To the Ends of the Earth: A Stripped Standalone (3 page)

Things go from bad to worse when I twist the key to my car. Nothing happens. The engine doesn’t even turn over. I squeeze my hands on the old leather steering wheel like it can feel my tension.

“Come on,” I whisper. “Don’t bail on me now.”

I got the car down in Wyoming for five hundred dollars flat. That included the stolen plates. It’s done well for me, but I don’t have the money to get it fixed. I can’t afford to stick around, either.

Light flashes off metal from the truck parking lot, around the side of the Last Stop. Most of the diners who come through are truckers. Either that or they work in the logging station about a mile down the road. All of them look rough and dangerous. Maybe that was my mistake, ending up in a place without many women. I stand out even though I keep my head down.

I step out of the car and lift up the hood as if I know anything about cars. I could bake a pie or recite all twelve-thousand words in the Book of Job. That’s the skill set you get growing up in Harmony Hills. The first time I tried to use a microwave, I started a fire because I’d put tin foil inside.

The crunch of boots on the brittle ground makes me stiffen.

“What’s wrong, little girl?”

“Nothing.”

There must be some kind of sixth sense men have when a woman is desperate. They come out of the woodwork like they were just waiting for the signal. Another man approaches us, his gait unsteady enough to tell me he’s flat drunk. As he passes under the single parking lot lamp, I get a good look at his face. Jimmy John. Two names, just like that. He works at the logging station. The other man, I’m guessing he’s got a rig.

I get enough crude offers every night bussing tables to know what either of these men would want in exchange for a ride to my apartment. It’s easy to say no. I’ve had enough of men’s desire to last a lifetime. Less easy to make sure they respect my answer.

“Looks to me like you’ve got yourself in a bit of trouble,” says Jimmy John.

“My boyfriend’s on the way.” This is one of the few times in my life I wish I had a man around. A man like Luca Almanzar, who could pound any one of these men into the pavement. And how long would it have taken for him to turn his fists on me?

The first man steps back. That’s how things work around here. You don’t touch a woman unless you want a fight with her man. A woman alone is fair game. There’s a reason this place is called the Last Stop. We’re far from civilization now.

Jimmy John smiles, his gold tooth glinting in the moonlight. “Now, darling. I’ve seen you in here every night for two months. You ain’t never mentioned a boyfriend before. You wouldn’t be lying to Jimmy John, now would you?”

My voice only shakes a little on the lie. “Fine, you go ahead and wait around. See what happens when he gets here. But he’s got a temper. I should know.”

His eyes narrow. “All right. I’ll just be waiting over there. We’ll see who shows up, then, won’t we?”

Both men head over to the front of the building, gone dark now after 4 a.m. I don’t know whether Angelica’s inside, but if I looked for her, I’d prove there’s no boyfriend. And then we’d both be in trouble. Besides, I’ll have to pass them to get to the door.

Men with too much to drink, too much desire. I’ve learned not to provoke them.

I make a show of pulling out my phone, as if I’m checking for a call from my boyfriend. The truth is I ran out of minutes on my prepaid months ago. It hasn’t been a priority, not with the high gas bill keeping the apartment warm.

My apartment is within walking distance. Maybe I’d make it there before they catch me.

Maybe not.

Cold air whistles through the seams in my jacket. I bought this at a thrift shop in Oregon. It can’t do much against the frigid Alaska air. My options are running out fast, sand through my fingers. If these men don’t get me, the cold will. And Delilah is back at the apartment building, maybe in danger. My daughter. My little girl.

When I was back in Harmony Hills, courage felt like an impossible mountain to climb. I’d never be strong enough to fight back against my mama or Leader Allen. I’d never be free.

Then I got pregnant. From the first time Delilah kicked inside me, courage came easy. I’d do anything for her. That’s how I got the strength to steal the rifle. And it’s how I get the strength to bolt from my car. My Mary Janes slap the gravel, breath coming in freezing bursts. The whole world seems to blur, as if I’ve fallen through cracked ice.

From far away I hear shouts, the sound of boots coming after me.

