Chapter 23
LANIE
To say everyone is on edge after our big family meeting is putting things lightly. Stressed to the absolute max is more like it. Auntie Gray seems determined to pick a fight with everyone, and I can’t seem to go more than a day without ending up over someone’s knee.
Two weeks after our first run-in with Sheriff Donnelly, the only person who hasn’t spanked me yet is Uncle Ford. And that’s only because he hasn’t yet noticed that I replaced all of his cotton balls with marshmallows.
What can I say? Apparently being on the verge of a nervous breakdown makes me extra bratty.
“You can come out of the corner now, Little Lanie.”
Turning away from the wall, I rush into Uncle Eli’s open arms. “I’m sorry, I won’t be naughty again, I promise!”
Picking me up to settle on his hip, Uncle Eli raises a bushy brow. “You promise that every time you get in trouble and somehow you never quite manage to keep that promise. But I do want you to promise me that when I tell you something is hot you’ll stay away. Deal?”
Sniffling against the tears still streaming down my cheeks after my run-in with Uncle Eli’s wooden spoon, I nod. “Uh-huh.”
“Good girl. Go find your Daddy and tell him you need a new diaper.”
“Couldn’t you get me one, Uncle Eli? If I go to Daddy, he’ll know I got in trouble and then I’ll get a whole ‘nother spanking.”
“Then you should have thought about that before you tried to grab cookies off a metal tray right out of the oven.” He leans down to set me on my feet and sends me off with a heavy swat to my bare bottom.
The sting from his hand reignites the burn of my punishment and I hurry out of the kitchen to look for Daddy.
It’s still kind of embarrassing to have so many people see me in various states of undress, but I’m pretty used to it by now. So much so that when the doorbell rings, I don’t even think twice about the fact that all I’m wearing is a sweater.
“I’ll get it!”
“Don’t you dare!” three separate voices yell back.
Ignoring them, I run straight for the front door to yank it open.
And freeze at the sight of Sheriff Donnelly standing on our front porch.
Both of the sheriff’s brows go shooting toward her hairline. “Where are your clothes, Lanie?”
Oh, god. This could not possibly get any worse.
“Melanie Brynne!” Two sharp swats connect with my bare skin before Daddy scoops me up and settles me on his hip, his expression thunderous. “You know better than to answer the door alone. I swear, you aren’t going to sit right for a week when I’m through with—”
He cuts himself off when his gaze lands on Sheriff Donnelly, who is now watching us with far too much interest. “Sheriff. We weren’t expecting you.”
“Clearly,” Sheriff Donnelly drawls. “But I’m glad you’re here. I wanted to talk to Melanie. Alone.”
“No.” Daddy shifts, blocking me as much as possible with his large body. “You can talk to her, but I’m staying.”
“Respectfully, Axel, you don’t have much of a say in the matter. Either I talk to her here, or I take her to the station with me.”
A muscle jumps in Daddy’s cheek. “Fine. You can wait in the living room.” Turning away from the door, he bellows loudly, the entire house seemingly shaking with the sound of his voice. “Gray! We have a visitor!”
Auntie Gray comes striding into view, a frown on her face. “Why are you—” Stopping a few feet from the door, her expression closes off completely. “Sheriff. What a… surprise.”
“Grayson. Apparently you’re my babysitter.”
“I see.” Auntie Gray’s gaze darts from my face to Daddy’s, back to the sheriff and she nods once. “Follow me.”
As Auntie Gray leads the sheriff into the living room, Daddy heads for the stairs. “Where are your overalls, Melanie?”
“Um, in the kitchen. Uncle Eli took them off when he spanked me.”
Switching directions, Daddy detours into the kitchen to grab my denim overalls from the small table in there. Uncle Eli looks up from where he’s peeling potatoes, concern stamped all over his face. “What’s wrong? I heard you yelling for Gray.”
“The sheriff’s here. She wants to talk to Melanie.”
Everything about Uncle Eli hardens in a fingersnap. “I’ll gather the others.”
“Stay close, but out of the way. If Donnelly thinks we’re closing ranks, she’s liable to take Lanie into custody.”
“Got it.”
