The governor’s emergency detention order arrived just as I was stepping into my wedding dress, waiting for Connor Winthrop to pick me up.
Within minutes, my wedding had become a raid.
SWAT officers took every woman in the Worthington family into custody.
They told us my fiancé had identified my father and three brothers as conspirators in an assassination attempt on the governor, and that the prosecutor would seek the death penalty.
The rest of us were to be sent to a maximum-security prison as accomplices.
After my grandmother read the document, stamped with the governor’s seal, her hands began to shake uncontrollably. My mother tore off my veil, handing pieces of it to my sisters-in-law and the children to cover their mouths and noses.
“Stay together,” she whispered.
“Don’t let anyone take you off alone.”
That night, fire tore through the abandoned detention facility.
My grandmother collapsed beside a concrete pillar.
My mother died beneath a ventilation duct.
My sisters-in-law shielded the children with their bodies.
As I drew my last, smoke-choked breath, I heard two guards talking outside the door.
“Connor and the Worthington men really do spoil that girl rotten.”
“Blair was afraid Connor still wanted to marry this adopted one, afraid the family loved Willa more after raising her for twenty-six years. She cried and demanded they prove their loyalty, so they forged the governor’s order and threw all the women in here.”
The other guard laughed.
“Connor said as long as Willa signs the cancellation papers, they’ll let everyone out at dawn. The men are all still back at the Worthington house, drinking and trying to figure out how to make Blair happy.”
So there had been no attack on the governor.
My father and brothers had never been arrested.
Connor had never betrayed his own father.
They were all safe at home.
This was just a performance, all of it staged for Blair.
No one told us. The detention building had been shut down for years.
The fire alarms and sprinkler system were dead.
And now, not a single woman inside would ever walk out.
Their Favoritism Resulted In A Cruel Outcome Chapter 28 “Willa truly treated you like a sister.” “You’re the one who destroyed this family.” The loudspeaker ordered the families to leave. Blair opened her mouth, but no more words came out. I stood outside the observation room and watched her. Once, I had hated her for
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Their Favoritism Resulted In A Cruel Outcome Chapter 27 Connor would have held me and said he had no other choice at the time. And then they all would have waited for our forgiveness. Death stripped away the gentleness layered over control and betrayal, forcing them to admit that we had long since been reduced
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Their Favoritism Resulted In A Cruel Outcome Chapter 26 Connor looked at her, and there was nothing left in his eyes but exhaustion. “Even if Willa had never existed, I still would not have loved you.” “The day I stopped on that road was because you said you were a Worthington.” “The scarf I put
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Their Favoritism Resulted In A Cruel Outcome Chapter 25 “James, Luke, Henry.” “Have you forgotten? I spent twenty-six years in foster homes. I suffered so much.” “It was Willa who took my place.” “I only wanted back the life that was supposed to be mine. What did I do wrong?” At last, James opened his
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Their Favoritism Resulted In A Cruel Outcome Chapter 24 On the day of the executions, reporters and protesters crowded outside the prison. By the time Blair was led from death row, she was so thin she was barely recognizable. There were no soft mattresses in her cell. No one brought her hot coffee. The guards
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Their Favoritism Resulted In A Cruel Outcome Chapter 23 I cut him off. “But they don’t want to see you anymore.” Henry asked through his tears, “Did Molly say anything?” I remembered her asking if forgiving him would make him stop crying. “She asked me why you didn’t come open the door.” Henry went white.
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Their Favoritism Resulted In A Cruel Outcome Chapter 22 The night before the executions, I went to the state prison. I wasn’t there to say goodbye. There were simply things I had never said while I was alive. My father and brothers were asleep. They were dreaming of my wedding day. The Worthington house was
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Their Favoritism Resulted In A Cruel Outcome Chapter 21 “They died because of deceit and abuse of power.” No statue was ever built to praise their sacrifice. Instead, Charleston built a small memorial garden on the site of the detention center. The wall there bears the name, age, and favorite things of every victim. My
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Their Favoritism Resulted In A Cruel Outcome Chapter 20 On the day the Worthington women were buried, Charleston was lashed by heavy rain. The family had lost the right to decide anything. The victims’ rights office and several of the women’s friends arranged the funeral. As the hearses left the old house, residents lined both
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Their Favoritism Resulted In A Cruel Outcome Chapter 19 Through the glass, Daniel asked, “Why did you do that to her?” Connor looked down at the album. “I didn’t think she would die.” “That’s not what I’m asking.” Daniel sounded exhausted. “I’m asking why, when she had done absolutely nothing wrong, you still forced her
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