by Shayla Black
“Yes. He continues to buy into all her crazy notions. They feed off each other’s worst traits.”
“I’m not shocked. She’s always been hungry for power,” Beck sneered.
“And I’m afraid Jed is totally depraved.”
Clearly, Zach was disenchanted with his dysfunctional family, so why had the man chosen to stay with the crazies at Messiah City? Because it was all he’d ever known?
“What do you mean?”
“Well, it started with Father’s other ‘widows.’ A few months after they buried him, Mother sat them down collectively and told them they had a great ‘honor’ to perform.” Zach scoffed, head shaking in disgust. “As wives of the dearly departed great Messiah, it was their duty to teach their chaste and virtuous Messiah-in-waiting the ways of proliferation. In other words, they were to spread themselves open and welcome Jed to use as ‘practice’ wives.”
“Jesus,” Beck growled. “The elders didn’t step in?”
“No, by then Mother had stabilized the town, so she silenced most who were a problem by telling the right white lies and playing on everyone’s fears of a dwindling existence. For the few who still resisted, she managed some behind-the-fence blackmail. Once they agreed, Jed plowed through Father’s widows with gusto,” Zach spat. “Mother had warned them that any who chose to fertilize their eggs with Jed’s seed would be deemed impure. ‘Lust-driven harlots,’ I think she said. And she warned they would be banished.”
“Those women had no control over whether he impregnated them or not,” Beck protested. “But of course, they don’t understand basic human reproduction. Well, they don’t want to.”
“It was God’s will that several became pregnant,” Zach said with a fatalistic shrug. “When their babies were born, Mother took the infants away and gave them to other women to raise. A few of the elders took mercy on Father’s younger wives and married them, but the rest were sent into the desert to die.”
Beck scrubbed a hand down his face. “So you’re telling me that cutting off the head of the fucking snake didn’t change a goddamn thing?”
Zack looked uncomfortable with Beck’s cursing but stopped short of saying anything. “Sadly, no.”
“How did they connect me with the woman they beat up in Las Vegas?”
“So you know her?”
“Yes. She’s my ex-wife. How did they find her?”
Zach blanched. “Wife? But I thought she was a…whore?”
“Shut your mouth and tell me.” Beck’s demand shocked the startled man even more.
“Last Christmas, one of the elders saw you at the gas station in a Cadillac. They wrote down the license plate number and called the Saint Squad. They also reminded Mother that by birth, you are the true Messiah.”
“Son of a bitch,” Beck barked, finally lowering his gun. “By going back there for ten fucking minutes, I handed Gloria to them on a silver platter.”
“Easy, man.” Seth clapped Beck’s shoulder to quell his guilt. “You had no way of knowing anyone would recognize you after all these years. Keep going,” he instructed Zach on the surgeon’s behalf.
“When Mother learned you were still alive, she went mad. Luckily for you, Sheriff Benson was on vacation. She never trusted the deputy, who isn’t as open-minded about our ways, so it took a while before she was able to get an address for the plates. She sent a couple of her goons to Las Vegas.”
“They damn near killed Gloria,” Beck bellowed.
“I heard later. I’m sorry.” Zach frowned with sympathy. “They weren’t supposed to do that, just find you or evidence of your identity so they could bring you back to stand trial for Father’s murder.”
“Trial?” Beck scoffed. “You mean a public stoning.”
Zach nodded grimly. “When the Saint Squad returned and told Mother the woman was a…prostitute, she laughed and deemed that Sin City was the perfect place for you to gorge on Satan’s whores and claim your immortal soul. Sorry, her words. But Jed wasn’t willing to let it go. You have the power to take his title. So he convinced Mother to send me to Las Vegas to watch your wife’s house. When you and this man”—he pointed Seth’s way—“showed up a couple weeks ago, I slouched down in my truck parked up the street and watched.”
“You followed us around Vegas that day, right?”
Zach nodded. “Yes, both of you and the beautiful blond woman between you.”
“Why didn’t you warn me then?”
