“I’ll be in Jackson for Annie’s birthday. I need you to keep an eye on the house. Don’t let things get too out of hand.” He changed the subject as the girls continued to eat their food.

“I’m sure Grace will keep everyone in line. No one can put the fear of God into someone like she can,” I joked.

“Except for you.” Connor was expressionless as he glanced at me over the rim of his cup, and my eyes narrowed. He didn’t know the half of it.

“I don’t get paid nearly enough for that task,” Grace teased as she sat in one of the empty chairs with a bowl of oatmeal for herself and a freshly sliced peach on a saucer. “I’ll be going with him to make sure he’s getting plenty of rest and taking his medicine. I better not come back to a mess, ya hear?” She took care of Connor like he was her husband, but their relationship was strictly platonic, even though it would do them both some good to enjoy life a little. Still, it made me smile to know she was spending extra time with him, even if it was because of the flu.

“We’ll keep the party low-key. Just a few friends.” I laughed as I shook my head, knowing it would be out of control. Everyone at Annie’s school, West Haven Private Academy, was dying to get inside our house, as well as everyone from Dyer Public.

“What party? I don’t want a party. I’m not leaving this house until my bruise goes away. I look hideous.” Annie rolled her eyes as she scrunched her nose.

“Oh, honey. You have to have a party. The town will be talking about it the rest of the year. The Blakelys are royalty.” Amanda was grinning as she clasped her hands together in front of her teal polo shirt. No doubt she was thinking of the day I would ask her to marry me so she could be one of the elite. She would be waiting a long fucking time. She was oblivious to the circumstances that had brought us into this lavish estate or the endless line of women who filed through the door.

“The party is happening, and you don’t need to worry about leaving the house because we’re having it here.” I raised my eyebrow at Annie. She glanced up at me and looked back down at her plate. Her cheeks tinged pink next to the purple mark. I knew she had thought we had forgotten.

“What happened to your face?” Annie looked at me before looking to Connor, who was leaning toward her, his elbows on either side of his plate. He was just as overprotective of her as I was, and I was glad I wouldn’t carry the burden of keeping her safe alone.

“I slipped going up the stairs.”

“You are as graceful as a newborn fawn,” he joked, but his smile didn’t reach his eyes as his gaze fell to me questioningly. It was a fair judgment on his part. He cared for us equally, but I could take care of myself.

“Being chased by a lion,” she muttered as she glared up at me, and I shook my head, trying not to laugh.

I cleared my throat as I pushed my eggs around my plate. “I thought you needed to go to Jasper for the Raymond case? It’s a slam dunk with the doctor’s deposition.”

Connor looked up at me, his eyes settling on Amanda momentarily. “This is a…private matter.”

I sat straight up as I clenched my jaw and avoided Annie’s questioning stare as I shoveled a bite of food into my mouth. I swallowed hard as I chose my words carefully. “I should go with you. I can’t learn the business if you don’t let me tag along every once in a while.”

Connor laughed nervously as he wiped his mouth with the crimson cloth napkin. “You need to be here for Annabel’s party. It’s a big day. You’ll get your chance soon enough.” He smiled warmly over at Annie, who had her eyebrows drawn together. “Well, I should get my bags together. Grace?” He coughed as he pushed his chair back.

“I’ll be right up.” Grace collected her dishes and carried them into the kitchen as I ran my hand roughly over my jaw. “Ya’ll better go on and get ready. You don’t want to be late for church. God sees everything.” Even knowing about our past, Grace refused to let us blame God. From the first day she arrived, she told us stories from the Bible and how God had given her so much even though we were her only family. Her positive outlook in even the bleakest situations baffled me, but I admired her for it.

“Wouldn’t want that.” Annie rolled her eyes as she stood and stretched. I’d never met a girl as stubborn as her and so dead set on being defiant; it was almost adorable if it wasn’t so damn infuriating.

“I’ll grab my makeup bag from the car.” Amanda stood and bounded down the hall to the front door.

“You’re not going to church in that outfit.” I drummed my fingers against the wooden table as she got up and walked behind me toward the stairs.

“Who’s going to stop me?” she whispered as she continued by.

“Annabel, wait.” She paused as I pushed from my seat and walked toward her, sipping my orange juice as I approached her. “We need to clear something up.”

Her eyebrows pulled together, and I knew her mind was replaying her walking into my bathroom because her cheeks flushed and her gaze fell.

“What I meant to say was change your fucking clothes now.” I tilted the glass toward her, and she shrieked as the cold liquid soaked through her shirt onto her skin.

“You son of a bitch!”

Thirty minutes later, Annie came from her room in a sensible white button-up blouse and black pencil skirt. Her hair was curled perfectly down her back, and there were no traces of the bruise on her face.

We drove my car, a black 300S, to the church. It was just Annie and me. Amanda wasn’t very religious, and I preferred this time to be just the two of us. Church in the South was very much a social event, and our presence was always required to represent the Blakelys.

