CHAPTER 44
VIOLET
I once spent four hours outside in the snow on Delbert’s ranch back in Oakwood Falls, caring for a sick mare that had suffered a nasty coming together with a fence. By the time the veterinarian arrived and stitched up the wound so we could move her to a stall inside, my fingers were blue and I couldn’t feel my feet. Until now, I’d never known such never-ending cold.
How long had I been in this freezing basement? Years, it seemed like, but since Elton had taken my watch along with every other scrap of clothing I’d been wearing, I truly had no idea. I didn’t even know whether I was still in California. All I knew was that I’d woken up here in the pitch black with a chain padlocked around my waist, and when I’d followed it, hand over hand, I’d found it was shackled to a m
