Page 42 of Stolen Vows

"Don’t worry," one of the men tells me gruffly. "You’re safe now."

I bite back a snarl of disagreement, wondering, for a moment, if this man has any idea of everything that my father has been doing. It’s hard to believe that anyone could be ignorant to it. I might have looked the other way for a long time, but that’s only because I didn’t know. I was living in a state of completeignorance. And even recently I could barely wrap my head around the thought that my father could do something so evil.

These men, do they really think that I am safe here? That my father will not make use of me the way he has made use of so many women over the course of his life to get what he wants...?

They lead me from the forest, and I make sure to throw in a pointed stagger to my walk, hoping to sell the idea that I am weak or injured, that I have only just barely made it out of captivity alive. It’s not hard to bring the tears to my eyes, knowing what I am about to do. After everything that has happened, all that has changed within me, it’s hard to even remember the innocent girl I was before all of this happened.

"Here, if you just?—"

One of the men tries to push me into his car, the door propped open so I can get in, but I brace my hands on either side of it and let out a cry of protest.

"I told you, I’m not going anywhere until I see my father!” I argue, my voice shrill. "I don’t know who I can trust, and he’s the only person I am certain of. Bring him here! I won’t leave until you do!”

There is another mutter of frustration around the half-dozen or so men who have been patrolling the roads, but finally, one of them gets on the phone and calls my father. I have no idea how long I will have to wait to see him once more, but I am going to need all the time I can get to muster up readiness for what is waiting for me on the other side.

I lean against one of the sleek black cars parked along the side of the road. The sun is beating down on me, warming the metal I am leaning against, though I am hardly aware of it. My eyes arefixed on the road on either side of me, waiting for his car to roll up, waiting to see him again. Wondering how it will feel to look into his eyes and know the kind of man he is.

How it will feel to see him without the lies he has tried to drape over himself to keep my opinion of him sweet.

Finally, I hear the rumble of an engine in the distance, and my ears perk up, my shoulders tensing. My stomach churns, but I plaster a smile on my face, as though I am nothing more than a devoted daughter relieved to finally see her father once more.

His car pulls up just beside me, a dark vehicle with blacked out windows that I know are bulletproof. A sourness stirs in my stomach, as I try not to think about how he made the money for it. He throws open the door and climbs out, his face like thunder as he strides towards me.

"Finally," he mutters, as he grabs me and pulls me into a hug. It doesn’t feel warm or paternal, though. Not now, not after everything I have learned. His arms feel like shackles around me, like cuffs clicking shut around my wrists. I force myself to hug him back, praying that my disgust translates to relief in his mind.

"Oh, I’m so glad" I sigh. "You came, you really came..."

Even as I speak, I wonder if I am laying it on too thick, but when he pulls back, his face has softened slightly, and I know it is working.

"How did you get away from them?" he demands, and I shake my head.

"I don’t remember much," I lie quickly. "It’s all a blur. One moment, I was locked in my room, and the next, I was in the forest... I didn’t know where to go, so I just ran..."

"Thank God you did," he mutters, as he puts an arm around my shoulders and steers me towards the car he just came from. "God knows what they would have done to you if you had been there any longer..."

I have to bite my tongue to keep from calling him out on his disgusting hypocrisy. What wouldtheyhave done, when he’s the one who was willing to sell my hand in marriage to a man twice my age who just wanted me for my body? I force myself to contain it.

I notice that there is a driver in the front seat of the car, and I freeze, shaking my head. If I am going to do this, then I need to make sure that my father is alone. I don’t want any backup to help him. And if I have to throw some sort of a tantrum to make it happen, I will.

"No. No, I’m not going anywhere with anyone else," I tell him, jabbing my finger in the direction of the driver. "You can drive me."

"Don’t be ridiculous, Cara," he snaps back sharply. "I’ve worked with this man for years, you can’t?—"

"You don’t know what I’ve been through!” I wail as I force another round of tears out.

A flash of fury paints his face for an instant, but, thank God, he seems to think better of fighting with me on it any further. He nods to his driver, giving him the sign to get out, and then climbs into the front seat himself. I wonder, briefly, how damn long it’s been since he drove himself anywhere; he’s always had adriver as long as I can remember, so dependent on other people, though I doubt he would have seen it that way himself.

"You," he barks to one of the men before him. "Keep watch on the roads. I want to know if anyone comes or goes. If these fuckers think they’re going to get away with going after my daughter..."

His eyes land on me for a moment. But there’s no love there, no concern, no worry about what might have happened to me. I see only a possessive cruelty, a willingness to wreak whatever revenge he can on the people who pissed him off.

"Come on," he growls at me as he pulls the door shut. "Let’s go."

He puts his foot down, and we pull away from the forest and on to the road that will lead us back towards the city. I press my head into the window, pretending like I am relieved, but I’m actually watching in the rearview mirror to make sure that we’re not being followed.

The last thing I want is for Max and his family to come against more firepower than they are prepared for. I don’t know much about their plans to capture my father. Max assured me that the less I knew, the better for my safety. I couldn’t lie to my father if I didn’t know anything, and he couldn’t suss out a lie that wasn’t there, Max had said. All I do know is that I need to get him on the road and back to the city, and then they will blockade us on the way. Until then, I have to convince him that I am entirely on his side, even if all I want to do is scream at him, beat my fists against his chest and tell him that I know the man he truly is and that I will never fall for his bullshit again...

"Are you hurt?” he demands curtly, glancing at me out of the corner of my eye.

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