Please, God,
I pray.
If there was ever a time I need to be delivered from evil…

He never answered my prayers before. He doesn’t do that now either.

A hand wraps in my long hair. I’ve never been able to cut it. There’s so much I never got to do. Then I’m yanked back, legs scraping against sharp rocks, landing hard on my palms.

Jimmy John sneers down at me. He swings one leg over me, climbing on top right in the parking lot. They aren’t just going to hurt me, I realize. They’re going to kill me. If not from my injuries, then from exposure. I’m never leaving the Last Stop after tonight. More men surround me, some carrying bottles of liquor, shouting, cheering. There’s no walking away from this.

An inhuman roar splits the night, and the hair on the back of my neck prickles. I see the whites of Jimmy John’s eyes a second before he looks up. Something slams into his face, and he topples backward. I don’t wait to see who hit him or why.

All I can see are two men fighting, hulking shadows in the dark. The other men have backed up to give them space. One man pins the other to the concrete, his fists a steady rain. The one slumps, his open mouth revealing the glint of gold. Jimmy John. Is he unconscious? Dead?

The man who’s beating him swings toward me.

Shock jolts through me. “Luca?”

“Get out of here,” he growls.

His face is twisted in a snarl, the light in his green eyes almost otherworldly. It wasn’t God who answered my call for help. It’s the devil himself, come to bring me home.

I don’t want to see who wins the fight. I run like the hounds of hell are at my feet.

It takes only minutes to run from the parking lot to the road, but it feels like eternity in these shoes. Loose change spills from my apron, but I don’t have time to stop.

For a breathless moment I hear someone following me, footsteps pounding closer. I glance over my shoulder in time to see a man running after me. The report of the gun echoes through the cavernous landscape. The man falls to the ground, revealing Luca holding a gun.
He saved me.

Our eyes lock. Time stills. There’s only him and me in the endless frozen desert, the black hole on land. He found me here. He must have been the one asking questions about me.

A punch to his jaw breaks the connection. While he’s down, they jump on him like a pack of hyenas, tearing at him from all sides. Luca is built for fighting, muscle packed on muscle, but he doesn’t stand a chance.

They’re going to kill him.

That’s what they would have done to me. Every cell in my body wants to run back and help him. I know I’d die too, but some things are worth dying for. And that’s why I have to leave. Delilah needs me.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper before I turn and run.

By the time I see my apartment over the hill, I’ve lost them.

There aren’t any footsteps behind me. The men were too busy beating the life out of Luca to follow me. An image flashes through my mind—Luca’s powerful body, the pack of men surrounding him. My stomach clenches, and I put my hands against it, doubling over.

The night air is thick in my throat, threatening to choke me. Tears prick my eyes, but I force them back. There’s no time for weakness. No room for emotion in my life.

I climb the rickety metal steps that sway when you use them. The wind plays a haunting melody through the rusted rails, growing louder as the night gets cold.

A rustle of white ruffled lace.

Mrs. Lawson opens the door before I can knock. She listens for the telltale song of the stairs. “What a night,” she says, shivering at the gust of outside air. “Come inside, child. Quick.”

I step into the dimly lit room, looking at the comforting family pictures for the last time. Mrs. Lawson is a large black woman who gave birth to four sons. They’re shown as babies, as children. As smirking teenage boys. A couple are wearing military uniforms. Then the pictures stop. I’ve never worked up the courage to ask what happened to them, and now I never will.

The heat in her apartment abrades my skin, a painful warmth. “Is she okay?”

“Of course, child. She went down easy tonight. You must have tired her out with all that story time. How many times did you have to read about that mouse?”

“I lost count after ten.”

My feet are bringing me down the small hallway to the very end. The door is open, light off. Delilah’s little fist is visible, having fallen outside the blanket. Her dark curls cover her expression, but I know she’s sleeping. Lord knows she doesn’t stay still that long if she isn’t. Sometimes she struggles to fall asleep, but she always stays that way once she does. No amount of sound can wake her.

“What’s wrong?” Mrs. Lawson asks softly, standing beside me.

