Page 64 of Redeemed

“Can we call the police?” I ask shakily.

“I already tried. They won’t do anything until Isaiah actually shows himself to be a threat. He has a right to travel and exist in public.”

“But he’s going to kidnap me. He’s going to take me back.”

“We’re not going to let that happen,” she repeats, more firmly this time. “Now, where are you? Ben can pick you up and get you out of town until Isaiah leaves. We can—”

“No! I’m not leaving. I won’t let him force me out.”

There’s talk in the background, and I think I hear Ben saying, “… slurring her words. Is she drunk?”

Then Julie is talking again. “Haven, are you drunk?”

“N-no.” It’s an automatic response, and I squeeze my eyes shut, internally scolding myself. “Yes.”

“Okay. You need to let us help you.”

“He’ll hurt you,” I whisper.

“No, he won’t.”

“He said he would,” I sob.

“What? You talked to him?”

“I managed to get away, but I have to go, or he’ll find me soon. But—but Julie, I need you to leave town. He said if I didn’t come with him, he’d hurt you.”

“Ben won’t let that happen.”

“You’re gonna leave?”

“I don’t think we need to,” she tells me gently. “He’s just one man.”

“But what if he isn’t? What if he brought my brothers, or some of the other men from Cornerstone? They—they could hurt you.”

Ben hums in the way he does when he’s thinking hard. “Do you have any reason to believe he’s not alone?”

“We were never supposed to go out into the world without someone else,” I say quietly.

“Never?” he asks, surprised.

“It was to keep each other from stumbling. We held each other accountable.”

“Right,” he grumbles. “Of course they’d have a rule like that.”

“And don’t they have lots of guns now?” I ask, doing my best to hold back another sob of fear. “Isn’t that what you said, Julie?”

I can’t remember the details right now, but the last time she went down to Cornerstone to attend a service, the cult had closed themselves off from the public. They’d built a wall around the compound, and men with guns guarded the gate.

Julie sighs. “It is, but—”

“Butwehave guns,” Ben says firmly, “and I’m not afraid to use them.”

“We can keep you safe, honey,” Julie adds. “You just need to let us come get you.”

“Just tell me where you are,” Ben says. “If Isaiah wants you, he’ll have to get through me, first.”

“But that’s the problem,” I whisper.

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