THE ROAD back to the compound was swallowed in drifts. The tires slipped on the ice as Jeremiah steered through the storm. Wind slammed the truck, rattling the doors like angry fists. Lily watched smeared streaks of white and gray rush by, her breath fogging the window as she leaned toward it.
She hadn’t been back here in months.
Not since the night she’d run—heartbroken, humiliated, determined not to be claimed by chaos again.
But here she was. Being pulled back into the very world she escaped.
All because of Robert.
She swallowed hard as the compound finally came into view—dark buildings outlined by faint lanterns, shape after shape emerging like ghosts through the blizzard. Even from here, Lily could see movement. Men rushing back and forth with rifles. Flashlights cutting frantic
