Page 256 of Redeemed

“Yeah.”

“I’ve heard of one or two on the east coast. What’s this one called?”

“I… prefer not to talk about it.”

“Have you ever thought about going back?”

“What?” I ask, unable to hold back my shock.

“Not to stay, of course, but just to see how things are going. Maybe get some closure. You haven’t talked to your family since you left, correct?”

“Since Iescaped.”

“Interesting,” he muses. “So it was really that bad?”

Defensiveness bubbles to the surface, making my fists clench. This motherfucker doesn’t know what he’s talking about. What the hell is he getting at?

“What about your siblings?” he asks. “I’m assuming you have some? Are you really going to leave them there?”

His question knocks the breath from my lungs, and pain splinters through my chest. Since the moment I left, I’ve hoped that I could find some way to get my siblings out, but I have to be careful.

There’s a reason Julie didn’t pull me out until I was eighteen. If I’d been any younger, according to the law, it would’ve been kidnapping. She had to wait until I was a legal adult. I have to do the same for my siblings, and that’sifI can find a way to get to them.

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” I say carefully.

“Right, of course.” Mark raises his hands. “I was just curious. I couldn’t imagine leaving my family behind like that. I’d at least want to try, you know?”

Says the man who emotionally manipulated and abandoned his son.

It feels like he’s trying to convince me to go back, but if I did that right now, I’d never be able to get out again.

Julie can’t even attend church there anymore to keep an eye on my siblings and quietly try to help someone else escape. As far as I know, she has no idea why Cornerstone shut everyone out. No outsiders are allowed in, and if they got their hands on me, there’s no way I’d be able to escape.

“If you’d like to break into the cult to get my siblings out, by all means, be my guest,” I say dryly. “If I did, I’d likely get killed before I was able to make a difference.”

He narrows his eyes, obviously pissed at my attitude. There’s a dangerous undertone to his voice when he asks, “Is that so?”

Alarm bells are going off in my head, and I stand, my nerves making it impossible to stay still for any longer. “Maybe I should call Colton.”

“Oh, there’s no need. You and I are quite overdue to spend some time together, don’t you think?”

“I’m not sure how Colton would feel about that.” I’m already inching toward the living room.

“Well, it’s a good thing he’s not here then, isn’t it?”

Mark says it so menacingly that my body jumps into action all on its own. I sprint toward the stairs, but before I’m even out of the kitchen, Mark tackles me. I hit the ground hard enough that the breath is knocked out of me. Before I can recover, Mark is yanking me up.

“This would’ve been so much easier on you if you’d just drank the goddamn tea,” he grits out.

Oh god, I was right.

“Y-you were going to drug me?!”

“Easiest way to get you out of here without a trace.” He slams me against the wall. “Tell me, is marrying you part of Colton’s larger plan, or is he just chasing after some childish idea of love?”

“I—I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t lie to me, girl. I know he’s been plottingsomething.What is it? Is he trying to take over the Glass Rooks?”

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