Page 101 of West Bound

“Is that what you were counting on?” He sneers.

“What?” My heart sinks like a rock in my chest.

“Did they ruin your hearing? I asked if that’s what you were counting on. You know, when you came here with them. I assume you’re the distraction.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course you do. You think I believe you just ran away from the Stocktons? That they just let you slip right through their fingers? They don’t lose one little woman out in the woods. They’re not like your incompetent husband, Zephyrine.” My father tut-tuts at me, his brown eyes dark with fury.

“I told you. They didn’t see me. They probably don’t even know I’m gone yet.”

“So you’re in on it then? Cooperating with them?”

“I’m not doing anything but trying to get free. I just want to go back to the convent!” The tears start to form in frustration as I hear another round of gunfire. The panic wells inside my gut.

I’ll never make it to them in time.

“Of course you do. So fucking useless. Just like your husband. I told him to find you and bring you back before everything got worse. Couldn’t even manage that.” He shakes his head. “You always were a fucking brat. Always focused on yourself. Never focused on what was good for your family.”

“What did I ever do to you?” I snap at him. “All I ever did was try to make you happy.”

“This isn’t about you. This is about things far more important than you. But you never understood that.”

“Then maybe you should explain it to me.”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Because you’re a murderer? A man with no conscience.” My hands shake even as I accuse him. Holding his furious gaze without flinching like I might have when I was younger is one of the simplest but most difficult things I’ve ever done.

“You believe their lies? Of course you would.” He shakes his head.

“You didn’t kill their parents?” I counter him.

He laughs, long and hard. But it’s insincere. An act on his part. One he’s gotten good at from always being in the public eye.

“Is that what they told you? You think I had time to go down there and shoot two random, meaningless people? That I’d risk going to jail for that? I have more important concerns, Zephyrine. You’re ridiculous.”

“So you didn’t try to blow up a wedding either?”

There’s more gunfire and shouting in the distance, and my stomach tumbles with the panic building its way up my spine. I need a plan. Some way to get out of this situation. But I can’t think straight. The sounds of the gunfire and shouting drowningout reason. Even after all these years, I still fear him too. No matter how much I try to forget it.

I can’t forget it. But I can fight it. I have to try.

He’s as distracted by the sounds in the hall as I am, trying to listen to hear what the commotion is. I try to use it to my advantage, reaching for the doorknob, but he snatches my hair and drags me back down onto the bed next to him while I scream out in pain.

“Shut up! You’re not going anywhere. You’re staying right here with me. I don’t need you running off to give them more information.”

“I don’t have any information to give. You don’t care about me. Just let me go! You always kept me in the dark. I told them as much. You don’t need me.” I bargain with him.

“Because you would have never understood.”

“What? What was I supposed to understand? Stop talking in circles.”

“You sound like your mother now.” He looks at me in disgust. “I always hated that you had her eyes.”

There’s a gut-wrenching bellow from the hallway, and the sound of someone screaming for help. It tears his attention away. For all his bluster, I can see the fear in his eyes.

“We should get out of here.” I try to stand again, but he holds my arm tightly.