Chapter 30
Quincy felt really proud of himself as he looked at the groceries on the kitchen counter.
Despite the fact that it was a cave, they had a fully functioning kitchen.
They hardly ever made proper meals, though.
Without a woman there to do the cooking, they had resorted to eating easy meals.
Food that didn’t require a lot of time or effort was their daily staple.
Brian had looked at Quincy like he was crazy when he sent him to the nearest town, which was a few days away, to buy a bunch of groceries. He wasn’t crazy, though. Sarah was hungry and craving a decent meal, and since she was carrying his child, she would get what she wanted.
The fact that Quincy was actually starting to care about her happiness bothered him quite a bit, but he tried to push away his worries as much as possible. She was going to be the mother of his children; it was okay to care about her.
“What’s going on with you?” Brian asked, scowling.
“Nothing.”
Brian raised a brow. “Look, I’ve known you for a very long time, and I’m worried. Something’s changed, and I don’t like it.”
Quincy had thought that he was being discreet, but clearly, he wasn’t as good an actor as he thought he was. “I’m still me,” he pointed out.
“Then you won’t mind if me and some of the other men finally had a taste of Sarah.”
Quincy saw red. “Nobody touches her!” he roared. “She’s mine.”
Brian held his hands up, showing that he wasn’t looking for a fight. “See, you’ve changed. I know you don’t like sharing, but you’ve never acted like this before.”
Quincy felt like punching Brian but managed to control himself. “She’s with child,” he confessed. The men were going to find out sooner or later anyway.
Brian’s eyes grew big. “Oh, wow, sorry, man, I didn’t know.”
“It’s okay,” Quincy replied, slowly relaxing. “Just don’t even think of touching her.”
“I won’t, and I’ll make sure the others know that it is still hands off when it comes to her.”
“Good, now help me make something decent out of this.” Quincy waved at the food. “She wants beef stew.”
Brian burst out laughing, and Quincy couldn’t help but join in. The fact that he was even considering making a meal for Sarah was ridiculous, yet there he was.
Brian picked up a potato and tossed it at Quincy. “You’d better get peeling.”
Quincy groaned but grabbed a knife and got to it. If nothing else, they were all going to eat well.
***
The men were being exceptionally loud—more so than usual—and Isabelle was starting to get nervous. Rowdy outlaws were never a good thing.
“What do you think they’re doing?” Sarah asked, worry clear in her eyes.
More laughter and yelling echoed through the cave.
“No idea.”
It took a while, but finally, they found out what had the men so worked up. Quincy arrived at their door with a serving plate stacked with food.
“Don’t say I’ve never done anything for you,” he said as he made his way inside and placed the tray on the small desk.
Brian stood at the door but did not enter. He had a strange look on his face, and his eyes drifted from Quincy to Sarah and then back again.
Sarah quickly got up from the bed and walked over to where Quincy was standing.
Isabelle stayed where she was, not wanting to get in the way and anger Quincy.
Sarah was trying to get on his good side, and Isabelle did not want to ruin it.
They were hoping that Sarah could somehow get Quincy to allow her more freedom so that they could try to find a way out.
Both of them knew it was dangerous and probably a horrible idea, but they had no other choice.
It was that or stay prisoners until Quincy got tired of them and killed them.
For a while, after he had said that he wanted to marry Sarah, they had been worried that Quincy wanted to separate them, but he hadn’t done it yet.
He also hadn’t mentioned marrying Sarah again, and they were hoping that he had forgotten about it.
Being with child with his baby was bad enough.
Being married to him would only make things worse.
“This looks delicious,” Sarah said, causing Quincy to smile.
“For our baby,” he replied, placing his hand on Sarah’s growing belly.
Isabelle’s stomach contracted, and bile rose in her throat. She knew how difficult it was for Sarah to pretend around Quincy. As a mother, it was horrific to watch. She wanted desperately to kill the man and to save her daughter.
“Thank you.” Sarah returned his smile. “I can see you went through a lot of trouble to do this.”
Quincy let go of her stomach and placed a kiss on her forehead.
