Page 55 of Lesson In Faith

Jasper snorted a laugh. “How fast can she run?”

“What?”

“She’s gearing up to bolt.”

“Maybe if you stopped intimidating her, she wouldn’t feel the need to,” Anarchy chastised, glancing up with a sympathetic smile as Tamsyn made the mistake of peeking in her direction. “Ignore him, he can be an asshole.”

Her husband’s mouth curved so menacingly, it was like watching a blade form. Sharp, wicked, one side curled up higher than the other so he showed a glimpse of a tooth. “Oh, kitten, I’m going to take so much pleasure in destroying yours tonight, they’ll hear your screams in the city.”

Okay, that was her signal. There was a special kind of malice in his voice, a familiar glee to which she was highly tuned. She’d heard it before from the elders, from the men who’d completed a trade and were joking aboutsealing the deal.

Hurting their brides, raping them, ruining them.

Merrick’s fingers grazed her arm as she lurched up, stumbling away as fast as she could without falling on her face. Curse words rained over her in masculine tones, then a single, harsh command snapped out and cemented her feet to the floor.

“Stop.”

“Give me one damn good reason why I shouldn’t lay you out, Fairfax.”

“Because I’m trying, in my own way, to help. If you’ll allow me?”

Trembling, Tamsyn squeezed her eyes shut and silently begged Merrick to say no. Couldn’t he see what Jasper was, what lurked inside him? Her heart hammered against her ribs as even the clacking of the keys stopped, leaving the quiet crackle of the fire to fill in the silence.

Cold kissed the nape of her neck, bathing her spine in ice. The fine hairs on her arms prickled an instant before long, narrow fingers touched her shoulder lightly, ripping a strangled, garbled noise from deep within her chest.

She yanked away, curling her body away from the threat, then moaned as her bladder released in fear, urine soaking the thin pants she wore and pooling around her feet.

“Ah, pet.” Jasper’s voice softened so drastically, he almost sounded like a nice man. “Someone has been cruel to you, haven’t they? I haven’t been much better. I’m sorry for that; sometimes I forget that even strong women have their limits.”

“Not everyone’s a masochist, J.” Anarchy tsked quietly. “Merrick, if you point me in the right direction, I’ll get her some clean pants.”

“It’s okay.” There was barely restrained violence in his voice. “I’ll go get her cleaned up. I think she needs a break anyway.”

“If it helps, I think we’re done.”

“Excuse me?”

The surprise in the words forced Tamsyn’s eyes open. There was a crack inside her widening by the second, pushed apart by the growing tension in the room. Whatever was causing it didn’t bode well for her; she recognized the dread in the pit of her stomach as a warning sign.

“I can leave the laptop so you can read through the data I’ve accumulated based off the information I got from Tamsyn. You reacted badly when I mentioned heading for the mountain ridge,” she explained, smiling sadly at her as Tamsyn turned. “There’s a website for a project community here in Denver called Ridge Point. It’s buried, I won’t bore you with the details, but…”

Dead air filled her ears as dread became nausea in a heartbeat.

“Looking at this, it’s been professionally designed.”

Tamsyn took a step back.

“The website is for paid members only. They insist on an application, background check, and evidence of funds. Women need not waste their time applying,” Anarchy muttered in disgust, obviously reading as she spoke. “Applications are to be accompanied by a wire transfer of… fuck, twenty-five thousand.”

“Just for an application?” Jasper asked.

“Yeah, and I’m just gonna take the backdoor here.” More clacking, a few whispered curses. “Whoa. Well, this is seriously fucked up.” Brown eyes flicked from Jasper to Merrick, then landed on Tamsyn. “This is what you’re running from. I don’t blame you.”

“What?” Merrick demanded, moving to wrap his arm around Tamsyn’s waist when she swayed.

“The Ridge Point community was founded in 1927 by a small hierarchy of wealthy businessmen who were dissatisfied by the progression of women’s rights. They started a weekend club where wives could be exchanged for goods for the duration of the weekend. They expanded this to longer periods until they began building the original compound in 1938. The following year, several members were drafted into the army for the Second World War, most of whom didn’t return. The project was put on hold until 1947 when they resumed construction and extended membership to a lot of new blood.”

“Can we get to the vital information?”

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