Page 51 of Burning Hearts

And putting money in their accounts.

It wasn’t like she’d never pretended to be someone far different from who she really was. If they asked her questions, she would just channel her inner Anna, the server from the pizza joint. Pretend she was only about good times and had no clue about anything they were doing.

But how long would playing dumb last?

They might eventually get frustrated that she wouldn’t tell them anything and just kill her.

“They think I have information.” Tristan paused to take a breath. “They’ll threaten to kill you—or worse—to get me to talk.”

“Maybe we could be not here when that starts.”

He pushed himself back and sat up, leaning against the wall with his legs stretched out in front of him. “Great. But there’s no way to get out, and unless someone is looking for you, we aren’t gonna be rescued.”

Jamie hadn’t even considered rescue.

Was someone looking for her?

Logan’s face filled her mind, and she had to close her eyes. A lone tear slipped out at the corner of her eye anyway. He had to know what’d happened. They’d been on the phone.

As much as she’d been trying not to think about him or that sweet conversation they’d been having seconds before…

She felt hands grab her again, but it was only in her mind.

Would Logan come for her?

She didn’t want him to get hurt trying. But if she were honest, rescue would be amazing. Her hero, showing up like he had last time. Hitting a guy over the head and then telling her they needed to go, so determined to pull her out and save her.

Logan.

She’d fallen for him at a time when her faith in God had been waning.Lord, I need to trust You, not the man I never stopped caring about.The woman she wanted to be—the child of God—needed to rely fully on the Lord and not put all her faith in a man who might let her down. Logan was a human.

A hero.

He would be praying hard and working to save her. She needed to do the same. Put God first and let everything else in her life fall into alignment after that.

“Jamie.” Her brother flexed and stretched out his fingers, as if testing what mobility he had. “Is someone coming to rescue you?”

“I don’t know.”

“They’ll be back. They’ll beat you until I tell them who shot the boss.”

If she hadn’t been tied to the chair, she would’ve throttled him. “Why did you get involved with them in the first place? It’s not like they’re good people.”

“You don’t understand.” Tristan looked away, spitting blood onto the floor beside him.

“Exactly. That’s why I asked. Because I don’t know why the boy I raised, the one I cared for and nursed when he was sick, would ever have gotten in with bad guys.”

Then again, there were a whole lot of things her brother had done that didn’t make sense. Far as she could tell, he had no idea what the militia guys were up to. Even if he’d said he’d wanted to find out, what good was that? It wasn’t like her brother had a plan.

“You don’t need to worry about it. I’ll get us out of this.”

Jamie’s heart squeezed in her chest. “Why did you join them?”

She needed to know if he’d taken on board some kind of awful mission or a toxic belief that had no place in a law-abiding society. No way would she ever have imagined the sweet boy she’d raised would turn into a man like that. Sure, he’d had some run-ins with bad types in high school. He hadn’t always done the right thing. Everyone had things they’d do differently if given the chance of a do-over. No one’s past was perfect.

She just couldn’t reconcile him becomingthis.

“Why did you do it?”

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