Page 69 of The Preachers' Promise
“We can stay a long while. Eric said so.”
Roman turns to face Cain. “Right, and what if he faces a threat of his own? You’re not telling me that if someone threatened him or his family he wouldn’t turn us out of here. You can’t rely on the kindness of strangers for too long, my friend. That’s just a rule in life.”
“Well, it’s a shitty rule,” Cain says, reminding me of a petulant child.
“I also don’t think Ophelia’s father is going to be as understanding as you seem to believe.” Roman shifts on his seat a little, making himself more comfortable. “He’s got to be fuming that we took her.”
“What?” Cain’s eyes flash. “He ought to be grateful we saved her from being raped.”
“He doesn’t know that, though,” I point out. “He’s going to be worried sick, and all he knows is we took his daughter. In his eyes, she’s missing again, and he doesn’t know where she is or if she’s okay. That’s going to be making him absolutely feral. It would me.”
“We can explain.” Cain’s expression is defiant.
“We need to offer him something,” Roman says.
“We will. The Prophet’s head on a platter and his daughter’s freedom.”
“What if that’s not enough?”
Cain explodes. He picks up one of the stools by the breakfast bar and throws it clean across the room. It bounces off one of the walls, leaving a big, dark mark on the pristine paint.
Jesus Christ. I stare at him as if he’s grown another head.
“Fucking hell.” He paces the floor. “You two are being total fucking downers. I’m trying to find ways forward here, and all you’re doing is pointing out all the ways it could go wrong. I’m trying to keep our heads above water and stop us from collapsing into a toxic stew of doom and self-pity, and all you can do is keep pointing out all the negatives.”
I’d always thought of Cain as being more well-adjusted than me, but now I know he likes to get beaten up on the regular as well as kick the shit out of other people, I understand differently. His temper is obviously an issue, and he’s just given us an example.
“Listen, we need to bring this down a notch,” Roman says. “We’re on the same side, and we want one thing more than anything, which is for Ophelia to be safe.”
“Did I hear my name?”
The woman in question walks into the room, and my breath catches. She’s wearing a satin slip dress, her long, pale hair hanging down over it like water.Fuck me.
“Where did you get that?” I choke out.
“One of the closets. Why? Is it all right? Cain said we could wear the clothes in the guest bedrooms, and I went rummaging and found this. It feels so nice against my skin.”
“You look enchanting, Ophelia,” Roman says.
Enchanting? How very old school of him. Fuckable is more like it.
“You said my name?” She looks at us all, one at a time. “You were talking about me.”
“We are trying to figure out how to keep you safe,” I say. “Cain here thinks your father will listen to reason, but I don’t. He hasn’t so far.”
She bites her lower lip, as is her habit. “He loves me, but he’s not been acting like himself. I think the worry of it all has him panicking. Ever since Daisy’s letter arrived, he’s been reacting, not thinking things through, but making kneejerk decisions. I do know he loves me, deep down.” Her voice is small as though she’s trying to convince herself. “Hedoes. He’s just overly worried about me, and it means he’s gotten all extra authoritarian with me.”
“Do you think he’ll speak with us?” I ask. “Listen to what we have to say?”
She hesitates for a moment. “I think he’ll want me back, and that he’ll entertain speaking to the three of you if he believes you can make that happen. But he didn’t listen to me when I said I didn’t want to go to the facility. I don’t know how much he’ll listen to me now.” She thinks of something, lines appearing across her small brow. “How did you guys even find me? I never thought to ask.”
“Your mom,” Cain tells her. “She slipped me a note.”
A smile touches Ophelia’s lips. “Thanks, Mom.” She seems to think of something. “What if, when I go back, he tries to make me go back to the facility again?”
“He won’t do that,” Cain assures her, “not after he finds out what happened there.”
She bites her lower lip again and nods.
