Page 24 of A Very Mountain Man Wooing

Anise

My heart is still thumpingin my ears, and I know that I need to try to calm down and come up with a plan.

How am I going to get out of here? How can I possibly get away from all of them?

I take a deep breath as the van starts to slow. I’ve been staring at the ground, too scared to meet anyone’s eyes. The van has been mostly silent. My dad and eldest brother are up front driving us god knows where. My mom is sitting close to my head with my other brother, and it’s just Richard and me in the back.

Richard has been mumbling to himself as we bump along the old dirt roads, and he seems even more unhinged than I remember. His brown eyes are wild and tinged with a touch of madness that I don’t remember.

The van turns left, and I wince as I roll onto my side. I know that I’m bruised from when they threw me into the van, and I bite my lip so I don’t cry out as I push myself back upright.

We’ve been driving for a while, and I know that we have to be close to the base of the mountain by now. We’ve been going downhill for quite a while, and it’s starting to get dark out. We must be stopping for the night, and I know this might be my only chance to escape.

“The engine light is on again,” my dad says.

That explains why we’re stopping after only driving for a few hours. I had figured that they would be racing to get me back to the compound so that they could lock me up.

“Fix it,” Richard snarls, and I glance up sharply, just in time to see my brothers share a look.

They look annoyed with Richard, and I can’t help but wonder if maybe they’re getting sick of him too. Could they be ready to leave the church? A lot could have changed in the two years that I was away.

No, if they were going to go against him, they wouldn’t be here helping him kidnap me. I look over at my mom, but she’s staring resolutely at the far van wall. She hasn’t glanced at me once. She looks so much older than I remember. Her hair used to be black, like mine, but now it’s mostly streaked with gray. Wrinkles mar her face, and she looks tired.

“We’ll have to stop for the night so I can fix it,” my dad tells Richard, and he curses under his breath.

“Fine. Do what you have to do,” he snaps, and tension fills the van.

No one seems happy with anyone in the van, and I wonder if I can use that to my advantage.

I wonder if Whit has noticed that I’m gone yet.

If he has, I know that he’s coming for me, and us stopping for the night is his chance to catch up with us and save me.

I know that Whit will come for me and he’ll stop at nothing to get me back safely. My anxiety starts to lessen and I take a deep breath, closing my eyes and picturing Whit’s face to help calm myself down.

“We’ll check in here,” Nathan says as he climbs out of the van, and I try to peak out the front windshield, but all I can see is a roof.

We must be at some kind of motel, but I can’t make out any surrounding buildings.

My family gets out of the van, leaving me alone with Richard, and I push myself back into the corner to put as much space between us as possible.

“Where do you think you’re going?” He asks, her voice sending a shiver down my spine. “You’re not getting away from me again. We’re going to get married like we should have two years ago.”

The back door of the van opens before I can think of something to say, and my father reaches in, grabbing my wrist and dragging me out.

I look around, taking in as much detail as I can. It’s obviously a small town, and there’s nothing else around. We’re the only car in the whole parking lot, and my stomach sinks.

Please find me soon,I plead silently to Whit.

I’m pulled and pushed into the tiny, rundown motel room. There’s barely enough room for the six of us, and I’m shoved onto one of the beds. A spring digs into my side, and I grit my teeth to keep from crying out.

“Fix the van,” Richard orders, and my brothers share another look.

My mom is backed up into the corner, and I try to make eye contact with her. Maybe she can help me here. Maybe she can help me get away from them. She refuses to even look in my direction, though, and I swallow down the disappointment.

I don’t know why I’m even surprised. She has never once stood up for my brothers or me. I know she’s a victim too, that she probably can’t even remember what the real world is like, and that she’s never had a chance to get out either, but that doesn’t stop me from hating her.

My dad stomps over to my mom, and I see her flinch. It’s then that I see the left side of her face and notice the bruise there on her cheekbone.

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