We drove my car, a black 300S, to the church. It was just Annie and me. Amanda wasn’t very religious, and I preferred this time to be just the two of us. Church in the South was very much a social event, and our presence was always required to represent the Blakelys.

Annie’s fingers ran over the leather cover of her Bible as she stared out the window, watching the world going by, determined to give me the silent treatment. I reached up and turned down the volume of the radio. “You want to talk about the elephant in the room?” I asked. She raised an eyebrow as her gaze fell to my lap.

“I’d hardly compare you to an elephant,” she deadpanned.

I laughed as I shook my head. “Now you’re just being cruel.”

“I learned from the master.” She blushed and turned her gaze back to her window as I turned the radio back up. We drove a few more blocks before turning into Holy Trinity’s gravel parking lot. I put the car in park and turned to Annie, who was still lost in thought.

“Hey.” I touched her leg, and she jumped. “You all right?”

“Yeah.” She tucked her hair behind her ear with a nervous smile. “I still don’t really like these places.” She shrugged, and I smiled sadly at her.

“This is a long way from the commune.”

Her eyes searched mine before she nodded.

“Good girl. Let’s go.” I got out of the car and rounded the front of the vehicle, pulling open Annie’s door. I held out my hand, and she slid her fingers against mine as I pulled her to her feet.

I put my hand on the small of her back as I guided her toward the door. We were greeted warmly by everyone we passed. Inside, the church was small but air-conditioned and well maintained. I preferred this to the megachurches you see on television. This was more personal, hands on, although not to the degree I was used to.

Annie and I slid into the back pew as she clutched her Bible on her lap. “You forgot your book.”

“Never.” I tapped my finger on the side of my head and winked. She shook her head and suppressed a giggle as the other members found their seats. I cleared my throat to keep myself from laughing as I nodded hello to Shelly Kline. She’d had her eye on me for a year, and it took everything I had to avoid her advances.

“She likes you,” Annie whispered a little too loudly, and Ms. Baker turned around to give us a disapproving glare.

“She’s not my type.”

The service was short and to the point. The preacher spoke about sin and redemption. Before I knew it, we were back on the road speeding toward home.

“Do you believe all of that?” Annie asked, and her gaze cut to me.

“Believe what?” I asked, my eyes focused on the road ahead.

“That sins can just be wiped away? That you can do anything you want and there are no real consequences as long as you ask for forgiveness?”

There was a pregnant pause as I thought over her question. Was she asking for herself? Was she contemplating committing a sin, or was this about acts committed against her? “Some things are unforgivable, little one.”

Her eyes narrowed, and I felt her gaze burning into me. “Do you still…believe in God?”

I looked over at her angelic face, the innocence still lurking beneath her toughened outer shell. “Yes.” I reached for the radio and turned up the volume to end our conversation.

“She’s the one, Colin. She’s the one who came to me in my vision.” Taylor was wildly animated as he dug through the pile of papers on his desk, searching for something.

“You say that about all the new girls.” I tried not to sound bored, but this conversation was getting redundant, and I was growing tired of our monotonous routine. Taylor would bring a new family into our church and force them to live by his standards, only to molest and abuse their children.

“This one is a pretty little thing. You’ll like her. Her name is Annabel.”

He spent years trying to mold me into him, but he only succeeded in wearing away at my conscience until sick and twisted perversions were the only thing that made me feel at all. It didn’t matter to me in whose name I acted.

“She is yours. A gift from God himself.”

Chapter 3 - Annabel

When we returned to the house, Connor was gone, and I assumed he went to his local office to take care of a few things before he left town. I pulled the pearl earrings from my ears and dropped them on my jewelry armoire before unbuttoning my blouse, not being able to get the pretentious clothing off fast enough. I preferred to accentuate my features, not hide them.

I hated going to church every week because it brought back the parts of my past I liked to pretend didn’t exist. A time when I held hope for the future and trusted in humanity.

“Colin, I’d like you to meet Annie. She’s the one I was telling you about. She’s a pretty little thing, isn’t she?” Taylor had his arm around me, and it made me feel uncomfortable, but it would have been impolite to shrug out of his grasp. “Her mother is feeling ill, so I thought it best to get her out of the house so she doesn’t get sick as well. Why don’t you show her around?”

“Yes, sir,” he said with a bright grin. I smiled over at the boy who was much taller than I was and probably a few years older. His dark hair hung into his blue eyes as he looked at me skeptically. Taylor disappeared, and I chewed on my lip as I waited for the Colin to say something. His grin faded and was replaced with a menacing glare, a coldness that made a chill run down my spine.

“All the shelters full?” he snapped, and I flinched as I glanced down at my filthy hand-me-down outfit Taylor had given me.

“We didn’t have a choice.” The feeling of fear that settled in my gut was only growing stronger. Something wasn’t right about this place. When we were brought to the commune, it was only supposed to be for the weekend, but my mom had gotten sick from food poisoning four days ago and was still not doing any better. This was the first time I had been out of the main building since she became ill, and it was like stepping into another world.

“You always have a choice. Well, you did.” His eyes looked me over before he went back to fixing the broken leg of a desk.

“N-no,” I stuttered as I tucked my hair behind my ear, my fingers getting caught in a knot.

He glared up at me skeptically before shaking his head and going back to his project.

“H-how long h-have you been here?” I asked, hoping that this boy would be of some help.

“As long as I can remember.” He sighed as his hands began working again. “Because my mother was a whore. She slept around, found Jesus. Not at the same time.” His sarcastic remark while saying something so sad had caught me off guard.

“You believe that? That she was…a whore?”

His angry blue eyes met mine. “Have you even read the Bible?”

I tucked my dirty blond hair behind my ear and looked down at the wooden floor. “Some.”

