She was terrified.

What had they walked into?

“Lock them in the shed.” Leo dug in his pocket and held out a key to Jason. “Careful opening the door, the other one might try to get out. Bring me back the key.”

Other one?

Leo looked at the two dripping women. “I’ll come give you instructions in a minute.”

No one moved.

Leo moved behind Jason and punched him in the kidney with the butt of his weapon. The boy gasped and fell to his knees. He moaned and collapsed into the mud. Leo kicked him in the other kidney with his boot. “Next time do what you’re told!”

Seth took one step in Leo’s direction only to come face to face with the muzzle of his shotgun.

“Don’t move!”

Seth raised his hands. And froze.

“Now!” Leo bellowed at Jason. Jason lurched up from the ground, resting his hands on his thighs, and then took a few shaky steps, his back hunched in pain, to take the key from his father’s hand. His father pulled a pistol out of the inside of his coat and held it out toward the boy. “Use this.” Jason took it with weak hands.

Jason turned to the women, meeting Trinity’s gaze. I’m sorry, he mouthed at her. Trinity simply stared at him.

“Go that way,” Jason directed, pointing to the right of the house with the pistol. Victoria and Trinity looked at each other and back at Jason. Neither moved.

“Move or I’ll shoot her brains out,” Leo said calmly, pressing the muzzle of his shotgun into the back of Trinity’s head. She gasped.

Victoria grabbed her hand and tugged her in the direction Jason had indicated. Trinity followed. Victoria glanced over her shoulder at Leo. Disgust exuded from his gaze. She nearly tripped in alarm.

Why did he hate them?

Seth watched Victoria and Trinity walk away, fighting every instinct to grab the barrels of Leo’s shotgun and deck him with it. But Leo was watching him. Closely.

When Leo stuck his son, the shock hit Seth.

They were in trouble. Big trouble.

The old man on the porch. Abbadelli. He looked just as shocked by Leo’s actions. He now leaned against one of the porch rails, his focus with the shotgun not as precise as minutes before.

“Looks like you surprised your father,” said Seth to Leo.

The thin man jerked and glared at Seth. “Shut up.”

Seth raised a brow. And said nothing. Both sets of fathers and sons were at odds. That was clear.

“You’re the one who Victoria talked to on the phone, aren’t you?” Seth injected an amazed tone into his voice. Butter him up.

Leo sneered.

“You posed as your father to get her out here, why?” Seth pressed.

“It was time. He’s let her go on for too long and not done anything about it,” Leo answered. “Move to the porch.” He waved his shotgun in Seth’s direction.

Seth raised his hands and walked toward Abbadelli, where he waited on the porch. The old man was breathing hard, his face red below his white hair. “Your father doesn’t look too good, Leo. Your chest hurt?” he asked Abbadelli.

“Shut up,” Abbadelli snapped. “What is wrong with you?” he gasped at Leo.

“You’ve shoved her in my face for the last time,” Leo said from behind Seth.

Seth stopped at the bottom of the steps, looking up at the old man, worrying he was about to have a heart attack.

“Shoved who?” Abbadelli spit out between breaths.

“The woman! Peres. You’ve bragged for years about her success in my face.”

Seth blinked. Years?

The shotgun jammed into his back, and Seth stumbled onto the first step. “Get up there. In that chair.”

Seth slowly moved up the step. Abbadelli had recovered enough to keep his shotgun aimed at his progress. The rain stopped beating on his head as he moved under the roof, but drops landing on the ground grew louder, their noise echoing off the wood siding of the cabin.

He sat in the chair.

“Get me some rope,” Leo ordered his father. Abbadelli disappeared into the house, as Leo stood on the top step, his gun trained on Seth’s head. The two men stared at each other.

“What will happen to Victoria and Trinity?” Seth asked.

Leo’s eyes lit up, making the skin on Seth’s neck crawl. Jesus Christ. So that is what crazy looks like.

“They’ll be tied up for a while.” Leo laughed at his private joke.

Sweat dripped from Seth’s armpits. The air was cold, but he was about to overheat. Everything around him was soaking wet, but his mouth rivaled a desert. Keep your head.

Abbadelli stepped out of the cabin, a length of rope in his hands. “Tie him to the chair,” Leo ordered. “Tie it tight.”

Seth’s hands were pulled behind him and through the rungs of the back of the chair. He winced as the rope burned his wrist as Abbadelli strictly followed Leo’s orders. The chair was no flimsy discount chair. It was a heavy-duty solid wood construction that looked like it’d been on the Abbadelli porch since the Second World War. Seth wouldn’t be busting any boards trying to escape. Abbadelli tied a second loop tight around his waist.

“Where’s Jason?” Abbadelli asked as he yanked on the ropes to test.

“He’s not back yet.”

“You trust him with those women?” Abbadelli asked.

“He’ll do as he’s told.”

Abbadelli snorted. “I used to say that about you.”