25. Chapter 25
Chapter 25
Lilli
“Well, hello, Lilli,” the sheriff says, and I cringe but hold my head high. Although to be fair, I have no other choice. My captor has me by the hair at a rather awkward angle.
“Let her go, Jay,” he says, and my captor stiffens.
“Man, how many times do I have to say it. Call me Boner.”
The sheriff doesn’t bother to respond, and I shiver as a gust of wind blows through. What kind of a name is Boner anyway?
I commit it to memory and add it to the directions we took to get here. Although it’s full-on dark now, if I manage to come out of this alive, the information could be useful, and I am praying that I do.
For the last several miles, I didn’t see much but the highway and forest. I won’t be finding anyone to help me unless it’s by chance or divine intervention. And with the way I’m feeling these days, I’m not sure I can count on God to get me out of this one.
The sheriff grins and I hunch my shoulders. This man has only ever seen me in my long skirts and shirts and there’s a strange sort of dissonance pulsing through me as he stares at my bare legs with a weird glint in his eyes.
“Let’s go, Lilli,” he says, and I eye the tree line once more. “I wouldn’t if I were you.”
Turning back to him, I ball my fingers into fists and raise my chin. “What do you want?”
Shaking his head, he steps forward, his hand resting on the butt of his gun. It’s a mark of the man standing before me that he has no shame wearing his uniform while he stands amongst a bunch of thugs, who he presumably sent to abduct me.
“I want a lot of things, kid. I won’t bore you with the details. You come with me, and I won’t press charges against your parents.”
While I stare at him dumbly, he raises a brow. Press charges for what? And why do I care?
“Oh, you didn’t know?” Once again, he shakes his head, this time in a parody of sympathy. “Seems as though your parents hired a hit man…to take out your sister.”
Boner chortles from where he’s sitting by the fire. “Sick shit, man.”
We both ignore him while I consider his words. It’s not news to me but knowing the sheriff knows and hasn’t done a damn thing about it beyond blackmail sours my stomach.
“They go to jail…your sisters go into foster care. You want to see those sweet girls sent away? You know what happens to girls like Mercy there?”
I’m not entirely familiar with it, no, but I do know that a girl who came to our school two years ago was featured on the news, after the authorities found out about her foster parents. My gorge rises at that because we may be used to whippings and even time spent in the closet, but I would rather die than see my sisters sexually assaulted.
Especially when I meet his gaze, and he smiles. It’s not foster care that I have to worry about, it’s Satan standing before me in the guise of a protector. It hurts to my soul knowing that somewhere out there, young girls trusted him, and he used that trust to hurt them in the most painful way possible.
“Where are you taking me?” I ask.
“Home, Lilli. Home.” It sounds so simple except home isn’t a safe place and this man is the devil. What’s the damn catch?
When I cock my head and glare at him through narrowed eyes, he chuckles and raises his palms. “Okay, you got me. You go home now but when the time comes…you’re gonna be my star witness.”
My stomach drops to my toes, and I whisper, “Why?”
Despite the distance between us, he understands what I’m asking just fine and says, “Because that scum don’t deserve to walk free. You let his blood-soaked sins touch that pretty, white skin.”
Murderer or not, as he proclaimed himself to be, Wolf would never use me to get to someone else. He also wouldn’t threaten children. I don’t know how I feel about what Wolf may or may not do but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s still a hundred times better than this pile of garbage.
If I go home, my parents might just kill me and after my mother’s statement a while back, I don’t mean that figuratively. But one of Wolf’s brothers took me and while I don’t think Wolf would hurt me, I don’t know the rules of his world. Maybe they would force him to look the other way?
I can’t abandon my sisters though and, in the end, home may be the only safe place to be. How’s that for irony?
With no other choice, I left with the sheriff. He hasn’t said a thing the entire ride over and when we stop at the house, he turns to me and says, “Be a good girl and stay where you belong.”
When I narrow my eyes, he shrugs and says, “You don’t understand but someday you will. I’m saving you, Lilli. That man is a monster. With your help, we’ll send him away where he can’t hurt anyone else.”
