My system leapt into high alert, adrenaline flooding me as she glanced at the open door again. “What do you mean?”
“I mean…Liam just called. He’s doing work experience with the local police to see if he wants to join.”
“Why is that a problem?” I clipped, doing my best not to let my mind run away with nasty conclusions.
“It isn’t.” Cassie rubbed her arm. “He’ll do great at it. But it is a problem when he calls me in a panic because he overheard a conversation mentioning you.”
“Mentioning Ren?” Della asked sharply. “What did they say?”
Pacing in front of us, Cassie twisted her loose hair into a rope until it draped over her shoulder. “God, I don’t know how to fix this. Having you guys back has meant the world to Dad. He can grieve without worrying about the farm. And I know he wants you to stay on indefinitely. But…I don’t know how that’s going to happen.”
“Why?” Striding toward her, I grabbed her shoulders and spun her to face me. “Spit it out, Cassie. What’s going on?”
“They’re on their way over here.”
“Who?” I growled. “Who is on their way?”
“The police.”
My insides turned to ice as Cassie gave me a terrified look. “The town’s been talking, Ren. They know something’s going on. There’s been rumours for years about how fast you disappeared and theories about why.”
Letting Cassie go, I stormed toward Della, staying close to her side, sensing a threat but unsure how to protect her from it. “Theories are pointless. Besides, it’s none of their goddamn business.”
“I agree, it’s not. But Liam, bless his heart, overheard what you told Mom and Dad that night. He was hiding on the stairs.”
“What?”
She winced. “He knew you’d been bought, and the people who kept you were called Mclary. He heard Della was theirs and how you ran away with her.”
I tripped backward. “Oh, fuck.”
“Oh, no.” Della turned white.
“Goddammit!” Raking a hand through my hair, I glowered. “I only told John and Patricia, so I could prove she wasn’t my sister—not for that information to become public knowledge!”
“I know. And he feels sick about it, but he was a kid, Ren.” Cassie’s face etched with apology. “All he heard was a story about cattle brands and fingers being cut off and you saying the police were probably after you for kidnapping Della. It was too juicy not to tell his friends.”
“Shit.” I hung my head. “I should never have said anything.”
“But Ren never kidnapped me,” Della said, strained and stressed. “He didn’t know. And anyway, my parents weren’t exactly the best people in the world. He did me a favour taking me from them.”
“I know that.” Cassie nodded. “And Liam knows he screwed up. I’ve yelled at him—many times. Only, the gossip he shared when he was in school has circulated enough for it to reach the ears of parents and teachers, and now…well; now you’re back in town, and I guess it got them talking again.”
Squeezing the back of my neck, I paced the small room. At the time, when I’d stood before Patricia and John and given them enough information to ruin my life, I’d been fully prepared to be waltzed out of there in handcuffs.
Back then, I didn’t care as I would’ve sacrificed my freedom to ensure Della could stay with them.
But now…now, I had too much to lose.
My eyes met Della’s. “We need to leave. Right now.”
Della didn’t speak, just nodded and immediately turned to the backpacks we’d unpacked by the dresser.
Cassie stood by the door, watching as we prepared to pack up any hope of staying here for winter.
John was right when he sent us away.
We shouldn’t have come.
“You-you can’t leave. Not again,” Cassie murmured. “Dad needs you, Ren. We all want you to stay.”
“We can’t.” I grabbed a bag from Della and wrenched open a drawer where we’d stuffed our clothes, fighting a cough. “I won’t lose her. Not now. I didn’t do anything wrong—”
“Stop.”
Everything inside me slammed into a brick wall.
My head shot up, eyes locking onto the two shadows behind Cassie. They morphed from the stable gloom, two uniformed officers who I recognised from selling a couple of hay bales to on and off over the years.
Della froze, dropping her bag. “Wait. No.”
“Sorry, ma’am.” The older of the two with a greying moustache stepped closer, scanned all three of us, then said, “Ren Wild, you’re under arrest for the kidnapping of Della Mclary and you’re coming with us.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
REN
* * * * * *
2020
I’D BEEN TRAPPED before.
It was so long ago now that time had healed me from a lot of it, but sitting in a brightly lit room with a locked door, two-way mirror, and handcuffs that had been removed from my wrists glinting silver on the table, shot me straight back to a different type of captivity.