Booted (Trails of Sin 3)

“Did you tell him about her?”

“No. But when he showed up at our apartment two days later, he knew. I hadn’t given him my address, hadn’t told him anything about me, but he knew every aspect of my life and exactly how to manipulate me.” Her voice shivers into a silent whimper that makes the hairs stand up on my neck.

Once her tears start falling, she seems unable to stop them. It’s a reluctant cry, buried in her small hands, eking out in soft, muffled sobs.

Her vulnerability tightens my skin and fucks with my heartbeat. I haven’t seen tears since the night Conor was raped, and I didn’t stick around to watch it. I hungered for blood and death so ferociously I couldn’t think past revenge.

If only I reacted differently, I wouldn’t have ended up in prison.

It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell Raina to pull her shit together, but I won’t do that. She doesn’t strike me as a woman who cries often. Maybe she needs this.

She curls toward the door, hunching her shoulders and hiding her face. She needs privacy, but I can’t give her that. She’s trapped in this truck with me until I reach the ranch. The best I can do is give her some background noise.

I turn on the radio and adjust the volume to balance the sounds of her misery. Better Man by Little Big Town drifts through the speakers, and her posture loosens, slipping deeper into the seat.

I’m anxious to hear the rest of her story, but I force myself to wait and focus on the landscape, the light traffic, anything that might indicate we’re being followed.

Forty-five minutes later, I navigate the truck into Sandbank and turn onto the dirt road that leads toward home.

Her head lifts from the window to watch the dark fields blur by. “I can’t stay with you.”

“Finish your story. Then we’ll discuss what happens next.”

“You can guess the rest of it.”

“Tell me anyway.”

She releases a shaky breath and rubs her palms on her thighs. “When he showed up at our apartment, he offered me a deal. If I went to Sandbank with him, he’d make sure Tiana received the best care possible. It was more than I ever hoped for. My mom decided the sun rose and set in his wallet and agreed to look after Tiana in my absence. So I went with him, and when I arrived at Julep Ranch, I thought he was the richest man in Oklahoma. He lived in a sprawling estate and was drilling oil in his own backyard. It was easy to believe he had the power and money to help my sister. The promise of that made up for the…” She averts her gaze and swallows. “For the job I was there to do.”

My stomach twists at the thought of her spreading her legs for John Holsten. “When did you find out he was broke?”

“A couple of weeks after I moved in. Tiana still didn’t have the promise of a new kidney, and my mom hadn’t seen a dime of financial aid for the ongoing dialysis. When I confronted him, that’s when the threats began.

“He confiscated my phone and told me if I left the ranch or communicated with anyone, including his sons, he wouldn’t just kill my mother and put Tiana in foster care. He would make sure my sister got lost in the system without the treatment she needed. He swore he had the power to place her with a family who had a history of preying on little girls and he would see to it that she suffered unspeakable nightmares before she died of her illness.” She pulls in a ragged breath. “I believed him.”

He doesn’t have money, but he’s proven to have powerful connections with unsavory people. I wouldn’t put it past him to do exactly what he threatened.

“He didn’t put me in chains until later, but I was in a prison, nonetheless.” Anger leaks into her voice. “As long as I didn’t disobey him, he gave me updates on Tiana. Every communication device within my reach was locked, but I managed to steal Jarret’s phone a couple of times to contact the hospital and validate her health. Those calls brought me some semblance of peace. Until we moved to the middle-of-nowhere Texas.”

“Jarret said he tried to talk to you the day they forced John to leave.” I slow the truck on the dirt road, delaying our arrival at the ranch. “Why didn’t you tell him?”

“I was scared. I didn’t know if I could trust him or if he could even do anything to help me.” She finds my eyes in the darkness. “Could he have stopped John from killing my mother and putting Tiana in foster care?”

“He could’ve threatened John the same way he threatened him to leave.”