“Jed didn’t know where you were or if you were alive, and you didn’t look like you wanted to be found. I figured I would only involve you if I had to. And to be honest, you and the other guy both being…affectionate with the same girl shocked me.”
As answers went, that one annoyed Seth, but he remained silent and listened.
“I’m surprised you didn’t call Jed and just let him end me there in Vegas.”
“I don’t want him to kill you. Don’t you understand? I’ve been trying to help you by stalling him. I-I’ve been feeding him false information for weeks now…telling him I haven’t seen you.”
“Why would you cover for me? I killed your fucking father.”
“I was never close to Father, and I long thought you did our community a service by slowing down the worst of the depravities. Then I realized that he wasn’t the only insane one. Mother and Jed are even worse.”
“So you kept tabs on me in Vegas, and what…followed me back to LA?”
“No. I knew I couldn’t tail you through the desert without you spotting me.”
“Damn right,” Seth assured.
“So I wrote down the license plate numbers of the Audi and SUV parked in the prostitute’s driveway and paid a friend of a friend to get me their addresses. That’s when I discovered you actually lived in LA. I first scoped out the house registered to the Audi, but you never showed. So a few days later, I tried my luck with the black SUV. Yesterday I finally saw you…and you know the rest.”
The stealthy, methodical lengths Zach had gone to in order to hunt Beck down didn’t give Seth a good feeling. What were the odds he wasn’t being honest? Or that Jed was conducting his own search? Seth didn’t like the answers.
“So you’ve been stalking me and lying to Jed. He’s not stupid, Zach. He’s eventually going to figure you out.”
Zach cringed. “I worry he already has.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’d been checking in with him and Mother regularly since I left. But the past couple of times I called, he barely quizzed me at all…like he didn’t care what I was going to say. And Mother didn’t even stay to hear my report. I’m scared. Not for me but for my daughter.”
Beck cursed under his breath. “Of course you have a daughter. How old is she?”
“Only eleven, but any day she’ll begin the changing. I know Jed is going to—”
“Give her to one of the lecherous old elders.”
“No. Not an elder.” Zach swallowed. “A few weeks ago, Jed informed me that, as soon as Joanna begins her monthly flow, he’ll be taking her as his next wife.”
“Incest isn’t allowed.”
“It is now,” Zach announced grimly. “When Jed took over Messiah City, the first thing he did was marry Harmony.”
“Blessing’s little sister?” Beck bellowed. A string of curses followed.
“Yes. She bore him three boys before finally giving birth to a daughter. Amity is sweet, kind, and beautiful. When her changing time came—”
“It’s called a menstrual period,” Beck bit out, clearly struggling not to lose his shit. “And it isn’t a sign from God that a child is ready to breed, for fuck’s sake.”
Zach cleared his throat. “Mother convinced Jed that Satan was able to possess you because our bloodline isn’t pure enough. Supposedly, God told her that if he didn’t purify it now, Satan would destroy us with another demon like…well, like Gideon. So she told Jed to marry Amity and begin procreating with her.”
The inbreeding bombshell not only had Be
ck blanching but it also sent Seth’s gut twisting in knots.
“So she’s trying to get her golden boy to knock up his own fucking daughter?”
“Not trying. She’s already seven months pregnant. So I know what exactly will befall Joanna. And I have no way of stopping him.” For the first time, Zach looked genuinely scared. “But if you’ll help, he’ll never plant his seed in her womb.”
“My help?” Beck echoed. “Look, if you need the money and means to get you and your family out, I’ll be happy to—”
“I don’t want to leave; I just want to stop them. You have to return to Messiah City and claim your rightful place.”
Beck reared back as if Zack had punched him. Seth, too, gaped at the surgeon’s delusional brother, equally stunned.
“Fuck no. Not only will Mother and the elders crucify me, I have zero desire to be the fucking Messiah,” Beck spat. “I have a life—a happy one. No way will I ever go back to that hellhole.”
Zach hung his head. “I was afraid you’d say that. What about Joanna? And Amity? And the rest of Jed’s daughters?”