Woodenly, I put my hand on the door and say, “ You’re the monster.”
Once on the sidewalk, I stare at the house. I’m not sure how to make my inglorious return since I’ve been gone over forty-eight hours. I could crawl back through my window but when I tug on the glass, I find it locked.
Instead, I walk around to the front door and stare at the wood blindly. What’s going to happen? Fear curls around my throat and I consider just walking away but I can’t. I have nowhere else to go. I mean, they’re my parents. They won’t kill me. Right?
With a sigh, I knock on the door. Not only is it late, but I’m wearing a skintight outfit that shows off all my skin, with the makeup Toni did earlier, still on my face, which feels like a lifetime ago now. I suppose they will add it to the list of my transgressions.
As soon as the door opens and my father appears, I drop to my knees and say, not having to fake the tears clogging my throat, “I’m sorry, Daddy. You were right. I beg your forgiveness.”
Rachel stares at me wide-eyed from where she’s spying on us from the hallway. I avoid her gaze because I don’t want to give her away. Meanwhile, I silently urge her to go back to her room before she’s punished.
When Daddy opens the door wider, I stumble inside and sit at the dining table where Mama is. Her hair is in curlers and she’s wearing her nightshirt. Absently, I wonder why she bothers to do her hair because inevitably she ends up wearing a hat but that’s a mystery for another day.
Daddy paces behind her, his robe flapping with his jerky movements. It’s so quiet, you could hear a pin drop and I’m sitting on my hands to keep from fidgeting.
That they will punish me is not in question, just how badly.
“Well, Lillith Anne,” Mama says and I mentally wince. It’s never good when she uses your full name. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
Exhaling slowly, I lower my eyes. This is the key. My parents demand obeisance and if I want this to be as painless as possible, I must show them what they want to see. Meanwhile, my heart rages at me because I don’t want to go back to that pale, lifeless girl.
I’m forced to ignore my naive heart though because being dead is a far worse affliction.
Clearing my throat, I say as meekly as possible, “I let the devil pull me under. I sinned, Mama…Daddy. I’m so sorry.”
Tears fall down my cheeks, but it’s not born out of the need for forgiveness. Nope, it’s loss for the young woman forced back into her cage after tasting a tiny bit of freedom.
“What are your sins?” Daddy barks and I hunch my shoulders.
This is where I have to be careful. I need to have sinned but not so badly that they cast me from their home.
“Alcohol,” I rasp. “I drank alcohol. I…I listened to the devil's music. I went to parties. I cast out God and embraced his enemy.”
Silence descends between us and I mentally cringe. Was that not enough? Too much?
“Did you sin carnally?” Mama says and I shake my head. Her eyes narrow but I widen mine to project an innocence that’s barely hanging on by a thread.
Finally, she sighs and says, “This could be a good example for the flock, Jim.”
Shoot. I can only imagine the humiliation that entails, but I bite my tongue and lower my head.
“Fine. But you know the rules,” Daddy grumbles.
Nodding, I stumble to my feet, my limbs trembling. After walking around the table, I lean over the smooth wood surface and close my eyes.
Daddy disappears for a moment while I lay there. Anticipation is part of the lesson, after all.
The first lash stings my skin. The second hurts my heart. The third burns my soul.
After that, it’s a blur until Daddy says, “Go wash that off your face and put on clothes. I’m disappointed in you, daughter, but the lord works in mysterious ways.”
Dropping the whip, he walks away. Mama doesn’t move, though, and carefully I rise, pausing when she grabs my wrist.
“I don’t know what you’re up to but know this, if you ever embarrass me again, I’ll make you regret it.”
Surprisingly, instead of fear, I have to tamp down a surge of anger. It takes everything in me to nod and when I whisper it’s because rage has me by the throat.
“I truly am sorry, Mama.”
“We‘ll see,” she says before pushing back her chair.
Once she’s gone, I limp toward the bathroom and fall into Rachel’s arms.
“Shh,” she says, while the sobs I’m forced to catch in my throat choke me.