Oscar dragged her back to the van and locked her inside before returning to buy the contents of the cart that he'd left behind. But she knew the storm was still coming.

Sure enough, as soon as he'd thrown the last of the groceries into the back of the van, he was in the driver's seat and screaming at her.

"What were you thinking, you ****** *****? We've cared for you, housed you, let you go to school, given you a ****** purpose and people to love you for nine ******* months, and this is how you thank us?"

"I'm sorry," Shae whispered, tears leaping to her eyes that she didn't dare to raise. "I... I didn't mean to. It just... happened."

"What if he decides to follow us, what then?" he snarled. "Do you want to be all alone again, with no one that loves you? Do you want to do that to all of your sisters?"

"No," she whispered.

"Well that's exactly what's going to happen if you behave yourself like that!"

"I know."

His hand was across the distance between them and striking her face before she could react.

"I don't think you do know, *****!" he snapped. "I don't think you know how ****** good we've been to you. You've been in and out of the boss's room ever since you got here. You still get the best jobs with the best pay. You still get to go to school. What more do you ****** want?"

Freedom, she thought bitterly. The kind of freedom her father had fought for, died for. And love like he'd given her, like she was worth all of the money in the world and more. She wanted worth. Real worth, that was greater than the prices that were put on her night after night. The kind of worth he'd always told her she had. She didn't like to think that he'd lied to her. Maybe she had been worth something then. Maybe she'd been worth something before her aunt and uncle had sold her into this living hell. But now? She'd be better off dead and that's exactly what she wished she was.

But she didn't say any of what was running through her mind. Instead, she whispered, "Nothing. I have everything I want. I was just star-struck. He's my favorite actor."

"I don't ******** care if he's the king of the world!" he retorted fiercely. "If I have my way, you'll never be in the boss's room again."

It took every ounce of self-control she had inside of her to not tell him that she'd have the exact same thing.

But he seemed to be done for the moment, starting the van and driving back in the direction of the house.

Shae slipped her tiny iPod out her hoodie pocket and put in her earbuds, selecting the last song her father had ever introduced her to, while he was on his last leave before going on the deployment that he didn't come back from. "Priceless" by for KING & COUNTRY. Since then, they had become her favorite band. And every time she listened to that song, she heard her dad singing it to her.

Music and movies were two of the only things that kept her alive. Music, movies, and Jesus, that was. They were like her only escapes. Garrett found that out, and that was why he bought her the iPod, as a way of doting on his new pet, his new favorite, soon after he bought her. On the nights she was lucky enough to escape his room, she and the other girls would squeeze into a corner and turn the music up as loud as they dared or watch one of her movies for the millionth time. She couldn't get any of it herself since the thing wasn't enabled with WiFi or anything like that, but Garrett gave her almost whatever movies and music she asked for. She gave him a long list when he first gave it to her, and he gave it all to her, except two movies. "Priceless", and "Caged No More". Not that she expected him to give her those. She didn't even know if she could watch them anymore without triggering and panicking. She had only asked for them to be a brat.

She knew she was lucky he gave her that song. But she doubt he even downloaded all of them himself. He probably made Oscar do it, and there was no way Oscar actually listened to even small parts of all of the songs she asked him. All he probably did was read the descriptions on the movies.

The movies that she did have were mostly Marvel. That was she and her dad's thing... watching Marvel movies together. Whenever he was home, they'd have a night that was marathon night, when they'd watch whichever ones they wanted to from like five in the evening until ten the next morning.

She squeezed her eyes shut tight against the tears that begged to be let out at the reminder.

Not much could make her cry anymore... everything hurt, so few things added enough pain that she was brought to tears. But the thought of her dad still did it every single time. The loss of her mom still hurt too, but not like her dad did. She had been a good mother, but she had never really been around. She was a Christian just like Shae and her dad, but she had always been distant from both of them. Neither of them ever knew why. She and Shae's dad had gotten married really young—fresh out of high school—and had Shae when they were only twenty, and Shae heard her telling her aunt once that she wished she'd never gotten married, especially to a military man. That her husband and Shae tied her down.

Shae didn't know why she'd felt like that, but she knew she always had. So, yeah, losing her hurt. But not like it did when that black car pulled into their driveway carrying soldiers who hated the message they had to give almost as much as they did.

And anyway, losing her dad wasn't the only thing that hurt anymore. Now, it hurts because she can't imagine what he'd say if he could see her now. She didn't want to. She didn't want to think about the heartbroken disappointment that would be in his gaze when he looked at her.

Some people took comfort in the idea that lost loved ones were watching them from Heaven. Shae didn't. Yeah, her dad was literally the coolest, toughest, sweetest, most loving, gentle, caring, and reliable person she'd known, and she was always safe when she was with him, but... she didn't think that Heaven could be a happy place for him if he was watching her right now. So she hoped all he could see was Jesus. It was enough to know that He was watching over her, anyway.

But she couldn't understand how He wasn't completely finished with her, either.

The drive to the house didn't take long, and before the fourth repetition of "Priceless" was over, she was slinking through the door, Oscar behind her, ruining all of the care she'd taken in coming in quietly with his thrown grocery bags and slammed doors.

The moment Shae was inside, she surveyed the girls who were tiredly looking up from where they'd been trying to sleep on the floor. Immediately, she felt her stomach tighten in fear. Unless they'd gotten a new girl, all of the others were there. Which meant...

As if to confirm her fears, Garrett appeared from the hallway. The sight of him reminded her of the fact that she was still crying, and she desperately tried to stop, wiping frantically at her tears.

Garrett held out his arms for her as he approached her, pulling her into a hug despite the way she obviously hated every moment of it.

"There's my girl! How are you? How was your night?"

He pulled back, and for the first time noticed the tears she just couldn't hide.

"Oh, my dear! What's wrong? What happened?"

He glanced down at the iPod in her hand and understanding flashed over his face when he recognized the song. He'd gotten the story to why she loved the song so much out of her one night after he'd gotten her drunk, so he knew it made her think of her father.

With gentleness that Shae thought it was sick that he so thoroughly possessed, he took the little device from her hand and set it aside.

"Now, now, my dear. Don't cry. He's in a better place, and you have us now. I'm here for you, amor."

"Don't you go comforting that ***** tonight," Oscar snapped as he threw the last of the grocery bags down and shut the door for the last time. "She could have brought down all of by her own stupidity."

"Come now, Oscar," Garrett scolded as he led Shae over to the couch and wrapped an arm around her. "I'm sure she didn't mean to endanger anyone. What happened?"

Taking a great deal longer than he could have if he'd have left out all of his choice words, Oscar relayed the story of the incident in Wal-Mart.

Shae simply sat stone-faced and miserable at Garrett's touch, using every ounce of strength she had left to keep from breaking down in tears.

By the end of Oscar's story, Garrett's face was grave.

"You know what you did wrong, don't you, my love?" he asked her, his tone making her sick.

"Yes," she replied through gritted teeth. "I'm sorry."

"And all is forgiven," he cooed. "No harm done. I'm sure he was held up with the press long after you were gone. Now, let's go to bed."

And that sealed her fate. She had been hoping that her mistake would do as Oscar had promised and make her lose her place as Garrett's favorite, but it seemed nothing could do that for her.

But still, she wasn't sorry. She'd never be sorry. Tonight, as terrible as it had started and as horrible as it was about to end up, had been a dream come true. She'd met one of her greatest heroes, and he'd been everything she'd ever dreamed and so much more.

Dancing with him, she'd been happy. It had been fleeting and way too short, but it'd been there, for the first time in over nine months.