Chapter 5 #2
I wondered if he told them when he first approached them that they’d end up imprisoned here?
That they’d be married off almost immediately—as long as they were eighteen—and that their life would no longer be their own?
I wondered if he were honest about it, how many of these women would choose to remain where they were versus come here?
I feared too many would still come here.
He knew how to find women that were desperate for an escape.
He offered an escape from the drugs and forced prostitution, or so he promised.
I don’t think you could explain to them that this place was just a different kind of bad.
Our numbers were a little over one hundred now.
Ethan was still quite picky about who he brought on, but we were growing.
That was why Ethan chose the middle of the desert to start over new.
He thought if we were out here then he’d be left alone to amass his empire.
What he didn’t let on to the others was that his shenanigans always drew attention.
No matter how small the town, he would draw enough attention that we would have to leave. Out here, he thought he might be safe.
I rolled my eyes in disgust at him and made my way across the village to the little home that I shared with three other unmarried girls.
They ranged between fifteen and seventeen.
In a few years they would hit ‘marrying age’ and be moved into a home with their husbands.
Men still outnumbered the women here, so many were waiting for the younger girls to age up.
Brother’s Derek’s handsome face chose that moment to flash through my mind.
Worry that he was going to end up disappointing me had me promising myself that I wasn’t going to get involved with that man.
It didn’t matter how handsome he was, or how he made me feel.
It didn’t matter that just a glance from him made my heart start to race, and caused a heat to simmer low in my belly.
It’s a coincidence. The next time I see him it’ll be different
Shaking my head at my bold-faced lie, I entered my house and stopped dead in my tracks as seven teenage girls’ heads snapped in my direction. I was like a mouse being hunted by barn owls. “Girls,” I greeted them, wondering what was going on.
“Sister Sloane,” Beth Ann spoke up, eyes shining, “is it true you tended to Brother Derek?”
Irritation at their intrusion chased away the fog of pleasure Derek had left me with and I fought not to roll my eyes. I should have realized the handsome new stranger was the reason they were all perched in my house waiting on any piece of gossip.
Just wait until they see him with his shirt off.
“It’s true,” I told them, biting back the smile when they all giggled. “I assume you’re all here to help me make dinner then?”
They jumped out of their chairs like the house was on fire. There were mumbled, breathless excuses tossed around as they rushed from my home, leaving only the three who lived here with me.
I gave Tilly, Janice, and Audrey a pointed look. “I expect any news I come home with to remain inside these walls.”
“They came to us, Sloane,” Audrey said with a shrug. “I didn’t want to let them in, but Tilly thought that would just make them worse.”
It probably would have. My girls were amazing. They were more like me than the others. They saw this place for what it was. Saw the men here as monsters. That also made it more dangerous for them.
“It was good of you to keep up the pretenses,” I told them. “Never-”
“Let them see that you know,” all three finished out my sentence for me with smiles.
My heart softened and threatened to melt inside my chest. I loved these girls as though they were my own.
The three of them had different circumstances and had ended up living with me mostly because of their abusive fathers, but having them move in had brightened my world.
They were first on my priority list of getting out of here.
Them and Abigail. I sighed as I thought of the young girl.
She was a spitfire. How her mouse of a mother and evil prick of a father had made such a sweet, inquisitive, bright child was beyond me.
“Help me make dinner,” I requested, and all three girls stood.
“What are we having?” Janice asked.
“Roasted chicken. Brother Derek will have bone broth.”
Tilly and Audrey shot each other amused looks. “He’s quite handsome,” Tilly stated.
“That’s true,” I said, taking a whole chicken and placing it on the cutting board.
I began parting it out as they chittered together.
It was always exciting for people here when anyone new came, but to have a relatively young, attractive, man join always sent the single women into a tizzy.
Men under forty were rare. Handsome men…
exceedingly rare. Ethan made sure of it.
“You’re not at all affected by him?” Janice asked me, placing her hands on her hips. Her dark curls bounced as she cocked her head. “I’m pretty sure he has a dimple.”
Tilly rolled her eyes, pulling her blonde hair back into a bun. “No he didn’t.”
“I love dimples,” Audrey interjected. “I hope my husband has them.” She shot me a look, realizing what she’d said. “On the outside, I mean,” she clarified.
Stopping what I was doing, I turned and surveyed them all. “You’re allowed to dream about your future husband, Audrey.”
“You don’t.”
They were watching me with a look of hero worship, so I sighed. Guilt made me admit something to them I’d never told another person. “Yes, I do. I just don’t tell anyone about it.”
They gave each other looks of disbelief. Frowns marred their pretty faces. I didn’t want them thinking there was something wrong with dreaming of finding a man who would be strong and brave and protect them from the world. I’d heard them whispering about these very things most nights.
“I want a man who is kind, but…dangerous.”
All their brows shot up at my admission. “Dangerous?” they all breathed the word out.
I nodded. “To everyone but me. I’m so sick of feeling afraid. I want him to wrap me in his arms so I feel safe and slay any who would dare to harm our family.”
“You want a man to murder?” Tilly asked, sounding confused. Even though we all knew this place was evil, that the ways Ethan taught us were…off, we still had been living these beliefs since we were old enough to know them. Murder went directly against the commandments.
Unless you’re Ethan or Jacob.
Fear kept the words locked inside my throat.
I needed to keep my cynicism in check around the girls.
If they accidentally let anything I said slip, they’d be severely punished, if not outright killed.
Ethan and his lap dog didn’t have to follow the rules the same way we did.
The hypocrisy never seemed to matter to them.
They did whatever they wanted, and Jacob followed every directive Ethan gave.
The girls didn’t know what I knew. They thought the worst that happened was the whippings and the beatings.
The women tried to keep what really happened from the younger girls.
Especially what happened to the older women.
If I didn’t get out of here soon I’d have to sit these three down and tell them what they could really expect from any husband they were given to.
It wasn’t going to be a pretty conversation. It wasn’t a pretty life.