Page 183 of Redeemed

“Luc,” Xan warns.

Silence fills the space between us for a beat. My mind works to configure all the pieces of information about Haven that I’ve picked up over the years. The end result is so sickening that it makes me want to bring Isaiah back here and beat him to death.

“He’s my husband,” Haven confesses quietly. “But I don’t—”

“So you’re telling me that this entire time, you’ve been cheating on him?” Lucas asks, and the disgust in his voice is potent enough that even I wince.

Haven’s eyes widen. “No! I mean, I don’t—”

“No?” Lucas spits out. “How many people have you gone out with over the past three years? Just because you didn’t have the guts to fuck them doesn’t mean it wasn’t cheating. And that’s not even counting all the jackasses you’ve blown, let aloneus.”

“Lucas, it’s not like tha—”

“Shut up. Just fucking shut up.” Lucas stands forcefully, knocking into the table enough to make it rattle. “You can’t just tell us that this entire time, you’ve been fuckingmarried,and expect us to just brush it off.”

Tears flood Haven’s eyes. “But I was only—”

“Shut.Up.You’re disgusting. People like you are the scum of the earth.”

Before any of us can get a word in, Lucas storms off. He disappears into the woods, and Xander swears under his breath and stands.

“Don’t,” I say. “Give him a minute alone.”

He sits back down, and his eyes go soft with concern when he looks at Haven.

“Xan—Xander, I wouldn’t—”

“I know, doll. I know.” He reaches across the table and takes her hands. “No one could hold what you’ve done against you. Not anyone reasonable, at least.”

“But Lucas—”

“He just needs a second to put the pieces together,” Xander explains gently. “Cheating is… something of a trigger for him.”

“But I never wanted to be married to Isaiah in the first place,” Haven sobs.

“Hey, Colt,” Xander says, his eyes never leaving Haven. “Can you cheat on someone who forced you into a marriage?”

“If it’s forced, it’s not real, so no.”

Haven shakes her head frantically. “But it is real!”

“Fine. Then we’ll help you with the divorce paperwork.”

She buries her face in her hands. “That’s not how this works. There’s no way out of it. Not officially.”

“Yes, there is,” I tell her while I rub her back. “People get divorced all the time.”

“Divorce doesn’t work for this,” she whispers. “The only way out is death.”

Xander and I exchange a glance that’s part worry, part fury. I know a lot of Christians don’t believe in divorce, but it sounds like Haven is talking about something else. Something far, far worse.

“What do you mean?” Xander asks slowly.

“Pastor Beckham always talked about the separation of church and state. He said the government has no place in marriage. That—that it’s between a man, a woman, and God.”

Oh, thank fuck.If that’s the case, then legally speaking, Haven and Isaiah’s marriage means nothing. That doesn’t seem to be enough for Haven, though. She’s still married to him in her mind, and that realization breaks something inside me. Even after three years, this cult’s ideologies still have a death grip on her.

“Then it’s not a real marriage,” Xander says.

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