Hi All!
Sorry for the delay in posting, I had intended on posting earlier in the week but it unfortunately didn't happen... Anyway, enjoy!
And sorry (not sorry) for the cliff-hanger.
Again, thank you all so much for continuing to read this story and to those of you who comment, another huge thank you.
Chapter 15
After another long day of traveling, Cade and Millie were finally nearing their last stop before heading up further into the mountains. They had reached Gold Springs, the last stop on their trip before they headed up North to Alder. "We'll spend the night here." Cade informed the girl as they rode down the main street, tipping his hat at a couple of soiled doves standing out the front of one of the saloons. "We're almost home, my dear."
Millie swallowed back the lump of fear in her throat as her horse plodded after Cade's down the muddy street. His home would never be her home. Never. Her home was behind her. Eighty-five miles behind her to be exact, the young woman having been keeping track of their progress by the distance signs they had passed. Looking around, she remembered Jarrod speaking a couple months back of one of the Barkleys recent mine purchases. The "Centennial" mine in Gold Springs. So this is Gold Springs. She thought as she looked around her, taking careful note of her surroundings.
Gold Springs was a town that had seemingly sprung up overnight, the hastily erected buildings that made up main street a testament to that fact. Further out, hoards of tents had been pitched to house the miners who'd come to the newest goldfield, hoping to claim their fortune. It was a rough looking place and she hoped that she wouldn't find herself in another similar situation as to the one she found herself in the night before. They'd stopped at Cedar Ridge, another rough mining camp town and while they were there, some drunken sod had tried to get friendly with her. Cade had been furious when he'd returned to the table to see the guy trying to get handsy with her and had sent him packing, the only time in Millie's life she could remember Cade actually doing something good for her.
"Welcome back, Mister Alton. Back in town for a few days?"
"Only passing through, I'll be heading up home tomorrow. I'll be back in a few days though." Cade answered as he swung down from the saddle, Millie dismounting her horse beside him. "How's things been around here Jeb?"
"Good, good Mister Alton." The shady looking livery owner replied. "Nothing to report here, boss. Gold Springs has been well looked after while you've been gone."
"How's the new Sheriff taking to his job?"
"He's toeing the line, just like you said he would. Helps him knowing what will happen if he doesn't, you know what I mean."
Cade chuckled. "It's funny what lengths a man will go to in order to stay alive. Did you deal with that little problem we were having when I left?"
"Just like you asked, boss. Me and the boys have been keeping everyone in line."
"Good, that's what I like to hear, Jeb. Might even be an extra bonus in your paycheck this week."
"An incentive like that sure makes all the work worth it." He replied with a grin at the thought of some extra cash to line his already fat wallet. With business taken care of, he motioned to the girl with him, looking her up and down with a greedy look on his face. "Who's this? A new acquisition for The Gold Nugget?"
"Get your filthy eyes off her." Cade snapped at him in an instant. "She's mine and off limits to you or anyone else and if I catch you looking twice at her, you'll be in for a world of hurt. Go find some other girl to have a good time with. There's plenty of them around."
Jeb whistled and threw his hands up as he took a step back, attempting to deescalate the situation. "Sorry boss, didn't know she was your gal. Message received loud and clear."
"Good. Glad that's settled." Turning back to his horse he grabbed his saddlebags and slung them over his shoulder then handed the reins over. "Make sure these two are well looked after. They've traveled a distance today."
"Yes sir. Of course sir."
Having been taking careful note of the conversation between Cade and the livery man, Millie handed over the reins to her horse and fell in step beside Cade as he started back up the street. If the Sheriff of this town was in Cade's pocket, she couldn't go to him for help if she tried to make a run for it. Cade had begun relaxing his guard a little the further they got from Stockton and she was beginning to hope that maybe, she might be able to escape. If she played her cards right, with any luck she might be able to try getting away in a day or two. At least, she hoped so. It was hard keeping up the charade of being the meek, willing, obedient and pathetic captive just to keep Cade happy but it was her best shot and she knew it. She had to beat him at his own game, as much as she wanted to fight him for all her worth it was better this way.
The Gold Nugget was the largest and grandest looking saloon on Main Street, the saloon that Cade had built from the ground up in this town. Entering with Millie beside him, he looked around in satisfaction at the crowd inside. It was a packed house tonight, the saloon filled with miners, both those who were paid by the mines surrounding the town and those prospectors who answered only to themselves.
"Cade!" Berta squealed when she saw him, the saloon girl rushing over to greet him. "Where have you been?"