“You’ll either have to leave or let the FBI break up that den of depravity. I’m sorry. I can’t help you.”
“I knew it was a long shot, but I had to try.”
Zach’s easy acceptance—especially since his young daughter’s well-being was at stake—set off alarms in Seth’s head. He raised his gun and curled his finger along the trigger.
Beck darted a confused glance his way, then locked a dissecting stare on his brother. “What are you going to do?”
“Return to Messiah City, gather my wife and daughter, and leave while I still can. I don’t know where we’ll go. I don’t much like the outside world, but I suppose we’ll start a new life, like you. But no matter what happens, you’ll always be my brother.”
When Zach opened his arms, beckoning Beck for a hug, Liam stood from the protection of his sandbag barrier. “Beck. Seth! They’re here.”
The words had no more than rolled off his tongue when the shrill beep of the transmitter pealed from atop the roof.
Zach paled. “Is it Jed?”
Dean’s stare was glued to his phone, then he cursed. “We’ve got a whole convoy coming.”
“Jed and the Saint Squad.” The younger man clenched his jaw. “Then give me a gun, brother. I fight this day.”
Dread climbed up Beck’s spine as he weighed his brother’s request. But he didn’t have time for indecision. “If you turn on us, everyone here will blow your head off.”
“I-I wouldn’t. I—”
Beck didn’t wait to hear the rest, just shoved the AR into Zach’s hands, dragged him to the porch, and nudged him behind the sandbag barrier with Buddy. “Do you know what to do with that?”
Zach nodded. “Jed made us all learn.”
“No surprise there.” Beck snagged another automatic weapon for himself and turned toward Seth.
His brother grabbed his arm. “I’m with you. Thank the good Lord you also have others to defend you.”
“Did you think Seth and I were stupid enough to confront Jed alone?”
“I prayed you would know better. How many?”
Why the hell did he want a head count? “Enough.”
Beck hoped.
Jerking free, he joined the PI, who now stood in the driveway, scanning his friends’ positions around the house. Everyone was in place.
“Talk to me about the convoy, Dean.” Seth nodded his way. “What are we dealing with?”
“We got one…no, make that two nineteen-sixty-something deuce-and-a-half troop haulers. The fuckers are fully tarped, so no idea about the hostiles or firepower they’re hauling.” The cop paused, then let out a low whistle. “And lookie there. Those cocksuckers have a fifty cal mounted on a Jeep. They’re definitely not coming for coffee and donuts, boys.”
“Fuck,” Seth spat. “This is going to get ugly.”
Beck nodded grimly. “Dealing with Jedediah always is.”
On the roof, River raised his big-ass grenade launcher. “Dibs on the fifty cal!”
“Greedy prick,” Dean groused. “You always steal the fun.”
“Don’t be a whine bag,” River tossed back. “Next time we melt a sweet thing between us, you can have dibs on whichever end you want. Happy?”
If anxiety hadn’t frozen Beck’s voice, he would have joined the banter. But his heart raced like a thoroughbred’s and his fucking palms wouldn’t stop sweating.
What were the odds they’d all make it out alive? That he’d hold Heavenly again? The only thing they had in their favor was the element of surprise. He hoped it would be enough.
“I’m totally taking you up on that.” Dean grinned.
“You locked and loaded, men?” Seth barked. “This shit show is about to get underway.”
As Liam, Hammer, and Adam answered affirmatively, Beck did something he’d hardly done in the last two decades—he prayed. Quickly and silently, he asked whatever God existed to please let them come through this confrontation unscathed.
“Yeehaw! Let the games begin,” River called from the rooftop deck before crouching behind his fortress of sandbags.
“Remember what I told you,” Seth called out. “We don’t know how much tactical experience these clowns have. If they all start firing at once, we’ll have our answer. If that happens, take cover and wait until they reload, then blow the sons of bitches to hell.”
In the distance, the faint rumble of heavy-duty engines chugging up the mountain cut through the morning. Birds squawked and flew away. Even the air seemed to flee.
