Page 17 of Drowning Her

Then one day, out of the blue, when Wilder was at work and I was alone in the house, someone knocked on the front door. I checked the peephole: Forrest, my father-in-law, shoved his hands in his pockets. Like he was innocent enough.

If Wilder and I had met under different circumstances, I might have considered pretending to be asleep. I had seen how my mother dealt with my father’s parents. But when it came to Forrest, he wasn’t only my in-law; we had business to deal with.

I opened the door. “Hey?—”

“Is he here?” Forrest asked. Hepeered around me, searching for his son. I stepped to the side. He wiped his feet on the mat.

“He’s working,” I said.

“Good.” He finally acknowledged me. “I see you haven’t done much with the place. Wandering around too much.”

Sometimes, I took walks through the property, telling everyone that I was getting exercise when I was secretly searching for cash. The farm had so much cash hidden in plain sight, like they didn’t care what happened to it. A few hundred here or there. Tucked into envelopes. Shoved into cracks in the cement. Underneath rocks. Inside of a tree hollow. Everyone pretended not to see that it was just lying there. I often found myself wonderingwhythey had that many people working for them, when some of them seemed to have nothing to do. It was almost like the Feldmans were testing them, to see if anyone would slip. Why were they all so loyal? The Feldmans couldn’t have beenthatdeserving.

I left the money in a fast-food bag at a drop-off point where Crown Creek met the highway toward Pierce, always with some fries and a burger, in case Green was trying to get Bambi to diet again. I doubted they would catch it, and if they did, the Feldmans would investigate their employees first.

I put a hand on my hip, unconcerned that Forrest had noticed I had been exploring the property. “Was I supposed to?” I asked.

“You’re living here in my son’s house,” he said in a low voice. “I’d think you put yourself to use.” I rolled my eyes, opening my mouth to retort, but Forrest laughed. “A joke. I’m kidding. Come on,daughter.” He slapped my back, and I crossed my arms. “Seriously, have you fucked him yet?”

Heat swelled in my cheeks. It must have seemed like I wasn’t trying.

“In your line of work, I expected you to be done by now.”

I wanted to punch him in the balls. There was a difference between someone who sought my services andpaidfor them, and a man who had agreed to an arranged marriage because his father wanted him to. It’s not like Wilder was my customer; if anything, Forrest was.

“What happened to keeping tabs on us?” I pressed my lips together in a flat line. “I thought you kneweverything.”

He squared up to me, his chin lowered. “Have you fucked my son?”

I stared into his blue-gray eyes, a feature he had given to Wilder. But there was a world of difference between the two men. Both were obsessed with control, but in different ways. Forrest forced himself into a situation. Wilder held it bound, waiting for the right time.

“Of course,” I lied. “Every night.”

He smacked my back again. “Good girl,” he said. I cringed. It was so demeaning, coming from him. “If anyone can conquer him, someone likeyoucan.”

I snorted. He acted like he knew me. “Where’s my money?” I asked.

“I told you,” he turned toward the door, readying himself to leave, “Once it’s obvious that my son can’t live without your cunt, I’ll give you your money.”

He wanted me to get Wilder pussy-addicted? That wasn’t our agreement. “I can’t control the?—”

Forrest put a hand on my shoulder. “Listen, daughter. Those are the stipulations. If you want the money, you’ll make it happen.”

“Listen,father,” I snapped, “You owe me nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine?—”

“It’s less than that by now,” he said.

My chest tightened. Had he caught me stealing after all?

Forrest slammed the door behind him, and I groaned, hitting my palms into my sides. For a moment, I thought about running away. I didn’t have to put up with this. I shouldn’t have had to deal with someone who believed they could buy anything, including a fuck toy for their son. I could burn the bridge. Never look back.

But if I left, Green would find me, and there would be hell to pay since he likely thought I owed him every cent I had made here. And crawling back to my parents wasn’t an option. I couldn’t admit defeat. I had made the choice to leave; I was going to stick to it.

Instead, I had to figure something else out. I had to find out more about the Feldmans. It was the only way to get ahead. Each of them carried around secrets like a second skin. Evenlivingon the property, I couldn’t find any answers, only more questions. Whenever I went past the second pasture, Sawyer, Forrest, or another rancher stopped me. Once, even Wilder did, telling me I wasn’t welcome beyond that second gate.

Wilder had warned me with those words:If you obey anything I say, don’t follow me.Maybe he didn’t think I would like what I saw. But inside, I knew I had to dosomething.And if following my husband down a dark, dangerous road was the only way I could get ahead, then I was going to grab my gym shoes.

I started keeping track of Wilder. He came home to eat dinner and left an hour or two later. If he ate without showering, he stayed on the farm. But if he showered,thenate dinner, that meant he was leaving, going on an ‘errand’ off of the farm.

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