I jerked as if I’d been jabbed with a cattle prod, my muscles seizing and heart hammering against my ribs.
“Adaline.” There was more tension in his voice now, barely restrained rage.
I slowly turned, coming face-to-face with the man who’d made my life a living nightmare. “Father.” I did my best to keep my tone even, but the word came out more like a croak.
He took a step closer, and I immediately backed up, my gaze jumping around the street. I was on the main road through town with plenty of people around, so he couldn’t just snatch me up. A muscle in his bearded jaw ticked—a sure sign that I was in for it. “This behavior is unacceptable.”
“I’m not doing anything wrong.” My voice wavered, but I spoke the words anyway.
His eyes narrowed a fraction. The average passerby might not have noticed, but I was used to looking for every little tell. Any sign that the tides might turn, and I’d need to make a break for it.
“I heard a man moved into that house you’re staying in. Did you get married, and I missed it?”
My spine went ramrod straight. He knew where I was living. That shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but the fact that he was keeping close enough tabs on me to know that Beckett had moved in last night had me wanting to crawl out of my skin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
It was better to play dumb. If I didn’t confirm anything, there was little he could do. Maybe he’d even start to doubt if I lived there at all.
The tic in his jaw was back. I’d miscalculated, and now I’d regret it. “Those Eastons have done nothing but tear our family apart. Bad enough that your cousin whored herself out to one of them. I won’t see you go down the same path. Won’t let you dishonor your family this way. There’s a price to pay for that kind of thing, and I don’t think you’re ready to pay it.”
Bile crept up my throat as nausea swept through me. “S-stay away from me.”
My father grinned. There was little that made him happier than knowing he’d frightened me. Something about how I looked so much like my mother, and there was no one he hated more—the fact that she’d won her freedom from him being too much for him to bear.
“It’s a free country, Adaline. I can go where I please. Maybe I’ll take a stroll down that pretty street of yours. Maybe I’ll light a match and see what burns.”
I needed out. Away. I couldn’t breathe.
I didn’t say another word. I simply turned on my heel and fled.
My lungs burned as I ran down the sidewalk, my tote bag bouncing against my side. I ducked onto a side street, hoping that was the right move—fewer people to see me make a fool of myself, but also fewer to see if something happened to me.
The thought had me pushing my legs harder. I took a way home that I’d never take
n before, hoping my father wouldn’t know this route. My muscles were screaming by the time the familiar white farmhouse came into view.
Tears slipped from my eyes at the sight, but I didn’t stop running until I was at the front door and had to fumble for my keys. My hand shook as I moved to unlock the door. On the third try, I slipped the key into the deadbolt and turned.
The alarm beeped, and I slammed the door closed behind me, locking it. I moved to the alarm panel, plugging in the code. Only my finger slipped, and I missed a number. The alarm emitted a series of beeps.
Shoot, shoot, shoot. I only had one more shot before the alarm company called the landline and then Hayes if I didn’t provide the correct answers. I took a shuddering breath and used one hand to steady my arm. I focused on each number, pausing before I pressed it.
When the alarm gave a single beep that meant the code had been accepted, my body gave out, and I crumpled to the floor in a knot of limbs. I pulled my knees up to my chest, hugging them tightly.
Blood roared in my ears so loudly, I couldn’t hear anything else. The whole world seemed to fade in and out as I sat there. I had no idea how much time passed before a shadow passed over me.
Sheer instinct had me screaming and kicking out.
Beckett caught my ankle with one hand. “Shit! Addie, it’s just me.” My entire body shook, and he released his hold on my leg, crouching low. “Are you hurt?”
I shook my head.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
The trembling in my muscles intensified. “I saw my dad in town.” He deserved to know why I’d almost kicked him in the balls. He at least had a right to my honesty. Yet, shame, thick and oppressive, blanketed me. I was so far from the normal I longed for.
“Did he touch you?” A growl laced Beckett’s words.
“No, he didn’t touch me.”