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force the words past her lips as she turned
     and walked from the kitchen.
    Surely her father would stop her.
    Her mother?
    She had to force herself to walk across the wide, dark wood floor of the foyer to
     the front door.
    With no luggage, no money, and no ID, she left the only place she had ever called
     home and stepped into the cool morning air as daylight filtered over the mountains.
    A sob tore from her chest then.
    Then another.
    Moving down the steps, taking one step at a time, her heart broke into fragments.
     The knowledge that no one was going to stop her, that no one cared enough to stop
     her, destroyed her.
    And, she realized, she didn’t feel any more alone now than she ever had.
    But that didn’t mean she had to obey his whim.
    Sniffing back the tears, though nothing could hold back the pain, she paused, trying
     to think, to plan.
    Her purse, ID, and what little cash she had, along with the key to her safe deposit
     box, were in her room.
    She had some jewelry she could sell, though only as a last resort.
    With what she had, perhaps there was enough to get an apartment and pay the down payment
     and rent until she began working.
    Making the decision quickly, she turned around the side of the house and ran to the
     heavy wood trellis that ran up to her bedroom window.
    She didn’t have to obey anyone implicitly any longer. And she would be damned if she
     would just walk away with nothing that belonged to her.
    Climbing swiftly up the trellis she slid the window open, thankful she’d forgotten
     to lock it the night before when she’d had it open, and slipped into the room.
    Quietly, quickly, she rushed to the closet and found the stylish leather backpack
     she kept there.
    It wasn’t big enough to carry much, but the essentials should fit. A couple of handfuls
     of silken lingerie, two sets of the vintage silk nightgowns and robes she so loved.
     Several changes of clothes suitable for the job she’d been hired to do, and a pair
     of flat-heeled business-type shoes. Several pairs of socks and stockings, the small
     box of jewelry.
    There was a little room left if she really stuffed it so she threw in some jeans and
     T-shirts.
    When she finished, the buckles were bulging and she was still leaving behind so much.
    As she packed, holding back the tears was impossible.
    It was killing her. Inside her chest she could feel her heart breaking, feel the hope
     she’d had when she’d first faced her father and grandfather drain away. The tears
     were impossible to hold back now.
    She was stealing her own clothes, her own jewelry. She was being forced to walk out
     of the house that hadn’t been a home since she was nine years old.
    And she couldn’t imagine anything that could hurt more.
    As she pushed the window open again, the sound of her mother’s voice in the hall outside
     her door made her pause.
    “How could you let him do this?” her mother cried out, her voice rough, almost unrecognizable.
    She’d never seen or heard her mother cry, though. “You know what this could cause,
     Genoa. You have to do something. Please—”
    Her mother’s voice broke as she began sobbing, the sound of her pain causing Anna
     to cover her lips to hide the sound of her own agony.
    “Lisa, you know he had no choice. Neither of them did,” her grandmother protested.
    “No, there’s always a choice,” Lisa Corbin cried out desperately. “This was the wrong
     one. Oh God, it was the wrong choice.”
    Seconds later, her parents’ bedroom door slammed, cutting off the sound of her mother’s
     tears. But it didn’t stop Anna’s. Leaning against the window frame, her face buried
     against the sheer curtains, she couldn’t hold them back. The silent sobs shook her
     body, and the pain causing them ripped at her heart until she wondered if she were
     going to be able to leave. Or if she would beg, plead with her grandfather to change
     his mind and to let her do as he wanted. But leaving again would be like