“How’d you meet Taylor?” He stood up, stretching his back as he groaned, and I tried not to stare at the crisscross pattern of raised pink scars that covered his flesh from his shoulder blades to the edge of his pants.

“Mom met Taylor at that church soup kitchen on Fowler Street.”

He nodded. “Homeless.”

“N-no. We volunteered on the weekends.” I took a deep breath, trying to slow my thoughts so I could stop stuttering. It was a horrible nervous habit that was exacerbated by fear.

He turned to face me, his eyebrows drawn together as he took in my appearance. “This is a first.”

“He told us we could volunteer here and help others get on their feet.”

“I believe he meant get you on your back.” He rolled his neck against his shoulders and let out a guttural groan.

“What? What is that supposed to mean?”

He looked over at me, emptiness in his eyes. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

I pulled down the zipper on the back of my skirt, shoving it over my hips and stepping out of it as it puddled on the floor. I walked into my expansive closet, and my eyes danced over the racks of clothing all organized by color.

I grabbed a pair of black shorts and a matching tank top to lounge around the house in. It usually took me a few hours to get out of the mental funk church put me in. Ice cream and a good movie usually did the trick.

I pulled on my clothes and walked out of my closet to find Colin lying on my bed, his shoes on my brand-new comforter.

“You could at least take your shoes off. You’re going to get dirt on my bed.” He raised an eyebrow at me.

“Little Orphan Annie.” He shook his head as he pushed from my bed with a smirk on his face, his charcoal suit pants and white button-down wrinkled. He had the cuffs unbuttoned and rolled up to his elbows, revealing the expansive cross tattoo down his inner right forearm.

“What movie are we watching?” he asked as he stopped in my doorway and grabbed the frame over his head.

“You’re going to grace me with your presence? Surely you have some child to steal lunch money from or perhaps a puppy to kick around.”

He winked and sauntered off into his room as he laughed. I shook my head and ran my hand over my comforter to make sure there were no dirt marks left behind from his shoes.

Colin always knew how to get under my skin. He got some sick sense of enjoyment from it because he knew he was the only person who could hurt my feelings. I’d learned to overcome, adapt, and adjust to anything thrown at me…except for him.

I made my way down to the first floor. I walked through the hallway by the dining room and was turning right at the kitchen when Colin’s voice rang out from behind me.

“Buttered or unbuttered?” he asked, and I turned to see him shirtless, still wearing his suit pants, but the button was undone, and they rode low on his hips, revealing the V of muscles that disappeared below the fabric.

“What?”

“For the movie.” He held up a bag of popcorn as he leaned back casually against the counter, a knowing smirk on his lips.

“Yeah, whatever.” I spun around and headed into the media room. I looked over the bookshelves lined with movies, my eyes dancing over the spines as I read the titles under my breath. We had a collection of thousands. I stood on my toes as my fingers slid over the cases. Long fingers wrapped over my hipbone, causing me to jump back against Colin’s bare chest.

“You scared me,” I huffed.

“If I had a dollar for every time I elicited that response from a woman.” He put a tumbler glass to his lips and drank back a thick amber liquid. I nudged my elbow into his stomach to make him take a step back.

“Not something to be proud of. How many of those have you had?” I asked as I looked up at him over my shoulder.

“Not nearly enough.” He tipped it to his lips again and drained the last of it from his glass before setting it on a side table without a coaster. I tried not to cringe at the watermark it was going to leave on a table that probably cost a small fortune.

“Let’s watch”—his long fingers slid over the movie cases—“this one.” He pulled out the case for Flowers in the Attic.

“Seriously? No.” I took the movie and shoved it back in its spot as my entire body felt hot. Why was he acting like this?

“What’s wrong with a little brotherly love?” he joked as he leaned closer to my neck, his breath tickling my skin as his mouth ghosted over the sensitive flesh. I closed my eyes, breathing in the smell of his No. 1 cologne.

“You are not my brother.” I sidestepped away from him as I focused on finding something to watch. I normally chose something romantic, but I knew that wouldn’t fly with Colin around. I still had to try.

“How about this?” I pulled out Sweet Home Alabama, and he looked like he was going to be physically ill. He grabbed another case and pulled it out as he raised an eyebrow, challenging me.

“The Borgias?” I sighed dramatically as I stuck my movie back on the shelf. “I’ll just go read a book or something.” I started to walk away, but he grabbed my wrist, stopping me. I froze, slowly looking over my shoulder behind me as he pulled me back to him, the playful smirk now gone.

“Pick something.” His hand fell to his side, and he walked over to the large brown leather couch and sat down in the center next to his bowl of popcorn. I was getting whiplash from his rapidly changing moods.

I studied the titles, trying to find something I hadn’t seen before, but I knew no matter what I chose I’d be struggling to pay attention with him at my side.

“You should really put some clothes on.” His eyes ran slowly up the length of my legs.

I looked down over myself. I was perfectly covered, and it wasn’t like I was going to be leaving the house. “You should put some clothes on,” I replied dryly, and he chuckled softly as my eyes drifted over his chest and down his abs.

Chapter 4 - Colin

I watched Annie’s finger slide across the spines of the movies, and occasionally she would stretch up on to her toes, making her legs look miles long even though she was only about five foot five. The fact that I still didn’t know where she’d been going or who she’d been seeing weighed heavily on my mind, and I wasn’t above some harmless flirtation to get the information I needed from her. I could say I was worried about her safety, but jealousy was what fueled my inquisition. No one should be putting his hands on her.

She finally held up a case with her lower lip pulled between her teeth as she waited for my approval.

I nodded, not bothering to see what she chose, and she hurried to put the disc in the Bluray player before walking back toward the couch. I patted the cushion next to me, but she sat a foot away, her bare legs pulled up to her chest with her arms wrapped around them.