by Mia Carson
“Or what?” she snapped, moving so she stood toe-to-toe with her dad.
“Do not test me, Johanna. I’m not in the mood to hear it. You betrayed this family, and I’m finished discussing your future with you. If you hope to remain a part of this family at all, you will do as you’re told!”
Johanna crossed her arms over her chest and lifted her chin. “No.”
Ben’s face turned three shades of red, and Lucy hung her head. “No?”
“No,” Johanna repeated. “What are you going to do? Kick me out?”
“I will cut you off from all your accounts, starting now,” he snarled. “I’m taking your car. Everything we’ve ever bought you is gone.”
Johanna flinched at the venom in his words—her own dad—and took a step back. All the money she had was in the duffel bags currently on the way to the impound at the police station. She had nothing, no way to leave.
“I hate you,” she whispered harshly, loathing the tears filling her eyes. “And I’ll never forgive you.”
She fled upstairs, ignoring her dad’s yells for her to come back down. Once inside her room, she slammed and locked the door then collapsed on her bed. This wasn’t how tonight was supposed to go, and it killed her inside. Reider was in jail, at least for the night, beaten and bruised because of her family, because of their crazy hope that they could sneak away and no one would notice. All her dreams of a future away from her controlling family disappeared and she was left with nothing but a shattered heart and broken spirit. Burying her face in the pillow, she cried, her strength fading. A soft knock sounded at her door followed by Izzy asking if she could come in, but Johanna didn’t move and pulled the quilt up over her head, praying that sometime during the night she’d manage to disappear. Eventually, Izzy went away and she was left alone, so utterly and horribly alone.
Reider stepped out of the cell, smirking because Frank was still sitting in the other holding cell. His moment of joy barely lasted a minute before his parents called his name. He cursed under his breath, not ready to face them.
“Want to explain what you were doing fraternizing with a Chadwick?” Janet asked stiffly, but Reider didn’t stop and walked towards the doors. “Reider, I’m speaking to you!”
“Can we please not discuss family matters at the police station?” he replied.
His parents muttered behind him, but he ignored them. Once outside, he let the cool evening air soothe him for a few seconds until he spotted Micah leaning against his parents’ car. “You bastard!” Micah tried to run, but Reider was faster and decked him hard enough to knock him to the pavement. Several cops walking inside stopped and watched, but Reider didn’t try to hit him again and his dad said everything was under control.
“What the hell was that for?” Micah whined as he scrambled to back away, still on the ground.
“You told her brothers! You greedy son of a bitch!”
“Reider, that is your cousin,” Janet hissed and moved between them. “In this family, we protect each other. We do not punch each other in the face!”
“He knew,” Reider growled. “He knew, and he blackmailed me. Is that what family does, too?”
He paced away, running a hand through his hair and hoping Johanna was alright. He didn’t even want to think what she was going through without him by her side. She was tough, but a person could only take so much of a beating on her spirit before she broke.
“Micah, is this true?” Peter said finally, and Reider turned back as his cousin dragged himself up the car and back to his feet. “Micah?”
“He’s lying to cover up what he was doing,” Micah muttered, holding his nose.
“Bullshit. You hired a damn PI to investigate your parents’ crash, and now, he has you believing it wasn’t an accident!”
Micah’s face paled, but his mom sighed heavily and reached out for him. “Micah, we told you, you need to talk to someone. It was an accident, that’s it. No one was out to get your parents.”
“That’s what you think, that’s what everyone thinks, but the Chadwicks killed them!”
Reider barked a laugh. “You’re an idiot, you know that?”
“Says the man who stabbed his family in the back by sleeping with the enemy!” Micah yelled.
“At least I fight for what I love,” he growled. “I don’t treat people around me like shit.”
“Love?” Peter asked quietly. “Did you say you loved her?”
Reider wasn’t sure what his dad hoped to hear, but he never got the chance to say it before another voice came from behind him. “Peter, good to see you again.”
James walked over to the family and held out his hand for Peter’s, but he glared at it before meeting eyes with his cousin. “This is all your fault. You set them up together on purpose! Were you trying to get back at the family?”
James’s hand fell, and his eyes filled with disappointment. “You think I want revenge?”
“Why else would you come back here and try to tear my family apart?”
“Don’t you think it’s time this feud ended? It’s been too long, Peter,” James said. “Why can’t they be together?”
Peter took a threatening step forward and Reider moved to stand between them, but James shook his head. “No son of mine is going to have anything to do with a Chadwick whore.”
“Don’t you dare insult her!” Reider yelled
“See what you’ve done? You’ve poisoned his mind against us.”
James laughed in disbelief. “Come on, Peter, you’re not that much of an idiot. They love each other. I think every bruise and cut on his face is testament enough to that fact. Let them be together. Let them start a change in this city.”
But Peter shook his head and stepped away. “No, there won’t be any changes. Reider will come to understand that I did this for his benefit. He’ll take over, and that’ll be the end of it.”
“Says who?” Reider said with a shrug. “Maybe I’ll disappear like James did.”
