Prologue
Sophia
I slip in and out of consciousness as he continues to beat on my ribcage with his boots.
A spot on my body that can always be covered up so my father doesn’t see what he’s been doing to me.
Or my brother. Ryder is the only one who would care out of the two.
And my best friend, Aubrey, she’d care. But she’s not here anymore to question the random bruises that escape his safe zones.
“Fucking bitch. You’ll never fucking learn will you?
” James gets one more kick and I feel his steel toe cowboy boot dig right under one of my now broken rib bones.
“I always think you’ll get it, but jokes on me because you constantly embarrass me.
You’re lucky you belong to your father or you’d have nothing to offer. ”
So fucking lucky.
I listen as his boots walk away and the door slams. My left eye is swollen shut already. I can’t keep living like this. I need to get out of here. But one attempt to move tells me I’m not getting off this floor on my own. The only person I have to call is Ryder.
Fuck. I really don’t want to involve my brother. He’s under enough stress as it is ‘training’ with our father to take over the business. A business neither of us wants. A business that got my best friend’s husband killed.
Sighing, and then cringing at the sharp pain in my abdomen, I suck it up and ask my phone to call Ryder on speaker phone.
“Hey, Soph. What’s going on?” Thank God he always answers for me.
“Help. Me.” I manage to garble out.
“Where the fuck are you? What happened?” His truck is already dinging as he opens his door.
“Home.” Coughing, I see the small spots of blood dotting the floor in front of me.
Shit. That’s not good.
“I’m going to kill that fucker, Soph. I’m coming.” The roar of his diesel truck comes over the phone line.
I want to close my eyes again. But I can’t let myself go under. I can’t let him win.
“Soph. I need to hear you.” Panic laces his unevenly pitched voice.
“Here. Hurry.”
“I’m coming. I promise.”
That’s the last thing I hear from my brother before the darkness wins, pulling me under.
***
My eyes flutter open and the bright light stabs into my brain.
“Oh my God! Sophia!” A cold, slender hand grips mine. “You’re finally awake.”
“Aubs? What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in Maine. If they know you’re here…” Cold panic slices through me.
“Shh. Don’t worry about it Ryder has it handled. He called me and there was no way I wasn’t coming. We have to get you out of here though, Soph. You can’t keep going like this. You can’t stay in Montana.”
Suddenly panic surges through me once again. If Aubrey is here, and Ryder found me at home… shit. “Where am I?”
I attempt to move my head to look around but the light is too bright and my vision is too blurry.
“Hey, hey. Don’t worry, relax, breathe.” She sucks in a breath, and exhales it slowly as I subconsciously follow her movements.
“Ryder has us at a safe house about three hours from the ranch. There’s a private doctor that works for him that’s been coming to check on you.
You have six broken ribs, a concussion, and a fractured eye socket.
” I reach up to touch my eye, but she stops me.
“Don’t touch it, girl. It’s still really swollen and the doctor said your vision might be blurry for a few weeks. ”
“How long was I… unconscious?”
“It’s been almost a week. The doctor kept you under for a bit to help your body heal a little. They stopped the sedation last night.”
“Where’s James? What does he know?”
Her face grimaces. “Well. That’s kind of the thing.
To the rest of the world you’re dead. Sophia Chiave is no longer.
Ryder is working on something for you to escape.
I think you need to come to Maine. With me.
I know a place that you can rent for cash, and you won’t need to prove who you are if I give the reference. ”
“I’m dead?”
“I’m so sorry, Soph. But it’s the only way to keep you safe. He got close to killing you and I won’t let that fucker win. But your brother is going to handle him. Once he’s gone, you won’t have to live in fear anymore.” Her lips press in a tight line.
I know exactly what the word handled means in my world. And that means James is going to be the one dead, not me. “Why isn’t he gone yet?” I have no empathy for him or what’s coming.
“He’s in the wind. Ryder can’t find him. Seems your father helped him when he came home and found you missing. He knew he really fucked up this time when he saw Ryder’s crew coming down the driveway. He fled out the back and straight to Hugh.”
Tears well in my eyes. “Is that where Ryder is now? When is he coming back?”
It’s not fucking fair. I lose everything and he doesn’t have to suffer at all. Not one consequence.
“Yes. I’ll text him that you’re awake and you know he’ll be here sooner than humanly possible.”
I attempt a weak smile until the movement sends shooting pains through my face. I know my brother will take care of me. “I don’t want to leave until I’m healed. I don’t want to explain everything to all the new people. Especially in your nosey town.” She nods in understanding. “Who will I be?”
“Sophia Black from North Dakota, aged twenty-four.”
At least I won’t be too far from the truth and I don’t have to be older or younger. “How did I get here, Aubs? I never thought I’d be dumb enough to get in this position or to stay in it.”
“Not one woman in your spot is dumb. It’s not your fault and no one is here to judge you.
We just want you to be safe. And that’s where we’re at now.
Getting you somewhere safe where you can live out your life the way you deserve.
As far as fucking possible from the Black Key Ranch.
” She hangs her head finding a thread on her hem far too interesting.
Her husband was sucked into the dealings of the ranch’s undercover businesses.
Drugs. They took over and he became an addicted dealer.
Just like Hugh wants. Someone who will sell more, to do more.
But Jack backfired on him. He figured out where it was all stored on the ranch.
He took what he wanted under the radar. Living up his addiction and selling to others.
When they found out, they notified Hugh.
Someone let it slip to Jack and he took enough drugs to go out of this world on a high while driving the back roads.
But Hugh wasn’t about to let Aubrey go without paying up.
“No where is far enough. Not until Hugh Chiave is dead along with all the assholes under him.”