“I’ve got to go.” My throat clenches because we had a good thing going. Delilah’s sweet on Mrs. Lawson and her many pictures. That girl loves stories. “I can pay you through the end of the week, but—”

“No, child. If it’s as bad as I think, then you’re going to need it more than me.”

I need so much more than I have saved, especially with my car broken and stuck at the Last Stop. The men probably took a bat to it once they finished with Luca. My heart squeezes. Why did he come after me? Why did he protect me? Except I know the answer to that.

He wants the same thing Leader Allen took—my body.

The fact that I don’t have a car means I need a plan. I can’t hitch a ride with a baby in tow, especially not in freezing weather. A cab is probably the fastest way to get out of here. Easy to track, especially with so few people around, so I won’t be able to rest.

Maybe I’ll catch a bus to Anchorage. And from there, who knows?

“I’ve got to pack,” I say, taking one more fortifying glance at the dark curls I love. “Can you watch her for a few minutes? I’ll be back in under an hour to get her.”

“Of course,” Mrs. Lawson says, her eyes serious. Whatever she’s been through in life, she understands hardship. She understands fear.

My daughter is the only good thing to come of the sixteen years I spent in Harmony Hills. The hard prayer floors, the painful nights spent in divine worship. That’s what Leader Allen called it when he made me kneel, when he forced my legs apart.

For years I sinned in my sleep, dreaming of killing him. Rescue came in the strangest form, maybe the only place it could have—from a man far more dangerous.

From Luca Almanzar.

An enforcer for organized crime, Luca’s done unspeakable things. He did some of them to me—taking me captive, tying me up, keeping me in his hotel bed. Something strange happened to my body when I saw him, a heat that I didn’t know how to name.

That doesn’t matter now. He’s gone. Only Delilah matters.

I pack the paisley suitcase we have from Goodwill with its fraying threads and broken zipper. There’s more than usual because of the bulky jackets we had to get, so I pack the rest in a white trash bag. The crackers and cereal from the pantry come with us. The stuff in the fridge will have to stay here. Only fifteen minutes until the cab’s supposed to arrive.

There’s one thing left in the apartment that’s mine.

I keep it under the sink in the bathroom, next to a stained bucket that was here when we moved in. It feels like the place farthest away from us, as if I’m storing a ticking time bomb. This book is the only trace of my past. The only proof of what really happened.

It’s hard to pick it up but harder to leave it. That’s why I’ve dragged it around every place we’ve gone—a millstone. A burden. I stand, muscles protesting after a long day and a desperate run. The Bible feels like it weighs a thousand pounds.

The lights in the bathroom go out.

In the whole apartment.

A storm.
It happens often enough up here, taking the whole power grid down. Except the heavy light from outside the apartment is still on, casting a faint glow through the window.

“Thought you could get away from me?” comes a low masculine voice.

Oh God. Not a storm. It’s Luca. Somehow he got away from those men. Somehow he followed me. I whirl, holding the Bible against my chest. I hate having it this close. It’s more than a bomb. It’s radioactive, toxic to anything nearby. But I can’t let him have it.

He’s only a shadow in the dark, his large frame filling the doorway.

“What are you doing here?” I manage, my voice wavery.

He laughs. “Little bird, you know why I’m here.”

“Because you want me.” He took me to save me. That’s what he said. His body betrayed the real reason. The same reason Leader Allen prayed with me.

“That’s only the beginning,” he says, his voice low with promise. “I’ve been chasing you a long time. You’ve got a lot to answer for.”

I take a step back. “Please let me go.”

“Where do you want to go?” he asks, his voice mocking. “Farther north to Denmark? To Iceland? Or maybe all the way to the Arctic.”

My heart sinks because there’s nowhere left to go. Wherever I run, he’ll find me.

Which means that Alex can find me too. Luca only cares about my body. He wants to do things to me, to sin with me. He wants divine worship with me. I’ve survived it before. I would survive it again. But if he can find me, that means Alex won’t be far behind. And what he wants is much worse. My brother wants to return me to Harmony Hills. And he wants my daughter most of all.