“And leave behind everything you’ve worked towards your whole life? You will have nothing from this family if you leave, Reider. Nothing, and I will make sure your name is mud anywhere but here,” Peter warned. “Want to test me? Ask my cousin.”
Reider wanted to say none of that mattered, but if he wanted a life with Johanna, they would need jobs, own land—hell, have a little money to get them started. If his dad locked down his accounts, he had nothing. “You’re putting me on house arrest? Is that it?”
Peter nodded. “If that’s what it takes to make you understand, then yes.”
“Don’t do this again,” James said. “You’re perpetuating the cycle.”
“I don’t give a damn. Janet, get in the car, and you,” Peter added, aiming his finger at Micah, “come Monday morning, you’re getting your ass to a therapist. I’m not going to watch you ruin this family name any more than my son already has.”
Reider hesitated, but James rested a hand on his shoulder. “Go on. I’ll see if I can find out how Johanna’s doing,” he promised.
“Thanks for trying,” he said.
“Don’t give up like I did,” he said with an encouraging smile. “Better go before your dad loses it.”
Reider followed Micah into the backseat, tugging at his collar and feeling the sharp pain from the hits he took during the fight. Micah glared at him the whole ride back to the house, but Reider didn’t care. He was not going to lose Johanna so easily, and it sure as hell wasn’t going to end like this. He needed to see her again, and he’d make sure they got away… except he had no vehicle and no funds.
His world closed in around him until he could hardly breathe. Once they reached the house, he went straight to his room, ignoring his dad’s calls for him to stop. There was nothing more to say and nothing he wanted to hear. He stood at his window, glaring out over the back gardens, his chest aching as if someone had stabbed him, his mind racing. When the sun came up, he hadn’t moved.
“Jo,” he whispered to the receding shadow
s in his room. “I’m not done trying, not yet. Don’t you dare give up on us.”
The words hung around him. He wished he could whisper them in her ear instead of to an empty room that had nothing to say in return.
15
The weekend dragged by. Johanna didn’t leave her room for meals or anything else. Izzy brought food to her and left it outside her room, but with her stomach in knots, Johanna ignored it. As the days passed, she stared continually out her window, hugging her knees to her chest, wondering how her world had fallen apart so easily.
Her hair hung lankly around her face, the curls losing their usual bounce in the midst of her dour mood. Without her cell, she had no way of contacting Reider. Her parents had taken her laptop, leaving her with no communication with the outside world. Classes on Monday went on without her, though her mom told her she had to go. Johanna didn’t dress for the day and didn’t leave the window. Lucy yelled at her, but to no effect. Johanna was numb to her disappointment and her dad’s threats. Nothing mattered anymore. They would plan her life from here on out, and without Reider, her only hope of being free slipped away.
Their love was the beacon she chased after, the rope she clung to. The fire within her dimmed to barely a spark, and most mornings, she woke with tears in her eyes because Reider was not beside her.
A knock at the door was ignored by Johanna, knowing whoever it was would eventually go away. Fredrick called her name softly. Her face drawn in anger, Johanna pushed herself up, fueled by the rage filling her that her brother would dare talk to her now, after everything that had happened. She yanked the door open and raised her hand to smack him, but Fredrick caught her wrist.
“Let go, you bastard,” she snarled and tried to pull free.
“Johanna, please, I want to talk and I came to apologize—for everything,” he pleaded and let her go, taking a measured step back and out of her reach.
She glared at him and tugged at the bottom of her hoodie. “Apologize? You?”
He nodded. “Please, let me in and I’ll tell you everything,” he said and glanced around as if afraid his twin would appear out of nowhere. “As your brother, I’m begging you here.”
“As my brother. As the brother who tried to set me up with some asshole for a husband? Or the brother who tells me my life has no other purpose than to help keep the family name going strong?” she snapped.
He hung his head, and for the first time in years, Johanna caught a glimpse of the brother she used to like as a friend. “The brother who’s sorry for being such a dumbass all these years.”
Johanna debated whether she should let him in or not, but his words sounded sincere, so she moved aside and Fredrick entered her room. She closed the door behind him and leaned against it with her arms crossed, watching him closely as he sat down heavily at her desk, his head in his hands.
“I’m waiting,” she said impatiently, tapping her fingers on her arm.
He lifted his head and cringed. “That night, when you and Reider tried to leave, I wanted to talk to you about something I’ve been hiding. I wasn’t sure you’d understand, but after seeing you with Reider… This is all my fault. If I’d been honest sooner, none of this would’ve happened,” he sighed.
Johanna held her breath, wondering if he was going to admit to having something to do with the car accident, but what he said didn’t make sense. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Fredrick’s hands shook in his lap as he said, “I’m engaged, and I haven’t been going out with Frank on the weekends because I’ve been too busy visiting her and our one-year-old son.” His eyes lit up with pride. “I’m a dad, Jo. Me. It’s crazy.”
“You… you have a kid?” she asked, dumbfounded. “And a fiancée? That’s incredible, and I’m really happy for you.”
Her brother’s face softened. “You are?”
Johanna’s anger slipped away as she realized why Fredrick had changed so much over the past few years. Like her, he’d been hiding a whole other life from his family, and the stress of the lying, the tension of being found out had changed him. She moved across the room and hugged him like she hadn’t hugged her brother in so long.
