Page 1 of The Preachers' Promise
1
OPHELIA
I clutchmy stuffed rabbit to my chest and hold him tightly as I stare out the side window of the fast-moving car. Tears stream down my cheeks, and I can’t bear to turn around to look behind me at the Preachers racing after the vehicle.
Their desperate voices penetrate the shell of the car, and it breaks my heart. Forcing myself to stare directly ahead, I try to stop the scream from ripping its way out of my throat. The scar on my face itches the way it does sometimes when I get really stressed or upset. I try hard not to scratch at it.
A moment ago, I was in my morning class, happy and settled for the first time in my life, and now I’m being ripped away from all that. Forced to leave the one place I’ve felt at home in forever.
As the car leaves the college grounds, a sob breaks free, and I lose my fight to hold everything in. It’s a ragged sound, as if it’s been torn from me. Mom turns to peer through the gap between the two front seats, weary worry etched on her pretty face.
“Darling, please. You’ll see this is for the best.”
I’m crying too hard to answer.
The journey is hellish. The hours tick over, but I spend them in a daze, unable to comprehend how everything has changed so fast. My parents try to talk to me, but I ignore their questions.I’m furious at them, though I’m aware this is all my fault. If only I hadn’t given Daisy our home address… Still, I’m torn. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be aware that she needs help now. The same horror I’d experienced upon learning the Prophet intended to make me his seventh wife is now how Daisy feels.
The scenery outside of my window changes from dense pine forest, rocky outcrops, and glacial lakes, to rolling farmland and sugar maple forests. The mountain towns morph to small villages with covered bridges and red-roofed barns. The two-lane, winding roads of the mountains turn into a small state highway. I stare out of the window at the changes as we leave Verona Falls far behind and get closer to my hometown.
It feels like a blink of an eye when, several hours later, my father drives the car through the gates of our property. He turns off the engine, and silence falls inside the vehicle. I don’t want to listen to anything my parents have to say, so I open the rear door before they get the chance to open their mouths.
Sliding out of the back seat, I walk to the house, ignoring the armed men patrolling the property and keeping my head down. Once indoors, I go straight to my room. My parents call after me, but I ignore them, just as I ignore yet another armed guard standing at the top of the stairs. He’s positioned himself in the small alcove where there’s a window seat. Way to ruin the prettiest part of the house.
When I reach my room, I throw myself on the bed.
I stare at the ceiling, my mind reeling.
Nothing feels real to me right now. I’ve got this strange sense of disjointedness creeping over me, as if I’ve been untethered from my life and plunged into a new one.
I’m back in my childhood room, which should be safe and familiar, but it’s not. It’s alien to me, and I just want to be at the college. A place I finally began to experience a sense of belonging for the first time. A sense of home.
How could my parents do this to me? They were the ones who sent me away. It was damn hard for me, but I stuck it out, and just when it’s all fitting together, they rip me away again. Force me back home.
I’m an adult now, and they’ve taken away any sense of autonomy I had. I’d always seen them as supportive. Maybe not compared to lots of normal parents, but certainly in comparison to many people within our world. My parents never beat me, hurt me in any way, or belittled me, but I’m realizing my father rules our house with somewhat of an iron fist.
What he says goes.
This won’t work out well for them, because if they want me to be happy being back at home, they’ve made a big miscalculation. Verona Falls is my safety net now. Because ofthem. My Preachers.
The three men flash into my mind. Three gorgeous, charismatic men, each one powerful in his own way.
Imposing Cain, with his stature and bulk.
Intimidating Malachi, with his dark eyes, and harsh tongue.
And Roman. Beautiful Roman, tormented and a little lost, like me.
I shiver when I think of what we did. The sinful deeds we carried out together, but sin or not, I loved every minute of it. Those men broke me apart, but then they put me back together, stronger than before. I was all shiny and new. Happy for the first time in ages. I can still count the ways they left their impact on my body.
My ass has a mark where I was spanked just the other day. My pussy is still tender because of the number of times they’ve fucked me since. My nipples are a little sore because Cain loves to suck on them. It’s all a stunningly evocative reminder of our time together and makes me think of that crazy but wonderful night in the woods. A night when they set me free.
I can’t stand the idea that I’ve lost them. Will they look to replace me with a new girl, now I’m gone? The thought makes me cry harder, and I curl onto my side, my bunny still in my hands, and sob into my pillow.
My parents have trapped me anew. I know they won’t listen to reason. They were unmoved during the couple of times I tried during the ride home, but they kept shooting me these concerned glances, as if I was an unexploded bomb in their back seat, not their daughter.
My father seemed even more stressed than Mom.
Secretly, I think he blames me for it all—not only the letter, which is clearly my fault, but for being taken in the first place. It wasn’t just a terrible thing to happen to me, but it was also a blow to his image as a strong man who could protect those in his orbit.