Annie’s fingers ran over the leather cover of her Bible as she stared out the window, watching the world going by, determined to give me the silent treatment. I reached up and turned down the volume of the radio. “You want to talk about the elephant in the room?” I asked. She raised an eyebrow as her gaze fell to my lap.

“I’d hardly compare you to an elephant,” she deadpanned.

I laughed as I shook my head. “Now you’re just being cruel.”

“I learned from the master.” She blushed and turned her gaze back to her window as I turned the radio back up. We drove a few more blocks before turning into Holy Trinity’s gravel parking lot. I put the car in park and turned to Annie, who was still lost in thought.

“Hey.” I touched her leg, and she jumped. “You all right?”

“Yeah.” She tucked her hair behind her ear with a nervous smile. “I still don’t really like these places.” She shrugged, and I smiled sadly at her.

“This is a long way from the commune.”

Her eyes searched mine before she nodded.

“Good girl. Let’s go.” I got out of the car and rounded the front of the vehicle, pulling open Annie’s door. I held out my hand, and she slid her fingers against mine as I pulled her to her feet.

I put my hand on the small of her back as I guided her toward the door. We were greeted warmly by everyone we passed. Inside, the church was small but air-conditioned and well maintained. I preferred this to the megachurches you see on television. This was more personal, hands on, although not to the degree I was used to.

Annie and I slid into the back pew as she clutched her Bible on her lap. “You forgot your book.”

“Never.” I tapped my finger on the side of my head and winked. She shook her head and suppressed a giggle as the other members found their seats. I cleared my throat to keep myself from laughing as I nodded hello to Shelly Kline. She’d had her eye on me for a year, and it took everything I had to avoid her advances.

“She likes you,” Annie whispered a little too loudly, and Ms. Baker turned around to give us a disapproving glare.

“She’s not my type.”

The service was short and to the point. The preacher spoke about sin and redemption. Before I knew it, we were back on the road speeding toward home.

“Do you believe all of that?” Annie asked, and her gaze cut to me.

“Believe what?” I asked, my eyes focused on the road ahead.

“That sins can just be wiped away? That you can do anything you want and there are no real consequences as long as you ask for forgiveness?”

There was a pregnant pause as I thought over her question. Was she asking for herself? Was she contemplating committing a sin, or was this about acts committed against her? “Some things are unforgivable, little one.”

Her eyes narrowed, and I felt her gaze burning into me. “Do you still…believe in God?”

I looked over at her angelic face, the innocence still lurking beneath her toughened outer shell. “Yes.” I reached for the radio and turned up the volume to end our conversation.

“She’s the one, Colin. She’s the one who came to me in my vision.” Taylor was wildly animated as he dug through the pile of papers on his desk, searching for something.

“You say that about all the new girls.” I tried not to sound bored, but this conversation was getting redundant, and I was growing tired of our monotonous routine. Taylor would bring a new family into our church and force them to live by his standards, only to molest and abuse their children.

“This one is a pretty little thing. You’ll like her. Her name is Annabel.”

He spent years trying to mold me into him, but he only succeeded in wearing away at my conscience until sick and twisted perversions were the only thing that made me feel at all. It didn’t matter to me in whose name I acted.

“She is yours. A gift from God himself.”

Chapter 3 - Annabel

When we returned to the house, Connor was gone, and I assumed he went to his local office to take care of a few things before he left town. I pulled the pearl earrings from my ears and dropped them on my jewelry armoire before unbuttoning my blouse, not being able to get the pretentious clothing off fast enough. I preferred to accentuate my features, not hide them.

I hated going to church every week because it brought back the parts of my past I liked to pretend didn’t exist. A time when I held hope for the future and trusted in humanity.

“Colin, I’d like you to meet Annie. She’s the one I was telling you about. She’s a pretty little thing, isn’t she?” Taylor had his arm around me, and it made me feel uncomfortable, but it would have been impolite to shrug out of his grasp. “Her mother is feeling ill, so I thought it best to get her out of the house so she doesn’t get sick as well. Why don’t you show her around?”

“Yes, sir,” he said with a bright grin. I smiled over at the boy who was much taller than I was and probably a few years older. His dark hair hung into his blue eyes as he looked at me skeptically. Taylor disappeared, and I chewed on my lip as I waited for the Colin to say something. His grin faded and was replaced with a menacing glare, a coldness that made a chill run down my spine.

“All the shelters full?” he snapped, and I flinched as I glanced down at my filthy hand-me-down outfit Taylor had given me.

“We didn’t have a choice.” The feeling of fear that settled in my gut was only growing stronger. Something wasn’t right about this place. When we were brought to the commune, it was only supposed to be for the weekend, but my mom had gotten sick from food poisoning four days ago and was still not doing any better. This was the first time I had been out of the main building since she became ill, and it was like stepping into another world.

“You always have a choice. Well, you did.” His eyes looked me over before he went back to fixing the broken leg of a desk.

“N-no,” I stuttered as I tucked my hair behind my ear, my fingers getting caught in a knot.

He glared up at me skeptically before shaking his head and going back to his project.