“You’ll let her go?”
Jerry nodded. “I promise, and I haven’t lied to you yet. I’ll leave her here with those idiot men you’re staying with, the ones who thought they could keep you from me. Maybe they’ll take her as a cheap substitute—I really don’t care. Neither she nor they interest me at all.”
The girl whimpered before locking eyes with Kat. She shook her head, as if to tell Kat not to trade herself.
Which solidified Kat’s plan all the more. She reached the barbed wire fence that ran with two lines as more of a visual deterrent and slid easily between them.
“Let her go,” Kat said.
“Not until you’re over here,” Jerry argued.
“No. I want to know that she can get away because I don’t trust you. I’m close enough that I couldn’t run and get far, not with the fence, so I want to see that she’s safe.”
Jerry let out a sigh, as if Kat were annoying him, but nodded and released the woman.
The woman nearly collapsed without him holding her up, but she barreled toward Kat, grabbing onto Kat’s arm. “You can’t—he’s a monster.”
Kat forced a smile before sliding off the large wrap she wore and pulling it around the woman’s naked shoulders. It wasn’t much, but anything was better than nothing. “It’s okay. See that way?” Kat pointed into the distance. “There’s a house there and you’ll find three men who will take care of you, okay? As soon as you get through the fence, I want you to run straight there, okay?”
The woman’s eyes were wide, the blue of them almost lifeless. The desires warred inside those eyes, the want to stay, to help, to not leave Kat, but also the yearning for freedom and safety.
Kat squeezed the woman’s hand once more, trying to break her loose of her thoughts. “It’s okay. Go.”
The woman finally nodded and went, following Kat’s example through the fence before taking off at a run.
Kat’s gaze followed the woman before looking down at her arm where the woman had grabbed.Blood.
Not the last that would be on Kat, no doubt.
“You know, I came here expecting you to give in, to do as I wanted, but I find I’m still a bit surprised. Do you have any idea how rare it is for me to be surprised? Perhaps that’s what made me fall for you, the fact that I struggle to ever predict you.”
The praise, which from Dean or Olin or Bradley would have made her heart race, did nothing to Kat.
“We should get going,” the man who had been in the passenger side of the car said. “The men who live here will come when they find that woman.”
Jerry waved the concern off and crooked his finger. “Come along, Katherine. I said from the start that you would come to me, that you would give in and submit. So, submit.”
Kat gulped down the sickness that threatened to rise in her throat as she put one foot in front of the other, doing exactly what Jerry had said she would. It reminded her of all the times her parents had said she’d fail, that she’d never succeed, that she wasn’t good enough or strong enough or smart enough to make it on her own.
A tremble started inside her as she forced herself forward. When she reached just in front of Jerry, he still didn’t grab her.
“Look at me,” he demanded.
Kat did it, no matter how little she wanted to, and met his gaze. It was empty, as if there were no real person inside the monster, and the shaking inside her intensified.
At least, until the sound of hooves hitting the ground caught her attention.
Jerry took that moment to grab her and haul her against him, a hand on her throat to keep her still, and Kat saw the last thing she wanted to see.
Brat, the horse, at an all-out gallop, with Bradley on her back.
And a whole new sort of terror filled her.
Bradley couldn’t stop the relief he felt at seeing Kat still there. Dean’s voice in his ear remained, the terror filled explanation that Jerry was there, that Kat was alone.
Olin and Dean were on their way as well, but Bradley had been the closest. Not that he knew what the hell to do. He didn’t carry any of his guns on the ranch normally, since getting thrown from a horse with a pistol on his hip wasn’t much fun. Unless he had reason to need one, he preferred to keep them in the gun safe. Maybe he should have started carrying again given Kat was there, but he’d been overconfident in the safety of the ranch.
That didn’t matter, though. All that had mattered was getting there, was doing something—anything—so Kat didn’t slip away again. After finding this happiness, he wasn’t about to let it go.