After Carson leaves, Brenda brings me over a big bowl of soup with a smile and a wink. I accept it gratefully and dig in. It’s a fresh and delicious clam chowder, and I bet the clams are all locally sourced, probably barely a few days old. I didn’t know clam chowder could be this good.

I take a few bites then lean back and look around the room. I’m not surprised that Carson loves this place. It still has a rustic and local feel to it, but it’s not seedy and rundown. It’s clearly lovingly maintained. I notice people glancing at me, but I don’t let that get to me.

Carson warned me what it would be like to be with him, although he didn’t come out and say it. He insinuated that people would stare, since he’s very well known, and he’s right. I can feel eyes on me. But in this moment, I feel too good to care.

It felt great to talk about my father. I didn’t think it would, but the way he handled it made me feel like every choice I made was right. There’s a part of me that still thinks I should have stayed back home and figured out some way to get by there, back where I know people. But he’s right, I got away, and that’s more than most people in my situation do.

It’s impossible to imagine what the kind of constant abuse can do to a person. It beat me down, physically and mentally, and it broke me. For a long time, I felt like a shell of a person. Now that I’m away from it and with Carson, I’m starting to come back to myself. I feel like I’m finally waking up again after a long nightmare.

And it’s thanks to him, to Carson. He took me in, gave me a place to stay, and then decided to give me so much more. He makes me feel something I never dreamed I’d feel. I always assumed I was doomed to sadness, maybe moments of happiness, but never anything lasting. But my time with him so far has been incredible, and is nothing short of a miracle.

It’s strange how much we have in common. We’re from two different worlds, but our stories are similar. We both come from small towns, although in my case its more like a small neighborhood, and we both have very difficult parents. He’s luckier than I am though, and he was given a lot that I never saw. Still, I know how hard he works, and it’s remarkable. He seems like his own person, despite all of the pressures from his family to conform.

He doesn’t talk about that much, but I can see it all around him. He loves his family and wants to make them proud, but he’s his own man and will do what he wants to do. That’s something I admire in him, something I want more of.

I finish my meal and my glass of wine and lean back in my seat, content. As soon as I do, though, I notice more people are coming into the bar, and it’s quickly filling up. With each new person, there are more people staring at me.

Word must be spreading fast. I frown and start to feel a little uncomfortable. At first the attention was interesting, a little strange but not menacing at all.

Now though, without Carson around, I feel completely uncomfortable. The people around me look more dangerous than they did before, and I know that I don’t know a single person I this room. The only person in town that gives a shit about me is Carson, in fact, and I can’t rely on him all the time.

I slide out of the booth, deciding to be done for the night. I don’t want to stick around and get stared at for any longer than I have to. The people in the bar are starting to look rougher, meaner, and more intense, although that might just be my perception changing. The memory of my first night in town, and how everyone ignored me so callously, comes back to me in a hurry.

I move up to the bar and manage to catch Brenda’s attention. She walks over with a smile and leans up against the counter. “How was it, darlin’?” she asks.

“It was great,” I say. “What do I owe you?”

But as soon as the words leave my mouth, I realize that I still don’t have any money. Carson takes care of everything, and despite all the expensive gifts he bought me, I still don’t have any cash. I’m totally mortified.

But Brenda just laughs. “It’s on Carson’s tab,” she says. “Which he never pays, and is probably half a million by now.”

Relief washes over me. “Thanks so much,” I say, smiling.

“Of course. I’ll be seeing you again,” she says, waves, and then heads off to help another customer.

I leave the bar, feeling better, but something is nagging me. The fact that I have no money for myself is still worrying.

Did Carson do that on purpose? Maybe he’s trying to make me completely reliant on him. Or maybe I’m just being completely paranoid. So far, he hasn’t done anything to suggest that he wants to control me or keep me from doing something. But I am keenly aware that I’m totally reliant on him.

Maybe that’s the point. I’ve never had a daddy before, and maybe this is part of the deal. He gets to take care of me completely, and I have to sacrifice some of my freedom in exchange for all the luxuries he can provide.

I’m not sure how I feel about it. I want him and like him, but I ran away from one place to get my freedom, and now I’m in a new place with restrictions all around me.

Or maybe that’s just absurd. Feeling confused, I walk out into the cold night and find Albert sitting in the car, the engine running. I wave to him and climb into the back.

“Heading home?” he asks.

“Yes, please,” I say.

“Right then.” He turns the radio on softly then rolls the center divider up before pulling out onto the road.

I feel physically content from the meal and the wine, but I’m still stuck in my own little world trying to figure out what I’m doing in this situation. There’s no clear and easy answer here. It makes me feel good, but there are things that I’m not sure about.

Maybe that uncertainty is part of the attraction. There is something thrilling about this relationship. It’s something new, something I never expected, and Carson is a particularly singular type of man. He’s mature in a way I didn’t know that I needed, but now that I have it, I can’t imagine being with someone else.

I watch as the city disappears and we get deeper into the forest, winding up the mountains, heading up toward Carson’s house. We leave the main road after about ten minutes, and the remainder of the drive is on back roads.

As we pass up a hill and go around a sharp turn, the car suddenly lurches to a stop. It scares the hell out of me, and I look forward, terrified that we hit something.