"I've been busy." He replied with a smile and wrapping his arms around her, began to kiss her deeply. "Oh I have missed you…"
Witnessing the two and their very public display of affection which brought them a decent share of attention from the other miners in the saloon, Millie wanted to puke in her mouth. The more she saw of this side of him, the greater her understanding of just how twisted and disgusting he was grew. The night before he'd been the same way with another saloon girl in Cedar Ridge and it seemed to her that he had a woman in almost every town.
"I shouldn't be the only happy one here." Cade exclaimed when he'd finally stopped kissing Berta for a moment. "Drinks are on the house!"
The crowd erupted with cheers and surged for the bar, Cade chuckling as he finally let Berta go and stepped back. "That was quite a welcome."
"You've been gone a long time." She finally noticed the girl standing beside him and sticking her nose up at her, motioned at her like she was a piece of trash stuck to her shoe. "Another one for upstairs?"
"Not right now. Haven't decided yet what I'm doing with her. How's Jeanie working out?"
As Bertha looked her up and down, Millie felt a shiver run up her spine and it wasn't just from Cade or the topic of conversation. This woman was frightening.
"Well enough." She finally replied, turning her attention back to Cade. "Took some time to get her working well but she's one of the better ones you've brought me."
"Glad to hear that. Anything I should know now that I'm here?"
"That man over there." With a discreet nod of her head in the direction of a young cowboy sitting alone at a table with a deck of cards she pointed him out. "Rode in a couple days back, been winning big at the poker table. Beat Dusty and Ralph, they cleaned out most of the poker fund I'm afraid trying to beat him and win it back. Thought you might like to try and give him a little humbling.' She ran a finger down his chest. "Then when you're finished with him… You, me, room three?"
"Looking forward to it." He replied, nibbling a little at her neck and she giggled as he pulled back again. "I've been on the road all day. I want a steak the size of my dinner plate and a bottle of that fine imported whiskey you know I like so much." Almost like an afterthought he motioned to Millie. "And get one of the girls to bring this one something to eat. Whatever leftovers they can scrounge up."
"Seems to me she'd be better fed on pig swill."
"Can't have our workers getting sick on us now then, can we Berta? Even if I haven't decided what I'll do with her yet." He paused for a moment, deciding it was best to appease her given how jealous she was whenever he brought another girl in for work. "Besides, she's got nothing on you."
"No." Her scowl turned back into a smug smile. "I suppose not. I'll see about getting you that steak."
As she headed for the kitchen Cade motioned for Millie to accompany him over to the table in the corner of the room where the cowboy was that Berta had pointed out. The cowboy looked up as he pulled out a chair, sitting down across from him. "I hear tell you're making quite a name for yourself around here. How lucky do you feel tonight?"
Eyeing up his opponent, he lent back in his chair. "Well, I dare say I'm feelin' pretty lucky tonight. I make it a habit but to never to take money from a man without first knowin' his name though."
"Cade Alton."
"Reg Evans. What'll it be?"
"Your choice."
"Alright, five card stud it is."
Holding up a hand, he caught the attention of one of the saloon girls. "Deck of cards please." With a nod the woman went over to the bar for the cards and he turned to Millie who was standing obediently beside him. "Grab a chair, sit in the corner. You know the drill."
Swallowing, Millie nodded and taking a chair from the table, took it over to the corner behind Cade to sit. She hadn't seen a hotel in the town and assumed that like the night before, she'd be spending the night in the quarters of one of the saloon girls while Cade enjoyed himself elsewhere. Attempting to be as invisible as possible, she watched as Cade and his opponent began their game.
"Here. I was told to bring you this."
Looking up, she saw a plate of food being held out to her by a girl her own age. "T-thank you." She replied softly as she took the plate. Her stomach revolted seeing the food she was to eat but she forced her disgust back as the saloon girl continued.
"Name's Jeanie." Jeanie said with a kind smile, keeping her voice low so that Cade couldn't overhear. "What's yours?"
"Millie."
"How'd you come to be with him?" She wondered out loud, motioning to Cade behind her. "How'd he buy you?"
"Buy me?" Millie exclaimed with a frown. "What do you mean?"
"Get back to work Jeannie." Cade growled, taking out his frustration on her that he was losing to his opponent. "You're not being paid to yabber."
Jeannie took a deep breath, knowing it was in her best interest to do as she was told. "Yes sir."
Wondering what the other girl had meant when she'd asked if Cade had brought her, Millie was left to her supper on her own. On the plate was some unappetizing looking slop, most likely in its proper state some kind of stew but this appeared to be mixed with the burnt remains of whatever it was at the bottom of the pot. Her stomach arguing with her brain she picked up her fork and forced herself to swallow the horrible mush. She knew she needed to eat. She needed to keep up her strength.
