Chapter 4

It began with stomach cramps.

Mrs. Benton was the first to double over, a pained gasp escaping her lips. "My stomach... that pork must've been bad."

Soon after, one of the uncles stumbled away from the table, vomiting violently onto the dirt floor. The festive atmosphere evaporated, replaced by confusion and panic.

Mr. Benton, clutching his own abdomen, his face pale with sweat, looked around the table. His eyes narrowed.

"Wait," he rasped, his voice tight with pain. "It's just us four... Andrew... Molly... you're not sick."

His gaze fell on me. The confusion in his eyes hardened into suspicion, then rage. "You! What did you do?"

This was my cue.

I kicked my chair back and grabbed the large hunting knife used to carve the pig. In one swift motion, I pulled Molly from her seat and held the blade to her throat. She let out a terrified whimper.

"Stay back!" I screamed, my voice raw and filled with a decade of suppressed fury. "I'm not Andrew! My name is Caleb Fowler! You bought me! You trafficked me!"

The remaining uncle, enraged and sick, lunged at me. "You little bastard!"

The timing was perfect.

Just as he charged, I heard the sound I had been waiting ten years for: the wail of police sirens cutting through the remote Appalachian quiet.

I let the uncle tackle me. I didn't fight back. I allowed him to land blow after blow, his fists crashing into my face and ribs. I felt my lip split, tasted the blood. It was pain, but it was a calculated pain. I needed to be the victim. The perfect, brutalized victim.

The cabin door burst open. Police officers swarmed in, guns drawn. They saw a horrific scene: a bloodied young man holding a knife to a crying girl, being beaten by a large, savage-looking man, while three other family members writhed in agony on the floor.

"Police! Drop the weapon! Get on the ground!"

Everything was a chaotic blur of shouting and movement.

I let the knife clatter to the floor. I let my body go limp, collapsing under the uncle's final blow.

My last conscious thought before the darkness took me was of Ethan.

The stage was set. Your move, brother.