Up ahead in the road are two cars parked end to end. Six men stand in the road, and horror pierces through me when I realized that five of them are carrying guns.

The divider suddenly drops and Albert looks back at me. “Stay calm, ma’am,” he says. “I’ll do the talking. Please stay calm.”

“What’s happening?” I ask him.

“The man in the center there is Carson’s brother, Elliot. They aren’t going to hurt us. Just please don’t panic. We’ll be okay.”

But Albert’s face is drawn and scared, and the fear in his voice doesn’t comfort me at all.

The man without the gun, standing in the center of the group, steps forward. “Come out of the car,” he yells. “Or we’ll drag you out.”

Albert rolls down his window. “Just let us pass,” he says. “Carson wants her home.”

“Carson can go fuck himself,” Elliot sneers. “Get out, Albert.”

He glances back at me then does as he’s told. He climbs out of the car and walks forward, hands in the air. As he approaches the group, two of the men walk toward him, slinging their rifles back over their chests.

Albert says something that I can’t hear, and then one of the men punches him in the gut. I gasp, covering my mouth, as another slugs him in the face. The men kick him a few times before Elliot stops them. They drag him off and throw him into the back of one of the cars.

Elliot turns back and looks at me. Our eyes lock through the front windshield and a creepy, vicious smile lights up his face.

Panic tears through me. I throw open the back door and jump out. Blindly, I start running away, out into the woods.

“Don’t run!” Elliot calls after me. “You’ll die out there!”

But I don’t listen. I just keep running, horrified and scared.

They could have killed Albert. He looked limp as they dragged him off, and who knows what they did to him once he was in the back of that car. I can’t even imagine what they’d do to me and I don’t want to find out.

I’m in full-on survival mode, though I don’t realize it. All I can think about is getting away. My heart is pounding and my breath comes in ragged gasps, and I can hear the men coming after me. Elliot keeps yelling my name, but I don’t stop. I keep running blindly through the forest, my legs pumping as fast as they can.

As I come around a tree and burst through a bunch of bushes, a blinding pain tears through my chest and I’m suddenly airborne. My body slams onto the ground and I gasp, groaning as pain rushes through me.

It takes a second before I can roll onto my side. I look up and see the branch I ran directly into is slightly broken. I slowly get to my feet, and I don’t think anything is hurt seriously, just bruised.

I stand there for a second, getting my breath, when I realize that I don’t hear the shouts anymore. I don’t move, straining to listen, and then I hear something. It’s the snap of a twig.

“Hello?” I ask, backing up against a tree.

“Don’t run.” Three men materialize around me.

I scream, but one of the men grabs me. I struggle, but their hands grasp me and hold me, lifting me off my feet and dragging me.

As we walk, I realize how pitifully far I got. It doesn’t take long before we’re back on the road. The three men dump me down onto the ground in front of Elliot. I groan, shaking my head. I’m so stupid and pathetic. I got caught by a tree.

Elliot walks over to me and crouches down in front of me. He forces me to look up at him, taking my chin in his hand. He doesn’t look like Carson at all, and I don’t really believe that they’re brothers. Elliot grins at me wickedly.

“I told you not to run,” he says.

“What do you want?” I ask him.

“Just to talk.”

“You didn’t have to hurt Albert,” I say.

Elliot laughs. “Sure, I did. That guy is a fucking prick.” He lets go of my chin and stands up.

“Let me go,” I say. “I’m not part of this.”

“Oh, but you are part of this,” he says. “You got involved with my brother, making you very much part of this. Why are you here, Kylie Bell?”

I frown and look away. He knows my name, which means he did his homework on me. “I just want to be left alone,” I say.

“Too fucking bad.” Elliot looks down at me, arms crossed. “I want you to leave this town.”

“Why?” I ask.

“Don’t speak again or I’ll have my men here fucking break your knees. I want you to leave this town and never come back. Do you understand? Nod if you do.”

I nod once, staring at him, anger starting to replace my fear.

“Good. Leave Juneau. Get out of Alaska. Never speak to my brother again.”

“Why are you doing this?” I blurt out.

His grin gets deeper, more menacing. “Because I hate to see Carson so fucking happy.” He signals at his guys and I cringe back, waiting for the blows. Instead, they get into the cars, leaving me there in the middle of the road. They drive off. Leaving me alone with the town car, Albert nowhere in sight.

I gasp in breaths, trying to calm myself, before getting up and staggering over to the car. My body hurts from where I ran into the branch. There are no keys in the car anymore, and I realize that I’m stranded here.

I vaguely know the way to Carson’s house, or at least the right direction. I pull out my phone, intending to call for help, but I want to scream when I see the screen.

There’s no signal. Of course there’s no signal.

I start walking down the road. I have no other choice. Maybe someone will pick me up, or maybe I’ll find Carson’s place on my own.

Either way, I know I’m not welcome here. Things just got so much more dangerous. I knew that there was a fight between Carson and Elliot, but I had no clue how bad things could get.

I keep walking, refusing to let myself cry. I’ve cried enough lately. I’m a survivor, and I’ll survive this.

I keep my head up and keep moving.