As Millie worked to force down her meal, Cade was also having trouble swallowing the bad luck he was having. Like he usually did, he had lost a couple games to get his opponent cocky and willing to bet higher amounts but the cards just weren't falling in his favor. He was loosing and badly. The night wore on, his pile growing smaller and his opponents larger and rather than cutting his losses, he grit his teeth and went all in.
He would not let himself be beat.
With a grin, Reg placed his cards onto the table. "Four of a kind, my friend." He chuckled as Cade threw his cards back into the middle of the table, revealing his hand hadn't had a chance of beating his. "Looks like you're all out."
"Double or nothing."
At that, he laughed. "You've got nothing left to bet."
"I've got something better than money." Cade snarled. He wouldn't allow this cocky idiot to get the better of him. He'd lost over a thousand dollars to this bastard, he had to win it back. He was using all the tricks he knew and still somehow this cowboy half his age was coming out on top. He couldn't lose. "Missie, git over here." At his harsh bark, the girl rose instantly from his side and came over to the table. "I'll bet on her. If you win, you can take her upstairs and do whatever you wish with her."
Looking her over, he shrugged. "Seeing as you're so willing to give that beauty away, I might as well take you up on that offer."
The two men began another game and Millie's heart was in her throat as she watched Cade distribute the cards between them. As he arranged his cards, for the first time in her life she was praying that Cade would win. She was horrified at what had just taken place, it had happened so quickly that she hadn't had a chance to register until now what Cade had just done.
Playing on, Cade exchanged a couple cards for a couple more from the deck until he was satisfied with his hand. It was the best that he could come up with but would it be good enough? There was only one way to find out. "Call." He placed his cards down on the table. "Four of a kind."
Inwardly, Reg chuckled though his face remained expressionless. "Good. Good…" Slowly he placed his cards down on the table to reveal his hand. "But not good enough. You and I both know a straight flush beats four of a kind."
Cade was desperate now. He'd never lost in his life as bad as he had here and now. "Just-just one more. Just one more round. I've got two horses down in the livery, one's a papered thoroughbred racehorse. He's easily worth a thousand dollars."
"If you win this round, I still get the girl?"
"You still get the girl." He agreed without hesitation. "It's a deal?"
"Why not." Reg lent back in his chair. "Deal them up."
Panicking silently, Millie returned to her chair as the men started another game. This whole ordeal had in a matter of moments, gone from bad to horribly, horribly worse. It was bad enough that Cade would beat her but that was something she could live with. She knew what happened in the upstairs rooms. That was a hell of a lot worse.
Sorting his cards, Cade was finally relieved to see that they had fallen in his favor. He couldn't possibly have a higher hand. Reg exchanged another card with the deck then called, revealing his hand to be another straight flush. "Looks like Lady Luck has finally come to my favor." He said as he laid his cards on the table.
A royal flush.
Reg whistled, chuckling. "Alright. It would seem so."
On a high from his change of luck, he looked around the saloon. He might have sacrificed his niece in order to beat him but that was a only minor inconvenience. His luck had changed and now he'd milk the guy for everything he had. "Jeanie. Jeanie!" He hollered, the saloon girl hurrying over to him. "Take Millie upstairs. Get her changed, dressed up, you know the deal. Only the best for our customer here."
Seeing the look of terror in Millie's eyes, Jeanie swallowed and nodded. "Y-yes sir."
As the men started another round, Millie followed Jeanie through the saloon, wishing that this nightmare could be over already. If one of the Barkley men were to come through the front door right now, she would have kissed their feet but she knew there wasn't a chance of that happening. No one was coming to rescue her. She was in this nightmare on her own.
Taking Millie back to her room, Jeanie closed the door behind her. "I'm so sorry." She said as she went over to her wardrobe, going to choose one of her dresses for the girl to wear. "Bit rough being pawned off like that."
"Y-yeah."
Looking over her dresses, she chose one and brought it over to her. As she held it in front of her to see if it was a suitable fit, their eyes met and it dawned on her what the look of fear she saw in her expression was. "You've never…"
Millie nodded. "I've never."
"So you're not…"
"Definitely not."
Sighing heavily, Jeanie placed the dress back up in the wardrobe and went over to her. She couldn't let her life be destroyed also by Cade like hers had and sitting down on her bed, she patted it to invite Millie to sit down beside her. "I had no choice." She said as Millie sat down. "My father owed Cade money, a lot of money. He had no way of paying it back and…" She bit her lip as she forced back the lump in her throat. "Cade came to our house one day, he and two of his men. They killed my father. Cade forced me into this life, he said I had to work to pay off his father's death."
"That's… That's horrible." Despite her own desperate situation, Millie's heart went out to Jeanie. "Why didn't you tell anyone? Didn't you tell the Sheriff?"