Beck swallowed down his anxiety and clapped the PI on the back. “That’s our cue.”
Seth nodded. Together, they jogged onto the porch and hopped over the barricade of sandbags before hunkering down with the others and training their gazes on the end of the drive. Seconds ticked by like hours as the ground began to vibrate and the groaning engines grew louder.
Beck had nearly worn his nerves raw by the time the first truck rounded the curve. Heart tripping against his ribs, he lifted his weapon and flipped off the safety. When the Jeep barreled onto the driveway, his gut twisted at the sight of the massive gun. But seeing his mother and Jed through the windshield replaced his fear with white-hot fury.
That cunt, her psycho puppet, and their misguided army would not kill him today. Beck had too much to live for, especially his hard-fought happily-ever-after with Heavenly and Seth. They weren’t taking that from him, goddamn it.
Beck squeezed his weapon as the cavalcade halted on the far side of the drive, opposite him, aligned across the open space horizontally, setting up battle lines. The Jeep stopped in the open space in between them and the Saint Squad, that mounted machine gun pointed straight at the house.
Fuck.
The engines all fell silent, and the Saint Squad started pouring out of the mouth of the stretched-canvas covers like ants. He counted eighteen, all armed to the teeth with automatic weapons. Well, nineteen once someone took position behind the fifty cal.
Beck tried not to dwell on the fact they were greatly outgunned and outnumbered.
Jed and his mother stepped from the Jeep. The years had not been kind to Esther, but he doubted age had softened her. Beneath those wrinkles and gray hair still lay a fierce, evil bitch. Beside her, Jed lifted his chin, expression smug as he extended his elbow to Esther. She wrapped her bony fingers around his arm and the pair, flanked by their twisted army, stepped to the middle of the drive.
“I can see by your pathetic attempts to reinforce this cabin that you’ve been expecting us.” Then Jed’s gaze fell on Zach’s truck. “And it appears you were right, Mother. My little brother has turned Judas after all.”
“His day of reckoning is here.” Esther raised her hands to the heavens like some exalted profit. “Just like yours, Gideon.”
Her familiar voice no longer scared him as it had when he was a boy, but that didn’t stop bile from rising in the back of his throat.<
br />
Beck spit on the wooden porch and glanced at Zacharias. His younger brother had gone pasty white and begun trembling with fear. Jed and Esther’s hold on him was still fresh and poisonous.
“Come out and meet your Maker, Gideon,” Jed shouted. “I command it!”
Crouched beside him, Zach shook his head wildly.
Beck held up a reassuring hand. No way was he stupid enough to volunteer himself for their target practice.
“Show yourself, Satan,” Esther demanded.
“Confess your sins to your rightful Messiah and the almighty Lord,” Jed added.
“Why don’t you start by confessing your own sins, you crazy cocksucker?” Beck bellowed.
A patronizing smile spread across Jed’s face. “I am the Messiah. I am without sin.”
“I hate to break this to you, but you and the elders fucking all those underage virgins is definitely a stain on your soul. So is thinning out the competition for the prettiest little girls by sending boys into the desert to die. But I’ve got to say, incestuously impregnating your own daughter deserves a special place in hell. And now I hear you’re salivating for your eleven-year-old niece, you sick pedophile.”
“Blasphemy!” Esther spat. “He’s purifying our bloodline.”
“Because you told him to. You, Mommy Dearest, are evil incarnate.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I’m going to unleash God’s army so they can send you to hell for good!”
“We’ll cleanse the world of you, you immoral tool of Lucifer,” Jed piped in.
Seth scoffed. “Yeah? You’re just a plain ol’ tool.”
Beck softly chuckled. “And, Mother, you encouraging your son to impregnate your own granddaughter in the name of the Lord is a new low, even for you. But I know what a dedicated servant of God you are,” he drawled. “Did you watch Jed rape her, make sure he did the job properly?”
“You filthy vermin,” Esther hissed, chin raised. “The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men—”
