mannix’s decision. But there wasn’t much we could do about it. Jude said going to find you or keeping in contact would only put a bigger target on yourback. It would piss his dad off and The Skulls could possibly intercept the correspondence and find you.” Cain’s words sound painful, and I almost feel like he was telling the truth.

“Once a couple years passed, we started looking for you. It took some time to find you, but for the past three years, we knew where you were. We kept an eye on you, little flower. We just wanted you to be safe and lead a good life, even if it couldn’t be with us,” Colin added.

Cain nods in agreement, while Jude stays silent, as if he’s sayingspeak for yourselves. I’m not surprised he didn’t keep up with me. He didn’t like having me around much anyway.

“I made the decision to bring you back so we can figure out what they’re looking for, and then take their whole organization out. Once and for all,” Jude says.

So Jude only brought me back because I fit into his plans. Not because I was unsafe, or alone. Not because Harvest Farms is my home and he wanted to right his father’s mistake.Figures.

I stand again, leaning on the table for support, the evening’s mass revelations making me weak. “I need some space. Where can I lay down?”

“We have more things to discuss, sister,” Jude comments, as if he didn’t even hear me. “Things we need to do to ensure your safety.”

Tears stream down my cheeks from anger and frustration. “Tough shit, Jude. You can’t always get what you want.” Hopefully he isn’t so far up his own ass that he doesn’t get the double meaning.

I want to slam my hands on the table and scream at them all for hurting me. For not fighting for me. For letting me leave. But most of all, I want to rage at them for letting me think I meant something to them. I obviously don’t.

But instead of yelling, I take the high route and leave. Distance will give me time to put myself back together again and mull over what they said.

I almost make it out of the dining room before Jude’s haughty, snide voice says, “I never said you were welcome to any of the rooms. Come back to the table, thistle.”

Whirling around, I open my mouth, only to be cut off by Colin.

“Jude, knock it the fuck off!” he growls, getting up from the table. He leaned across it, facing off with him. “You’re upsetting her, and I’m not going to stand by and let you treat her that way.”

Jude rolled his eyes, not bothered by my tears at all. “You know this is important. It’s not something we can put off.”

“It can wait a few hours while she rests,” Cain mediates. “Baby girl, don’t leave the house until we’ve all sat and talked again. You’re more than welcome to sleep in my room.”

He takes my hand and leads me out of the room. I glance over my shoulder, and see an uncharacteristic rage on Jude’s face before a mask of calm indifference slams into place.

My eyes must be faulty. Jude would have to care to be angry, and he’s made it clear he’s never given a fuck about me.

Chapter Nine

COLIN

Cain brought her upstairs to the guest room hours ago. I tried to coax her out with dessert and some stargazing, but she didn’t reply. The only thing I heard was her soft crying. I knocked again an hour ago, and heard nothing.

I’m currently watching the security feed in Jude’s office, and she’s curled up in bed, facing away from the hidden camera in her room. Hearing about her mom and aunt, and Jude’s fucking attitude problem, did a number on her. Sometimes I want to punch him in the face, but it’s complicated.

Jude’s the whole reason I have a place at Harvest Farms—he’s a brother to me. When I was seven, he and Father Mannix were driving. Jude saw me walking on the side of the road with no shoes and pointed at me. The truck’s windows were down, and I remember him screaming“Dad, that boy– he looks sick and he doesn’t have shoes!”

I had run away from home four days prior, and unless I wanted to die, I didn’t have time to find my shoes. My father had already beat me to a pulp and I knew if I stuck around, he’d kill me. Walking in the sun had burnt my skin, dehydrating me. I hadn’t eaten for days, and I felt like I was about to pass out.Father Mannix immediately pulled the car over and asked me what happened.

I hid my father’s abuse for so many years, shrugging it off and lying about the bruises and injuries he caused. But something told me to trust him, so I told him everything. I remember his response like it was yesterday.

“Son, do you want a new home, a big family that treats you right?”

“Yes,” I cried, wiping my nose and wincing because it was broken again.

“If you join my family, you’ll always have a job. A home. A place of your own. But once you join, you can never leave. Do you understand that?”

To a seven year old boy, a big forever family that treated me right sounded like a dream—like the home I’d always wanted. I didn’t understand that my family would be a cult, and our job would be running guns. That my home would be a farm covering up illicit activity. And that forever meant for life.

Even if I had known, I wouldn’t change a thing—this life may be dangerous, but it brought me everything, including my little flower. For that I will be forever grateful.

Being apart from her, after finally having her in my life again, feels like an aching pain gnawing at me from the inside. I need to see her like I need air to breathe. I can’t keep watching her on a screen when I’m so close to her now.

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