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Chapter1

Thea

Crouching in the woods behind her mom’s house wasn’t Thea’s idea of a fun Saturday night. Well, it had been her home too at one point in time, but to say she was unwelcome now was an understatement.

Shifting to stretch her leg out of a crouch, she brushed against a bush, sending a flurry of snow falling from its branches. She pulled the collar of her coat tighter around her neck. It had been years since she’d experienced a Wyoming winter, and she’d forgotten to bring a scarf.

Thea’s gaze darted back and forth over her mom’s backyard. Despite the darkness covering everything, the place seemed unchanged.

Five years could be a day or half a decade. For Thea, it had been a century.

Five years since she’d been in Wyoming. Five years since she’d seen her mom. Five years since she left without looking back.

Coming home was often romanticized. Reunions, kisses, hugs. Thea would get none of that tonight. She’d been hiding in the woods behind the house for half an hour, and this was hardly a welcome home party. If she was lucky, she could see her mom’s face and kiss her.

Hopefully, it wouldn’t be the last time.

The constant shivering tightened every muscle in her body. After half an hour in the cold woods, even her lungs burned with the frozen air. Her teeth chattered together, making her jaw ache. Emerson said the coast would be clear by six thirty, but Thea couldn’t risk checking the time on her phone.

A bright light shone over the backyard, and the screech of the screen door cut through the quiet night. Just as she’d been warned, a towering man stomped out into the darkness.

Thea released a shaky breath only to regret it as the puff of her warm breath billowed in the cold. She rested a hand over her mouth and nose.

The last five years hadn’t been good to her uncle. He still walked with the same unbalanced gait, and his bulging middle only served to make him look more off-kilter. The shadows blended with the night, making it hard to tell much else about him.

Her cousin, Emerson, had pretty much confirmed the dark family secret Thea had only guessed before–their Uncle Tommy had gotten everything he’d wanted all those years ago. Thea’s dad was out of the way, allowing Uncle Tommy to sit high and mighty on the Howards’ family throne. To top it off, he’d slithered his way into Thea’s old home under the pretense of taking care of his brother’s widowed wife.

What a joke. Sharon Howard knew how to stay out of trouble. Thea’s mom just knew too many family secrets, and Uncle Tommy wanted to make sure she stayed quiet, right under his oppressive thumb.

Disgusting. As if they didn’t have enough to worry about with the family rival, the Pattons. Uncle Tommy had done his own part in tearing the Howard family apart, starting with moving in with his brother’s wife before Thea’s dad was cold in the ground.

The injustice ignited a new spark of heat inside her, despite the dusting of snow that landed on her eyelashes. Did the man not care that he’d thrown fuel on the fire?

Then again, that’s what she’d been accused of all those years ago.

It had been a long time since Thea had even dared to think about the family she left behind. Distance and time had done at least a little to numb the painful memories.

Her dad’s death had only been the beginning. At the time, she hadn’t had a clue she’d end up losing everything before the month was out.

Everything. Absolutely everything.

Thea swallowed hard and kept her gaze locked on Uncle Tommy as he climbed into an old pickup truck and slammed the door. The tired engine roared to life and carried her uncle down the driveway. He turned left on the road and disappeared.

Finally, Thea could breathe. She stood slowly from her crouched position and groaned. She was barely twenty-three, but a pain shot through her knees and down her shins. She stretched her back to the right and left before taking the first step.

An ominous thought ghosted through her mind. Emerson had seemed sure that the coast would be clear this evening, but what if she was wrong?

Too late to turn back now. Thea had flown halfway across the continent to see her mom, and this was the best chance she’d get. Her uncle was the biggest threat, and he’d just left. It was go time, whether she was ready or not.

Thea snuck through the woods bordering her mom’s backyard, stepping over the underbrush and winding her way around small trees. When she reached the dark road, she looked both ways.

The main road was anything but a prominent street. She’d fallen into the habit of calling it the main road because that’s what the men in her family had always called it. Several unmarked roads and trails led into the wooded area behind the property, and they all had code names. It was one of the many ways they protected the moonshine stills in the hollers.

A thin layer of white covered the blacktop, and Thea stopped to stare at her feet. Her boots sank two inches in the otherwise undisturbed snow. She’d have to be careful with her tracks. It was the whole reason she’d avoided just waltzing through the backyard and up to her mom’s door. Tracks in the yard wouldn’t go unnoticed.

The compressed tire tracks in the road were her best bet. Thea took a big step, trying her best to put her feet in the tracks. She looked over her shoulder and took a few steps to test for footprints. Nothing.

The hard part was over. Now to see her mom. Thea jogged up the road until a stinging ache settled in her chest. The cold air burned like fire in her lungs, but she couldn’t stop for a break. She needed to get this over with and get out.