They passed a little tourist stand, full of South Carolina beach trinkets and toys.

“Mom, can we go in?” her middle boy, Cash, pleaded. “Please? I want to see what they’ve got.” He was the most driven of her three sons, and she always joked that he’d become a billionaire, but his strong focus worried her a little. Today, like any other kid, he just wanted to see the toys.

She paused. Even her oldest, Sean, leaned past his brothers to look in the little shop, and of course her baby, Liam, joined in the begging. “Please, Mommy? There’s swords and stuff!”

They sounded like normal kids. Normal, wonderfully whiny kids, and she couldn’t resist their request.

She ached with the desire to give her boys a carefree childhood.

While the boys looked at the beachy souvenirs, Rita fingered a little five-dollar necklace, with a sea turtle, a shark’s tooth and a palm tree. If she could spare the money, she’d buy it for herself. A symbol of her new life, away from Alabama and Orin.

She gave her head a little shake and bent down to look at the candy. After the long hours in the car and the strangeness of setting up housekeeping in a women’s shelter, they all needed a treat. And candy was cheap.

“You don’t want that ordinary stuff, ma’am,” said the tall, stoop-shouldered clerk. “You’ll want some real Carolina pralines for your boys.” As he spoke, he slid three caramel-colored candies into a bag. “And for you…” He plucked the necklace she’d been studying from the stand and held it out to her.

“Oh no! We can’t afford all that!” What was this guy’s agenda?

He smiled with an expression of wisdom and sympathy older than his years. “Just consider it a little Southern hospitality. Y’all look like you need a lift.”

For some reason, she trusted him. Again, hope rose in her. Maybe this was all going to work out. “Thank you. You’re very kind.”

She’d just taken the bag and turned to locate the boys when she felt something poke into her side. A familiar, sickeningly strong cologne assaulted her.

Orin.

Silent terror exploded inside her, making her head spin and her stomach heave with nausea. She looked around frantically. There were Liam and Cash, fingering the crocodile heads on sticks. But where was Sean? He had to get the other boys to safety, now.

How had Orin found them so quickly? And what new punishment would he inflict on her and, worse, on the boys?

“You’re not leaving me.” Orin’s voice was a quiet snarl.

“Everything okay, miss?” the clerk asked from behind her.

“You tell him it’s fine and come with me,” Orin said into her ear, “Or I’ll kill him, and then those worthless boys, and then you.”

She nodded back to the clerk, forcing a sick smile across her face. “I’m fine.” Her chest seemed to crumple inward, as if all the backbone she’d tried to build in herself, all her bones, turned to jelly.