Page 8 of Bounty

“I’m a farmer,” he deadpans. His lips curl into a smile.

A folk song blares through the speakers, and panic cripples me. I can’t breathe. Goosebumps prickle my skin as a dry heave gets caught in my throat. My entire body locks up.

It’s a song we’d always sing during Sunday Gatherings on the farm…He’s a farmer…

I whip around, and his coat hood and hat are gone, revealing a face I thought I’d never see again. A familiar pair of golden hazel eyes stare back at me. Streaks of gray run through his brown hair and beard now, but I’d recognize that face anywhere.

“C-C-Cain?” I gasp.

“Hey, Wisteria,” he croons before giving me a wide, slightly crooked smile. I used to love that smile, but now it fills me with dread. “It sure is good to see you.”

I should run.

The snow is whirling around outside, and I can barely see the road ahead of me. Even if I could get out of the car, I’d never make it out there.

“How did you find me? Why are you here?” I slowly move my hand to the door.

“I always knew where you were, baby girl.”

He runs his finger along the charm on my necklace, his smile turning into a frown. It’s not the one he gave me the day I left, but my mother’s locket. It matches the charm bracelet my aunt gave me after we left the farm. I stopped wearing his necklace after all my letters went unanswered.

“Colin and I kept tabs on you. We knew you’d need to return home eventually.”

No.I can’t go back. Iwon’tgo back.

I start to open the door, but he grabs my arm.

“You’re going to hurt yourself out there. Come with me. Please?”

Breaking free from his hold, I throw myself out of the car into the snowsquall. My heels are left behind and I run barefoot to the woods on the side of the road. There’s a gas station on the other side. I can call for help there.

The heavy thud of his boots in the snow echoes behind me as my heart frantically beats.

“Wisteria Jean Flowers,stop,” he bellows. “Don’t make me take you by force.”

I push myself but the icy snow sends stabs of pain through my feet. My heart pounds, and my breaths thin out. It feels as if the trees are closing in around me.

“Baby girl,together forever, we thrive,” he yells, sounding too close.

He grabs my arm, pulling me into him so hard he knocks the air from my lungs.

“It’s time to finally come home, baby girl,” he says with an ominous finality as he wraps his arms around me. As if this has been decided for me long ago.

A cloth comes over my face, and the edges of my vision go black. Then darkness consumes everything.

Chapter Four

COLIN

I sit on the couch in the living room, right in front of the bay window. It’s dark, but the street light illuminates my view of Wisteria’s shack just fine. A few weeks ago, we paid off the losers who rented this place and moved in.

All the better to watch over my little flower and protect her from an enemy she knows nothing about.

As I watched her, a part of me had hoped to see her bloom, to know that she was doing well without us, and that she could stand on her own two feet without Norma. An evil part of me wanted her to fail, to be a complete and utter disaster so that she had no choice but to come home.

Either way, she’s coming home–-whether she walks through the gate willingly or we drag her through kicking and screaming. Her safety is our number one priority. The evil fucker inside me was quite satisfied when we realized how fucked she truly is here on her own.

She works a dead end job with a shady boss, lives in a crumbling tin can she can barely afford, and her car is so unsafe, Cain easily manipulated it to break down. She’s not meant to live this way, and the fact that I wasn’t there to help her makes me spitting mad. No one has come and gone from her house exceptthe Chinese food delivery guy and a woman around her age carrying a bottle of wine. A friend, I’m assuming.

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