“No trouble at all.” He took a step back and glanced at Isabelle before returning his attention to Sarah.
“Now eat and enjoy. I have things to do, but I’ll be back later, then we’ll spend some quality time together, and I’ll tell you about my plans for us. ”
Isabelle sucked in her breath, refusing to say anything that would make Quincy angry. What plans was he talking about? Was he still planning to force Sarah to marry him? All the possibilities spiraled through Isabelle’s mind as she watched the man who had ruined their lives leave the room.
Once he was gone, Sarah picked up the tray and walked over to Isabelle. “This actually looks really good,” she said, placing the food on the bedside table between their beds.
Isabelle eyed the tray. Surprisingly enough, the food did look good. There were two big bowls of stew, some bread, and coffee.
They ate in silence. Isabelle knew that Sarah was thinking about what Quincy had said, too, but they did not mention it.
For a little while, they simply enjoyed the food.
Isabelle wasn’t sure why Quincy was treating Sarah better.
Maybe he wanted to impress her, but he was far too late for that.
A man like him didn’t deserve a child, and he showed that he did not deserve to be forgiven for what he had done.
The only thing he deserved was justice. Unfortunately, there were far too many men like him out there, and many of them never got caught or paid for their crimes.
Despite the fact that both their bowls were full, Sarah finished hers long before Isabelle. Isabelle was about halfway done. When she pushed her bowl toward her daughter, she knew what it felt like to be with child and to have cravings.
Sarah shook her head. “No, I’ve had enough. That is yours.”
“You don’t have to pretend with me,” Isabelle replied with a laugh. “You know I never eat much, and you need it much more than me.”
Sarah eyed the plate but eventually gave in. When she was done eating, they had the coffee and then sat back on the bed, resting their backs against the wall.
“You think when she was talking about getting married?” Sarah asked, her voice quivering.
“Honestly, I’m not sure, but I think so.” Isabelle ran a hand through her daughter’s hair. “He said he’d speak to you about it later. Maybe you can ask him what exactly he had in mind.”
“I’m too scared to know.” Sarah closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Last time he spoke about going away with me. I don’t want to go anywhere with him. I just . . . I can’t stand the idea of being forced to marry him and live a life at his side.”
Isabelle felt horribly hopeless. She had always dreamed of a wonderful life for her kids, and this was the exact opposite of that.
“I’m so sorry, my baby. You shouldn’t have to be dealing with any of this.” Isabelle didn’t know what else to say. There was nothing she could do to make things better.
A couple of hours later, Quincy arrived and took Sarah away again.
Isabelle had no idea how long they would be, and she tried really hard to stay calm, but it was getting more and more difficult by the day.
This time around, they were away for what felt like hours.
Quincy didn’t say anything when he brought Sarah back.
He simply locked the door and walked away.
Sarah gave Isabelle one look and burst into tears.
“What happened?” Isabelle asked, rushing over to her daughter.
“He wants to get married,” Sarah replied as she held on to her mother. “He didn’t forget about it. He said he’d been planning everything.”
“I told him that I want you to go with us, that I won’t marry him if he leaves you here.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me that I’m grown up now and that I shouldn’t worry about you anymore. He said that he doesn’t trust you enough to take you with us and that I don’t need you anymore because I’ve got him.”
Isabelle felt like screaming, but instead, she simply held her daughter tightly.
She had always known that Quincy was the worst of the worst. Only an evil man would do the things he’d done, but this might be the worst thing yet.
Taking Sarah away from Isabelle when she needed her the most was such a horrible thing to do.
There was no reason why he needed to separate them.
“Did he tell you anything else about his plans?”
Sarah shook her head as she pulled out of the hug. “No, he got really angry at me after I said that. I want you to go with us. He told me that I’m ungrateful and that I don’t get a say in any of it.”
Isabelle did not doubt that Quincy would go ahead with his plans.
Soon enough, he would take her daughter away from her, and Isabelle would be left alone, never knowing what happened to Sarah or Rider.
Up until then, Isabelle had tried to stay strong for Sarah, but she couldn’t do it anymore.
She broke down in tears.