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She raised her eyes to mine.
And spat in my face.
I recoiled at the vile act. Anger exploded through me, hot and fast, mixed with a healthy dose of pure embarrassment Hugh had seen it.
I backhanded her, cracking the backs of my knuckles across her cheekbones.
She spun around with the impact, a cry falling from her mouth, one hand clutching her face.
That just made it all the easier to snatch the baby from her arms.
“No!”
Her bloodcurdling scream rang in my ears, but I twisted, holding the baby out of her grasp.
She fought. She slapped and punched and kicked and scratched at me. “Give her back to me! Give her back! I’ll do whatever you want! Just give her back to me.”
She kept going and going until Hugh banded his arms around her from behind, hauling her away from me.
Tears streamed down her face, her posture defeated, her expression bereft.
It wasn’t enough. I had to break her wholly and completely.
I wiped her spit from my skin. “You need to be taught a lesson, clearly. You’ll come with me to this event. You’ll dress pretty. You’ll smile at my friends, compliment their wives, and you’ll hang off my every fucking word like I’m your damn God. Do you understand me? You’ll make me look good, Kara. I’ll hold on to this in the meantime until you prove your worth to me. Got it?”
“No! Please! I’ll do anything! Just don’t take her from me.”
But it was too late for that. She’d brought this on herself. I didn’t trust her as far as I could throw her. I strode for the door and let myself out, the sniveling baby in my arms, her mother still screaming as I drove the baby away.
36
REBEL
We were barely on the road that led back to town when Vaughn twisted to stare at me. “What the fuck was all that?”
Kian, in the back seat, leaned forward in between us to stare at me too. “Seriously. Your dad is in a cult.”
I laughed him off, though it was weak at best. “He’s not in a cult. It’s a farming community. It’s not that weird.”
Vaughn’s gaze wouldn’t let up. “That Josiah guy is a creep. Did you see the way he stared at Alice?”
I frowned. “He looked at her the way any aunt or uncle would.”
“Only the pervert kind who jerk off to images they found on the dark web,” Kian said quietly.
I glanced back at him. “You too? You agree with him?”
Kian was dead serious. “The way he looked at you wasn’t much better.”
I rolled my eyes. “You two need to curb your jealousy. Just because an attractive guy takes a peek my way, doesn’t mean anything. Remind me not to invite the two of you next time.”
Kian gaped at me, his eyes wide. “You aren’t going back there!”
“Of course I am. They’re my sisters. He’s my dad. They’re literally the only family I have, and I want to get to know them. Is that honestly so crazy?”
“Over my dead body.” Vaughn glared at me, daring me to argue.
He should have known better. I’d never been the sort of person to back off just because someone else was getting uncomfortable. “Fuck off, Vaughn. Did you forget you aren’t actually my brother? Or my mother for that matter, because you’re starting to seem a lot like her. She wouldn’t let me see him either. I didn’t get a say in the matter with her. I do now. So, I am going back there to see my family. If that’s over your dead body, then that can be arranged.”