Page 114 of Every Which Way

“You take your finger off the button, and it activates.”

“Kaboom.” His brows rose.

“Why don’t you just give me a logical reason why I should cooperate, and then there’s no need to endanger people or make threats? I’ll cooperate.”

He stared right back at her.

“But you never asked. You’re so used to threats and terrorizing people you forgot diplomacy.” She looked away, effectively dismissing him. “You forgot about negotiating.”

“My way is more expedient.” He came over, grabbed her upper arm, and hauled her to her feet.

Kenna screamed in his face, pouring all the acknowledgment of her pain into the cry. Plus, a whole lot extra just because she could.

A tendon in his jaw flexed.

“Sorry, am I not supposed to let you know that whatever sick thing you guys did while I was unconscious still hurts?” She clasped her hands together in front of her in a prayer position. “If you wanted demure, you chose the wrong girl.”

Adrielle let out a whimper.

Woodford ran his hand down over her elbow to her wrist, holding it so tight it felt as if her bones were going to slam together. He studied the scars on her arms. “Disgusting. But I suppose you can simply cover them with sleeves, and no one needs to see.”

She lifted her other hand and held her forearm up. “I’ve started to not mind them.”

Not that she would be explaining to him what they meant to her. Or how far she’d come in her acceptance of the things that had been done to her and the grace given to her by Jesus.

Thank You. Also, some help would be awesome. If You’re not busy.Now was definitely the time for casual and close for her prayers. Not distant and formal.Anytime now would be great. Not telling You what to do or anything. K, love You. Bye.

Some in the world considered that sacrilegious, but if this was going to be a relationship, she was going to be real. Kenna would accept nothing less than a dependent relationship that was deep and honest. Not a formal agreement based on mutual respect.

“They’re ready for us.” He dropped her arm like it stank and stepped back. “Ladies, if you would come with me?”

Laney and Adrielle both stood. Laney held out her arm, and Kenna snaked hers through. They weren’t going to hold each other up, but they could walk together.

The federal courthouse in Cheyenne.

Kenna figured they had a judge in their pockets. If it was a weekday, there would be people here. She actually had no idea what day it was. There could be staff in the building. Would that mean all of them were on the company’s payroll?Dominatus.The word dropped into her mind unbidden. She had a name for them now, and if Woodford had told it to her, that meant he didn’t expect her to live to tell anyone else.

He expected to control whether she lived or died.

Two armed men stood in the hallway. They walked behind the group down the hall to a pair of wood doors with an opaque glass window that had gold lettering. “Is that the judge in your pocket? Or did you coerce him as well?”

“Everyone who is here today is here because they’ve made the choice to participate. Even you.” He pushed the doors open.

Laney slid her arm down and held Kenna’s hand and, on her other side, took her mother’s hand as well.

Kenna glared at him. “Really seems like I chose this.”

“It’s the prudent course of action.” Woodford stepped into the courtroom. “If you don’t want to die.”

Kenna spotted a couple more guys, including the one from the cabin. But not her mother or any other women except the ones with her. Charlie sat in the front row of the gallery, and the judge in his robes arranged some papers on the defense table. The older man had a string tie and cowboy boots, his robes drooped off weak shoulders. He turned to them with tiny reading glasses perched on his nose.

She wanted to find fault with him or see some indication he was part of this evil organization. But he just seemed like someone’s grandpa.

“I see our bride has woken up.”

Kenna said, “I thought marriage licenses took a few days. Don’t some states require a blood test?” She thought of something else. “I don’t have my driver’s license, so I guess we can’t do this after all. So sorry you all wasted your time coming here.”

The men around the room said nothing.

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