Doreen tied my wrists and ankles with nylon rope.

“Ungrateful little bitch. I find you a proper home, and you run. Wait until I get you back.”

I stayed silent.

Didn’t struggle.

Frank glanced at my vacant expression in the mirror.

“Enough. She doesn’t understand. I told you to feed her more and hit her less. Beat a dog badly enough, and even it runs away.”

Doreen sneered.

“She understands nothing. Beat her all you like, give her a bowl of scraps, and she comes crawling back calling you Mommy. Smiling that stupid little smile.”

That was how Nora had survived.

She was frightened of Doreen.

Always shrinking.

Always trying to please her.

How different had I been with Vivian?

But I was awake now.

Nora, watch.

Today, they find out what payment looks like.

“Find somewhere quiet,” Doreen told Frank. “I’ll teach her a lesson before we take her to Wade. Make sure she doesn’t run again.”

I looked at the knots and gave Nora’s blank smile.

Somewhere quiet.

No cameras.

Perfect.

Frank drove to a nearby abandoned construction site.

As he got out, he looked back.

“Mind her face. If Wade won’t take her, we have a problem.”

So her beauty was worth twenty-eight thousand.

They really were trading livestock.

Doreen’s voice soured.

“Worried about her already? If I hadn’t watched you, you’d have had your hands all over her. Wade only pays half if she isn’t a virgin.”

Frank laughed obscenely, put a cigarette between his lips, and walked away.

Doreen went to the trunk for something to hit me with.

I took out a small surgical blade I had hidden and cut the rope.

She returned carrying a heavy tool.

Caught my legs and dragged me toward her.

“You’ll be a cripple after this. Your own fault. You shouldn’t run.”

She swung.

“Don’t hit me. Please.”

I cried out in Nora’s frightened voice.

And moved.

The blow missed.

My foot struck her jaw.

Two teeth flew.

Before she could recover, I hit her twice and knocked her unconscious.

I dragged her into the van.

Then slid beneath it and waited.

“Finished? Don’t overdo it. If you damage her, Wade—”

Frank opened the rear door.

Saw his battered, unconscious wife.

Then screamed.

He fell.

The surgical blade had gone through his foot. Blood soaked his shoe.

I crawled out slowly.

He stared as though he had seen a ghost.

“You’re not… you’re not stupid anymore?”

I held the metal wrench Doreen had meant to use on me.

Walked toward him.

“Heaven sees what people do. Today, I’m collecting.”

“Stay away.”

He looked around desperately for help.

But he had chosen this place.

There wasn’t even a stray animal in sight.

I pinned his right hand beneath my foot and brought down the wrench.

Bone cracked.

His scream echoed through the empty site.

It sounded almost pleasant.

That hand had touched Nora where it had no right to touch her.

Then there were his eyes.

Another memory rose.

Frank crouching beside the crate.

“When your mother’s out, leave the bathroom door open. Understand? Daddy loves you. Be good. Don’t tell her, and I’ll give you chicken.”

Then the threat.

His hand in her hair.

“Disobey me, and I’ll tell her you walk around naked on purpose when she’s gone. She’ll skin you alive.”

I felt sick.

I wanted to tear his skin off for her.

He was still trying to make me pity him.

“I’m your dad. I’m the one who treated you best. I hardly ever hit you. Sometimes I stopped your mother. Bought you candy.”

I couldn’t listen anymore.

I kicked him in the mouth.

Then I searched the trunk and found a half-empty bottle of harsh cleaning fluid.

He saw it.

Saw what I intended.

Blood filled his mouth. He couldn’t form words.

He shook his head and tried to escape.

There was nowhere to go.

I smiled and unscrewed the cap above his face.

When I finished with them, I took everything of value they carried and headed toward the road.

Light rain began to fall.

A black car sped up and stopped in front of me.

The rear window lowered.

A handsome face appeared.

Dangerous.

Carelessly amused.

Half Lucian’s features.

For a moment, I forgot to move.

“If you look at me like that every time we meet, I’ll start thinking you’ve fallen for me.”

Dorian smiled.

“Though I enjoyed watching you work just now.”

Before he finished, I reached through the window and caught his collar.

“Take me to Lucian.”

I had no patience for games.

I needed to see him.

Know he was alive.

Dorian paused, then stopped his approaching men with a glance.

His touch looked gentle as he removed my hand.

It wasn’t.

“I thought the first thing you might say to the man who saved your life would be thank you. Your manners are terrible.”

He was right.

I withdrew my hand.

“I’m sorry. Thank you for helping me. I’m worried about him. I need to—”

“He’s dead.”