“Yeah, I am. I wish you had told me, you know?” she said.
“I was scared,” he admitted. “We met in college, but she was a waitress and hadn’t gone to college, didn’t plan to. She was content, happy, and I was jealous of her for it.” He sighed and smiled as if he stared at the woman he loved. “We dated, and before long, I realized I wanted her, but Dad would never approve so we kept it a secret.”
Johanna frowned. “But you went to school in New York. Is she still there?”
He smirked. “Hell, no. I moved her out here with me. We have a small house out in Grand Island. I used all my savings to buy in cash,” he told her. “Not too long after, she found out she was pregnant.”
“And you went through all of this alone? Does Frank even know?”
“That damn bastard? No, he suspects I’m up to something, but I never told him. He’s too hardheaded, like Dad,” Fredrick said and took her hands. “I want you to know, all those times we told you to marry Brandon, I never would’ve actually let you marry the guy.”
She squeezed his hands and smiled sadly. “I don’t think I’m going to have much of a choice now. They won’t let me be with the man I do love because of his last name.” Tears pricked her eyes, but Fredrick stood and held his little sister, comforting her. “What am I supposed to do?” she cried against his shoulder. “Forget what we have together? Act like it never happened? I love him, and they’re going to rip us apart.”
Fredrick shook his head and stepped back from her. “I don’t know, sis, but I do know I’m not going to watch them drag you down and ruin your life anymore.”
“What do you mean?” she asked and wiped her eyes on her sleeves. “Freddie?”
“You love Reider, right? Want to be with him?”
“Of course I do, but they won’t let us… Freddie, what are you doing? Who are you calling?” she asked as he pulled out his cell and pushed a few buttons. “Freddie?”
He held a finger to his lips and grinned. “Hey, babe, there’s something I need to talk to you about and I was wondering if you would like to meet my sister Johanna?”
She froze, listening to him speaking to his fiancée.
“I know,” he said and nodded his head, listening. “I know and I’m sorry, but there’s been a development with what I told you before. I wanted to make sure you were okay if she stayed for a few days until we can figure everything out.”
Her hands twisting in her hoodie, Johanna bounced anxiously on the balls of her feet as he paced back and forth across her room, answering whatever questions his fiancée asked quietly. After a few tense minutes, Freddie told her he loved her and hung up. “Right then, get packed—just a few things. We don’t have much time to get you out of here before everyone comes home.”
“What are you doing?” she asked, watching as he hurried to her closet and dug around for a duffel bag, holding it out to her. “What is going on here? Are you crazy? If they figure out what you did for me, they’ll take it out on you.”
He nodded. “I haven’t been much of a brother lately, so let me make it up to you. I’ll get you to my place out in Grand Island, and when things have calmed down—a few days, tops—I’ll get a message to Reider to meet you out there, and then you can—”
He barely caught her in time as she dropped the duffel and leapt into her brother’s arms. He held her tightly and kissed the top of her head as her eyes filled with tears of hope this time. “Thanks for this.”
Setting her back on her feet, he smirked and messed her hair as he used to when they were younger. “Get packed.”
“What about after you get Reider to me?” she asked, tossing clothes haphazardly in the duffel. “My money was in the Wrangler, which is in impound.”
“Let me worry about that.”
“Professor James Ashford at the campus,” she said
and grabbed his arm. “You can trust him.”
“The Marquette who loved Mom?”
She nodded until her curls flew around her face. “He tried to help me and Reider. I have a feeling he won’t be willing to give up so easily, either.”
Barely twenty minutes later, they were on the road. Johanna was waiting anxiously for her brother to turn and say it was some horrible prank that he and Frank had come up with. But he didn’t stop the car and drove straight on to Grand Island. She asked him about his fiancée, and a light she had never seen in his eyes before flared to life. He smiled as if unable to help it, thinking of her.
“Rosaleen,” he whispered. “She’s got fiery red hair and these blue eyes that I could disappear in, do most nights. She’s funny, and she’s the toughest woman I know—next to my little sister, of course. She’s been through some hard times, but her spirit’s never been broken.”
“You really love her,” she said quietly.
His smile widened. “I do. She’s my world, she and our son, Travis. He looks like her.”
She squeezed his arm. “I’m happy for you, really. I'm not going to lie, there’s some rumors spreading. Micah Marquette thinks our family planned his parents’ deaths and with you being so suspicious all the time… I thought… God, I can’t believe I did, but I thought you and Frank were involved. I’m so sorry.”
His face darkened, but he inhaled and exhaled to calm himself. “No, I don’t blame you, but now that you say that, Frank’s been harsher since that night,” he told her quietly, worry heavy in his words. “I know I haven’t been around much, but he’s been disappearing with guys I’ve never seen before.” His hands tightened on the steering wheel, and he glared at the open highway before them. “Frank might have had something to do with it.”
An icy caress slid down Johanna’s back. She might’ve had her suspicions, but she never let herself fully believe anyone in her family was capable of murder. But Fredrick… He didn’t sound suspicious; he sounded as if he’d already convinced himself it was true.