Divine Phoenix(Divine Creek Ranch 10)(129)

“Wait! Let me talk—”

The line went dead before she could ask to talk to her dad. She looked at the phone and thought about calling him back. But time was wasting and she knew he wasn’t kidding about giving her no more than ten minutes. JT never gave an inch on anything.

She considered telling Del but knew JT was serious about her coming alone. As a concession, she left Del a note on the kitchen table. If JT got his hands on her, he’d be more interested in punishing her than in killing her. That might buy her time, and she knew her men would come after her. But boy, were they going to be mad.

Grabbing her purse and keys, she ran out the door. Another layer of fear was added to what she already felt when she looked at the sky. The wind was buffeting clouds quickly across the sullen, dark gray expanse, and she had to fight the urge to go back inside. It looked like it was going to start to rain soon, and she hummed with the beginning of panic when she heard the rumble of distant thunder.

The urge to not be alone when storms threatened made her want Del beside her, but she couldn’t put her dad in greater danger. The note she’d left was detailed and, convincing herself that they would know what to do, she acted to save her dad. She threw her purse in her little Mazda and took off.

It wasn’t until she was at the turn onto the highway that she realized in her haste she’d left her cell phone on the kitchen table. It was a stupid thing to do, but she was already losing time and couldn’t afford to go back for it. Plus, if Del was back at the house, he’d never let her go.

She kept a fearful eye toward the sky as she obliterated the speed limit and was thankful that she didn’t get pulled over along the way. She slowed on her way through town and heaved a shaky, terrified sigh as she pulled onto the driveway of her childhood home. JT’s white work truck was parked by the newly leveled porch. A gust of wind swept dry leaves across the driveway and into the air. The sky had grown considerably darker, and the temperature had dropped.

“I can do this. I can do this. Don’t be scared.”

There was an involuntary quiver in her voice, and waves of gooseflesh shimmered over her skin as she climbed from her car. Her legs almost gave out, and she had to brace herself on the car door for a few seconds before she could move. She resisted the urge to flatten out against the ground when she heard another closer rumble of thunder.

Reminding herself she was stronger now, she approached the house, fighting the instinctive flight impulse. It didn’t make a difference that they hadn’t watched the forecast and known the weather was going to do this, she’d still be here. It terrified her even more to know that JT would use her astraphobia to his advantage.

The scent of fresh lumber and paint filled her nostrils as she walked across the front porch to the door. Not bothering with the key, she turned the knob and stepped into the dark living room.

She paused for a second, trying to hear over the pounding of her heart beat in her ears. She called out for the only person she wanted to see right now. “Daddy?”

She felt eyes on her, and a horrific wave of terror ravaged her senses as a hateful voice whispered next to her ear, “There’s no one here but me, Lily.”

A fraction of a second later, the old paralysis washed over her as his big hand gathered her hair in a fist at the base of her neck, sending shooting pains all over her body. Her scalp was tremendously sensitive, and he had used it as a means to punish and control her over the years.

“You cut your hair. Add that to the list of things I need to punish you for.” He shook her by the grip on her hair as he drew her to him so that they were face-to-face.

“What do you want from me, JT?”

“Oh,” he said with a long, gusty, smelly sigh right in her face. “It’s a long list, but at the top of it is you making this divorce go away. Then we’re going to go home and pick up right where we left off, which was with you already in dire need of punishment.”

“Why? Why do you want me back? Why?” It was a pointless question to ask. None of his reasons could make this okay, and it would only get him monologuing, which she hated.

“Mostly because of the money you’re fixing to inherit. But also because I know it’s exactly what you don’t want, so I want to give it to you. You owe me for this merry chase you’ve led me on and the hassle you’ve put me through with those fucking lawyers.”

“Where is my father?”

“For all I know, snoring away in his easy chair, back in Durst.”

Lily’s anxiety eased slightly when she realized her father was in no immediate danger but then doubled when she realized she was alone…with a sadistic lunatic.