Jeans in hand, Daddy makes his way up the stairs to my nursery, where he lays me on the changing table and lifts my legs to slide a fresh diaper beneath my bottom. He pauses and lets out a low whistle. “What did you do to piss off your Uncle Eli?”
“Um, I might have sorta tried to grab a cookie off the tray right after he took them out of the oven and almost burned myself.”
Shaking his head, he lowers my legs and makes quick work of wrapping the diaper around me. “As soon as the sheriff leaves, this diaper is coming right off so Daddy can spank that naughty bottom. You know the rules.”
“But Daddy, Uncle Eli already spanked me really hard! With a wooden spoon!”
“And you should be thankful for that. Because if I wasn’t so convinced he did a very thorough job, I’d be tempted to use my belt to teach you a lesson about doing dangerous things. You know better, Melanie Brynne.”
“Sorry, Daddy.”
“It’s all right, little one.” Tugging my overalls into place and buttoning the straps, he picks me up again and settles me on his hip. “It's hard to be good when you’re so very Little, isn’t it?”
“The hardest.”
He presses a kiss to my temple and we head for the stairs.
“Daddy?”
“Yes, little one?”
“You won’t let Sheriff Donnelly take me away, will you?”
Pausing at the top of the stairs, he pins me with a glare so fierce it knocks the breath from my lungs. “Nobody will ever take you from me, Melanie. I don’t care if the sheriff brings the whole United States Army to our front door. You are mine. Understood?”
His words settle the jumping of my stomach and I nod. “Yes, Daddy.”
Seemingly satisfied he’s done all he can to ease my worries, Daddy heads down the steps. We’re just a few feet from the living room when Sheriff Donnelly’s voice reaches us.
“You can’t keep someone against their will, Grayson. Her parents are on their way to Forbidden Pines as we speak. And if I have to put every single one of you in jail to keep you out of their way, I will.”
“What makes you think she’s here against her will?”
“Don’t insult me. I saw the tears on her face and the marks on her ass. Clearly she’s being beaten and threatened if she doesn’t do as you say. She could walk in here right now and swear on the Bible that she wants to be here and I wouldn’t believe her.”
“Fucking hell,” Daddy mutters under his breath. “Change of plans, baby. You’re going to sit in Uncle Colt’s office for a bit, okay? Daddy will come get you after I talk to the sheriff.”
Panic beats at my chest, making it hard to breathe, but I force myself to nod. “Yes, Daddy.”
Changing directions, he heads for Uncle Colt’s office and settles me at the desk, and my heart twists as he takes time to find a coloring book and crayons for me. “Daddy will come get you when it’s safe. Until then, you keep that bottom in this chair. Am I understood?”
I have to blink back tears as I nod. Seeing me cry will only make this harder for him, so I’m determined to be brave. “I understand, Daddy.”
“Good girl.” Bending down, he presses a kiss to the top of my head. “Daddy will get this sorted out. I promise.”
With that, he turns on his heel and leaves the room, shutting the office door behind him. I try to focus on the picture in front of me, of a happy-looking dog rolling on his back in a field of flowers. But every few seconds, my attention is drawn to the office door.
Maybe I should just go to the sheriff and let her take me to my family. I could make her promise not to arrest any of the Thornes.
But then my parents will want to take me home, where I’ll be expected to go through with the wedding I ran out on. I think it might actually kill me to have to spend the rest of my life pretending to love someone after knowing what it really means to be loved by a man like Axel Thorne.
I can’t be here, though. Not with the sheriff having already made up her mind that they’re holding me hostage. She’s made it clear that no matter what I say, she won’t believe me.
Restless, I climb down from Uncle Colt’s chair and pace to the window, staring out over the winter wonderland that is my mountain home.
I love it here, almost as much as I love the people who live here with me.
And because I love them, I need to figure out a plan that will keep them safe without condemning me to a loveless, lifeless marriage.
My gaze lands on the barn and my heart skips a beat. It would be risky. Very risky, especially if I get caught. Daddy already made it clear what would happen if I tried to steal one of the snowmobiles again.
But I have to try. I can’t just let Sheriff Donnelly take my family to jail because I’m too scared to do what’s best for everyone.
