At least this way, her brother could find her if she didn’t come back.
Fear crawled up her spine, and she sent up a silent prayer to whoever was listening that she would get out of this alive. If she could just persuade Johnny to take the money…
She arrived at a cabin around a long bend, and it looked so idyllic that Rose was afraid she’d taken a wrong turn. Then she saw Johnny’s car before Johnny himself walked outside.
“You’re here!” he said. He had a cigarette in his hand as he embraced her. “I thought you’d never come.”
The hug lingered, and Rose gritted her teeth to keep herself from wrenching away. Slithers of disgust ran up and down her body from his mere proximity. He smiled down at her, his teeth flashing in the bright sunshine.
“Let’s go inside. Are you hungry? It’s almost lunch.” He acted like this was some bizarre picnic, and Rose wanted to strangle him.
“I’m not going inside with you.” She pulled out the envelope of cash and held it out. “Here’s your money: every cent is there, including interest. Now leave me and my family alone. We’re done.”
Johnny looked at the money like she’d tried to give him a dead frog. “Didn’t I say I didn’t want your money?”
“I’m paying you back. Take it.”
He didn’t speak for a long moment. Finally, he took the money, and Rose breathed a deep sigh of relief.
Until she saw the smile forming on Johnny’s face.
“Rosie, Rosie, Rosie. So sweet and naïve still. You amaze me. Did you really think you could pay me off and I’d let you go?” He moved so close to her that she felt his clove-scented breath on her face. “There’s no way in hell you’re going home now,” he whispered.
“You have your money. What else do you want?”
He touched her cheek, and this time, she did flinch.
“Now, are you going to come inside, or am I going to have to persuade you to?”
The second he stepped away, she pulled out her gun, aiming it straight at his heart like she’d done at the park weeks ago.
“I’m not going anywhere with you. Either let me leave, or I’ll shoot you.” She knew that this time, she wouldn’t even hesitate.
He shrugged. “Do it. Shoot me. But I wouldn’t recommend it.”
Rose had her finger on the trigger now. The sun beat down on her neck, sweat breaking out on her forehead. Licking her lips, she rasped, “Let me go, Johnny.”
“You can leave if you want, but like I said: there will be consequences.” He smiled again as he reached inside his pocket for something.
Rose expected a gun, but when he pulled out what looked like a dark ribbon, she hesitated. It wasn’t a ribbon, though: it was a lock of hair.
“Just so you know, we have one of your friends here. What was her name? Jenny? Julie? Jubilee!” He laughed. “Interesting name. I wonder if it’s a family name.”
Rose felt the blood drain from her face as she stared at that long strand of dark hair, the same color as Seth’s. Only Jubilee had hair that long. Her heart stuttered as the lock blew in the breeze, taunting her.
Oh God, not Jubilee. Why Jubilee? She was innocent in all of this. Rose struggled to understand why Johnny would choose her, but to him, any person who knew Rose could be used against her. If he had hurt her, or God forbid, raped her—
She closed her eyes for a split second. She couldn’t give into panic, that was what Johnny wanted.
“So, you have two choices,” Johnny said conversationally as he swung the lock back and forth. “You can leave and we’ll kill your friend. Or, you can come with me, and we’ll let her go.”
Rose took her finger from the trigger. “You swear to let Jubilee go?”
“Of course. I always keep my promises.”
A bird cawed in a tree nearby. Johnny waited, his eyebrows slightly raised. The lock of hair looked like a tiny noose now.
When she lowered her gun, putting the safety back on, Johnny laughed. Then before Rose could react, Johnny slapped her—hard—the gun skittering across the ground. She staggered as Johnny grabbed her forearm, his fingers digging into her skin.
“You’ve made the right choice, my dear,” he said as he dragged her into the cabin.
She struggled, trying to free herself from his grip, but he only grabbed her by the hair and shook her.
“Behave yourself.” He pulled her head back, exposing her throat. “Or your little friend is going to have a very bad time.”
Johnny took her to a bedroom in the back of the cabin. There was no furniture to speak of. It was a prison cell.
“Where’s Jubilee?” Rose demanded. “If you’ve hurt her, I’ll kill you. I swear it.”
“Where’s Jubilee? Funny you should ask that.” He turned his brightest smile on her—so bright that she almost had to close her eyes. “I hate to say this, but I lied.”
She blinked. “What?”
“I lied. We don’t have the girl. You gave yourself up for no reason.”
At her stricken expression, he laughed. Then he slammed the door and locked it, leaving her to scream at him from inside her makeshift cell.
“Seth, it’s Jubilee. Open up. I have cupcakes.”
Seth heard Jubilee’s voice and winced. What time was it? He groaned when he saw it was almost noon. He couldn’t remember when he’d fallen asleep last night after…everything.
Even the mention of cupcakes from The Rise and Shine wasn’t enough of a temptation to rouse him from his bed.
“I’m sleeping!” he yelled and burrowed below the covers.
“I’m not leaving until you open the door. Or I’ll just call Mom and have her come by—”
Seth opened the door to see his little sister beaming up at him.
“You’re evil,” he said as she came inside.
“No, just effective. Here, I brought one of each flavor. I thought you’d need it.” She looked at him and sighed. “Are you okay?”
What a question! No, he wasn’t okay. He’d told Rose he couldn’t love her and that they were over. He was going to accept Sergeant Loyd’s offer and leave for another tour in the fall.
All in all, he was a damn wreck.
“Fine,” he said as he plucked a chocolate cupcake from the platter. It tasted like sand in his mouth, but he needed to eat something. “You didn’t have to come by.”
“I wanted to. I had the day off, and Lizzie texted me… I heard about what happened last night. Do you want to talk about it?”
It struck him then that his little sister wasn’t a child anymore. She’d grown up while he’d been away fighting. It depressed him. What had happened to the sweet girl who’d hung onto his every word? Who’d had to be protected and coddled because she’d suffered from leukemia twice in her short life?
“I don’t want to talk about it.” At her sad expression, he sighed. “You can sit with me, though. Tell me what’s going on with you.”
Jubilee sensed that he wanted peace and quiet, though, and she didn’t chatter his ear off. The younger Jubilee would’ve taken the opportunity to tell him everything, but not this Jubilee. She had a maturity to her that Seth could barely reconcile with the girl he’d known.