“Fine,” I say, my voice breaking. I toss the Bible onto the back of the toilet and reach for the hem of my shirt. I didn’t waste time changing, so I’m still wearing the Last Stop’s uniform. It comes off easy, leaving only a plain white bra underneath.

He sucks in a breath. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“I’m going to f-f-fuck you. Then you can leave.” That’s the thing about courage; it’s a double-edged sword. It smooths the way toward doing things you never dreamed. I’ll do anything to convince him to leave us alone. I will do anything to keep my daughter safe.

His growl makes the hair on my neck stand up.

“You’re not going anywhere.” He flicks the bathroom light on, revealing the gruesome spray of blood across his face. I cry out at the gash over his eye, the long ridge of dried blood along his chest. He looks like a gladiator after a long-drawn-out battle in the arena.

And he didn’t just manage to escape. He must have killed those men. That’s the only way he could have managed to leave that parking lot. All those lives on my head.

More pain. More death. No matter how fast I run, I can’t seem to escape it.

“I don’t understand,” I whisper. “Why me?”

In the world he comes from there are a hundred beautiful women. Women who know how to wear pretty dresses and put on makeup. Women who know how to please a man as intense as Luca. Candace used to live in Harmony Hills with me. She was the first person to ever get out alive. And she turned herself into a siren, someone who could command men with a single flick of her perfectly manicured nail. She did it to prove that she could. And I…well, I can’t. I haven’t even been able to cut my long hair.

He steps close, and I’m suddenly more aware of my naked tummy, my breasts covered only by a single layer of fabric. My chest rises and falls with heavy, panicked breaths.

“You captured me, little bird.” He trails a blunt finger down my temple, lifting a long blonde lock. It looks pale and silky against his scarred fingertip. “I follow you for the same reason you run.”

I run because I’m afraid, but Luca isn’t afraid of anything.

I run because I love my daughter, but a man as hardened as Luca doesn’t know how to love. Most of all I run because my brother, Alex, chases me.

Leader Allen convinced him my daughter is the result of immaculate conception. He believes that Leader Allen never touched me in those prayer sessions. And as the holy daughter of Harmony Hills, he’s bound to bring her back to the flock—whatever’s left of it after Leader Allen died. There are bigger forces that move us, a larger hand that guides our way.

“I’ll give you anything you want, if only—”

“If only I let you keep running? If only I watch you fall right into the trap your psycho brother’s set? If only I pretend I don’t give a shit what happens to you? No, Sarah Elizabeth.”

“Beth,” I whisper.

My name in Harmony Hills was Sarah Elizabeth. Beth’s the name I chose for myself.

“Beth,” he says, voice rich with possession. “I’m going to keep you safe.”

I don’t care what happens to me. “My daughter.”

“Don’t you think I can protect her? I have resources, little bird.”

He has cages. I’m not sure how safe he’ll keep my daughter or the price we’d have to pay. I don’t know how she’ll grow up in a city as sinful as Tanglewood. I haven’t been able to shed my restrictions like Candace.

I’m not comfortable with drugs, with violence.

With sex.

“What are you afraid of?” he asks, low and seductive.

The answer comes from somewhere deep inside me. “That I’ll like it.”

And then where would Delilah be? I know that what Leader Allen did to me wasn’t right, but that doesn’t mean everything he preached was wrong. I can’t be the woman who likes those things, who cuts her hair. I want Delilah to have a choice about who she’ll be. That can’t happen with my brother and his extreme allegiance to Leader Allen’s teachings. It can’t happen in Tanglewood either, mired in the mafia, next door to a strip club.

I want her to have a fighting chance.

“Let’s make a deal,” he says, voice mesmerizing.

My stomach twists because that feels like a trap. I’m a starving mouse looking at the shiny metal springs, wondering if I can beat them. Wondering if it’s still worth it if I can’t. “What kind of deal?”

“Work with me to make sure Delilah is safe. Then you can decide where to go. Anywhere in the whole fucking world. I’ll take you there myself.”

“And leave me there?” I ask, holding my breath. Would he let me go?

He hesitates only a minute. “You can stay.”