Turning away from the window, I hurry to the office door and ease it open, checking to see if anyone is hovering nearby.
The hallway is empty, so I slip out toward the front door, doing my best to ignore the way my heart shatters with every step.
Axel
Two sets of eyes swing toward me when I step into the living room. One dark and as familiar as my own, the other a bright, almost ethereal green. As different as they are, somehow they’re nearly identical in their burning hatred.
Maybe after today I should change my bet.
I’ve had my money on Grayson losing her temper and taking a shot at the sheriff one day.
But seeing them now, I’m becoming more and more convinced we’ll wake up one day and find the sheriff naked and tied to Gray’s bed, still glaring at all of us with that righteous fury in her eyes.
And I’m not entirely sure she wouldn’t arrest us all afterward, just out of spite.
“Ladies,” I say as I settle into the armchair directly across from the sheriff, deliberately keeping my tone light and breezy. “Lanie had to use the bathroom, so she’ll be joining us when she’s finished.”
Gray’s eyes narrow slightly, but the sheriff is too focused on me to notice. “I really need to speak with Melanie,” Reese says in that firm I’m in charge of this town voice she employs so often.
“And you will. But first, I need your word that you’re actually going to listen to what she has to say.”
The sheriff’s mouth dips down into a frown. “Of course I’ll listen. That’s my job.”
“Really?” I raise a brow, pinning her with all the “Daddy” energy I can muster.
It amuses me to see a bit of pink coloring her cheeks in response, even as she jerks her chin up.
“Because I just heard you saying that Lanie could come in here and swear on the Bible that she’s not being held against her will and you wouldn’t believe her. ”
Reese blinks, then narrows her eyes. “If you heard that, then you also heard the part where I told Grayson I’ve seen the signs of abuse. So no, I’m not inclined to believe an abused woman when she tells me everything is ‘just fine’ while her abusers hover around.”
“Would it make you more comfortable to talk to her alone, then?”
“It would make me more comfortable to get her the fuck out of here.”
“Not happening,” Gray snarls. “She’s ours.”
“Gray.” At my quiet command, my sister falls silent, though she’s still glaring daggers at the sheriff.
Confident she’ll hold her tongue, at least for the moment, I focus on Reese.
“I would need your word that you won’t force her to do anything she doesn’t want to do.
Including sending her home with her parents if that’s not what she wants. ”
“And if it is?”
Just the thought is enough to twist my stomach into knots. But I force myself to nod even though everything in me is crying out to hide my Little girl away where no one can touch her. “If that’s what she wants, then she is free to go.”
Our gazes lock for what seems like an eternity before Reese slowly nods. “All right. Melanie is an adult, so if she wants to come back here after I question her, then I’ll deliver her right back to your front door myself.”
Leaning forward, I hold out my hand. Reese hesitates only for a second before shaking on it.
“I’ll go get Lanie.”
Popping up from the couch, Gray follows me to Colt’s office. “You can’t be serious, Ax. If she gets Lanie away from us, she’ll never bring her back.”
“She shook on it.”
“Like that means a goddamn thing.”
Stopping in front of the office door, I turn to her. “It means something to me, and I imagine it means something to a woman like Reese Donnelly. Your personal feelings for her aside, she’s never given us any reason to doubt she’s anything other than an honorable person, Gray.”
“My feelings for her are annoyance, aggravation, and unadulterated loathing.”
Keep telling yourself that, sis. “Be that as it may, I’m going to keep my word.” I let my lips curve, a cold, wicked smile that has my sister’s eyes going round. “And if the sheriff knows what’s good for her, she’ll do the same.”
Gray nods once in acknowledgment. Taking that as all the agreement I’m likely to get for the moment, I push open the office door. “Sheriff Donnelly wants to talk—”
But the words die on my lips as I look around the empty room. “Lanie? Are you hiding, babygirl?”
Striding over to the desk, I look under it, panic wrapping tight tentacles around my chest when I find it empty.
Where the fuck is she?
“Oh, hell. Axel!”
Jerking upright at the fear in my sister’s voice, I spin around to the window she’s staring out of. Just in time to see a tiny figure perched atop a giant snowmobile go racing down the hill.
Straight for the trees.