***
I join a local book club the next night, and I bound out of the library feeling good. Really good. The first meeting is tomorrow evening and I can’t wait. I’m so desperate to meet people that I’m willing to try just about anything to start the road to changing my life. I walk down the sidewalk with a spring in my step and lightness in my heart, until I round the corner and see three men standing by my car.
I freeze.
There are moments in life that warn you of danger—this moment is one of them. I feel it from my toes to my head, a tingly, prickly sensation that alerts me that something is wrong. That these men aren’t good people. My inner alert system is screaming danger. I stop, taking them in. I recognize the older man as the one who prevented me from talking with Hayley in the mall.
My heart feels as though it stutters to a stop.
“What do you want?” I say, reaching into my purse and pulling out my phone.
“You won’t be needing that,” a man says, stepping forward.
I study him, and something about him is familiar—really, really familiar. He’s got light hair, but it almost seems as though it’s been colored. It’s in a braid down his back, and it accentuates his light blue eyes and chiseled features. He looks . . . well . . . holy. He also terrifies me. This man is danger; he’s creepy; he is not good at all. He’s wearing a white button-down shirt and a pair of jeans. To an outsider, he would most likely look normal; to me, he represents fear.
He has a cross hanging around his neck. I want to rip it off.
“Do I know you?” I say, my voice far weaker than I’d like.
“No,” he says, his voice smooth. “And you won’t if you tell me what I need to know.”
“I don’t know what I could possibly tell you.”
He smiles, and it makes me want to turn and run.
He steps closer. I step back. He waves a hand, and the two men with him circle around me, cutting me off from my escape route. Fear clogs my throat, but I try not to let it show.
“Do you know Heath Walker?”
I don’t flinch, but it takes everything inside me not to. I didn’t know Heath’s last name until this very moment. I school my features. “I have no idea who that is.”
The man studies me. “I think you’re lying.”
“I’m not lying,” I say calmly. “I don’t know that name. I’ve never heard it before in my life.”
He narrows his eyes, studying me far too closely. “You caused a scene at the mall. Why?”
I can barely breathe my heart is pounding so hard. “Because I was at that stadium. I saw what you . . . you monsters did.”
His jaw tics. “The only monsters here are people living outside of God’s wishes.”
My gosh. He’s delusional. “You killed people!”
“I didn’t do anything. Now, I ask again—do you know a Heath Walker?”
“No,” I snap. “I’ve already told you that. I was only trying to show the rest of the world what a bunch of creeps you are in the mall. Whoever this Heath is, you need to keep him and yourselves away from me. I want nothing to do with you.”
This seems to work, because the man looks a little disappointed. He quickly covers it and steps forward, reaching out and cupping my face. I flinch and try to pull back, but his two men close in on me. “Such fire, such rage. I could help you.”
“By forcing me into a life I would never want? Like the rest of those girls?” I growl.
His eyes flash. “Such a troubled soul.”
“Get your hands off me,” I hiss.
He doesn’t. “I’d suggest you stop interfering with my program, with my people, with my life. If you don’t, you’ll find yourself in a rather . . . troubled situation.”
“Are you threatening me?” I snap.
His fingers tighten so hard against my cheek that I wince, but don’t pull back. I don’t want the creeps behind me putting their hands on me, too.
“I don’t make threats. Perhaps if you wish to change your tune, you can come and find me. I like a challenge. If not, I recommend you carry on with your life or I’ll be forced to take some rather drastic measures. You’ve seen what I do when people stand in my way and in the way of God.”
“God.” I laugh bitterly. “God doesn’t kill people.”
He looks disgusted, as if I’m an imbecile he has to explain such a simple truth to. “God sacrifices for the greater good.”
“Do you even hear yourself?”
He drops his hand, and his eyes, those familiar eyes, find mine, and he grins. “Good day, Lucy.”
He knows my name.
That sends a cold shiver up my spine as he turns, and he and his men leave.
Who the hell was that man? And why do I feel like I know him?
CHAPTER 19