He told her that he needed something in return for all his efforts. He’d fallen in love with her, he said. She didn’t know what to think. She certainly was appreciative for everything he had done, but there wasn’t anything more to it. Not love anyway. It could turn into love, he said. But it could start as something simpler.

Control. Russ used it over her that day. She rushed home in tears, not sure what to do. Her father was home early, something she hadn’t anticipated. He asked her what had happened. She tried not to tell him, but he was drunk and shook her until she spilled the horrible events. He tore out of the house like a mad hornet, murder on his mind. She thought she saw him put a gun into the pocket of his coat.

Later that night, she got the news that her father had found Russ at a local bar and shot him, but not without getting shot himself by the barkeep. Both of them died within minutes of each other.

Xandria tried to find remorse in her heart for their lost lives but couldn’t. They were gone, and she couldn’t be happier. Their absence brought even greater rewards. Her father had stashed away a large amount of money he received when her mother passed away. He had probably hoped to keep it for himself after she was gone, but now it was hers. And Russ’s efforts to find a university weren’t in vain. By year’s end, she was enrolled at one of the finest institutions in the world.

Control. She found it. And she understood the price to keep it.

August knew it was time to return. He was only playing into Xandria’s control of the situation by staying away. She wanted to infuriate him, confuse him, keep him guessing. But he needed to remain focused if he wanted to save his family.

He glanced out a window on the short trip back to his seat. He could see moonbeams shimmering off the silvery slivers of clouds, then shooting down to the shadowy waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Everything was so quiet, so calm. Everything seemed to be in order. But it wasn’t. Everything was falling apart.

It wouldn’t be long before they landed. He still didn’t know what would happen once they stepped off the plane. But that was something he couldn’t control. And this was.

“Mind if I take my seat?”

“I was just about to come find you,” Xandria said, not moving and so forcing him to brush against her legs on the way by. “There’s been a development.”

August picked up the ancient Bible from the center seat and ran his fingers along the jagged edge where the illuminated page used to be. “No development can be worse than this.”