"I tried." She looked down at her hands then back at Millie. "Cade had that town eating out of his hand and he's got the same here. People are too afraid to cross him. I told the Sheriff, he tried to arrest Cade and he was found murdered in an alley two nights later. The sheriff here, he's too scared to do anything. The word around here is that Cade had the last one killed, but there's no proof."
Millie shook her head. "I've known Cade for many years but that… He's pure evil."
"He is but there's nothing anyone can do. Everyone is too afraid of him." She paused for a moment. "But there is something I can do. I'll take your place. You don't have to have your life ruined like mine."
"But you can't, he's expecting to have me."
"You just let me worry about handling our dear friend Reg. Alright?" Jeanie smiled kindly at her, taking her hand. "I'll take care of him."
True to her word, Jeanie took care of Reg. Tucking Millie away securely in her closet, Jeanie worked her charm and by the time he'd left, he wasn't any the wiser to the fact that a swap had taken place. After he was gone and Jeanie had made sure it was safe, she let Millie out of the closet again.
"I don't know how to thank you." Millie said as the two girls sat down on the bed. "I-I just… This nightmare…"
Jeanie placed her hand on her shoulder. "It's alright. If I know Cade, he's going to be occupied with Berta till morning. You're safe here for now."
She smiled a little at her. "I don't know how to repay you."
"Just knowing we got one up on Cade is good enough for me." Silence fell for a moment and she turned back to her. "Tell me what happened. How come you are here?"
Millie took a deep breath. "It's a long, long story. I've known Cade a long time, he thinks he's my Uncle and legally, he is."
Jeanie made a face. "And he just…"
"Yeah…" She let out a long sigh. "He's sick, I know that now. He's always been weird but there has to be something wrong with him. Normal people don't act like he does."
"You can say that again. He's a real piece of work."
"Don't I know it. Had to live with him for four years or so and believe me, it wasn't pleasant. About a year ago, I was able to run away. This past Saturday he caught up with me and well… Here I am."
The black haired girl shook her head. "What are you going to do?"
"Try and run away again, I guess. I don't have much of a choice."
"Have you got anyone who can help you? What about your parents?"
Millie shook her head. "My parents are dead, I've got no family. You know what Cade's capable of, I don't want anyone getting hurt over me. I'm not worth it."
"But surely you've got someone who you could turn to."
Thinking about the Barkleys, she turned away as her eyes began to mist and she swallowed the lump in her throat. "I-I do, but I can't. I just can't. There's a family that took me in, they were very kind to me and I found a home and a place to belong with them but I won't be the reason they get hurt. You said Cade murdered your father. How could I live if he killed one of them? I couldn't. I have to keep them safe."
Jeanie sighed, nodding in agreement.
"So yeah…" Millie fidgeted with hands. "I'm just waiting for an opportunity where I can escape."
"Would you go back to them?"
"I want to." She couldn't hold back her tears anymore and they began to slip down her cheeks. "I want that more than anything in the world but I can't. Cade will follow me and he'd get led straight back to them. I'm just lucky no one got hurt this time around."
Seeing her crying, Jeanie wrapped her arm around her and handed her a handkerchief from her pocket. "I can't blame you Millie. I'd have given anything to keep my father safe."
Drying her cheeks, Millie forced herself to regain her composure.
"There has to be something we can do." Jeanie wondered out loud. "There has to be someone who can help us fight him."
"We'd never beat him."
"We won't know if we don't try. We don't have a chance if we don't fight."
"Jeanie, it's a fight you and I know we won't win."
"Not on our own but if there's more of us, then maybe we'd stand a chance."
Millie shook her head. "No."
Defeated, Jeanie sighed heavily. "We should try to get some sleep. Given that no one's come for you, I say you'll have to stay here. There's room enough for both of us to share the bed if you don't mind bunking with me."
"Don't have much of a choice, do I?" She questioned as her fingers found the locket around her neck. Biting her lip, she reached up beneath her hair and unclasping it, held it out to Jeanie. "I want you to have this. I know I can't hope to repay you for what you've done for me but I'd like to at least try."
"Oh Millie, no. I can't take it."
"You have to." She dropped the necklace into her hand and folded her fingers up around it. "It belonged to my mother. If Cade was to find it, he'd only take it off me. At least this way I have control over what happens to it."
Seeing the look in her eyes, Jeanie finally nodded. "Alright. I'll treasure this Millie."
She smiled a little. "I was able to run away from Cade once, maybe one day you'll be able to run away too. There's always hope."
Running her finger over the locket, Jeanie looked back at her. "There's always hope for you too Millie. Maybe you'll be able to run away again. Maybe we both will be able to have the happy endings we deserve."
That night, two young women brought together by circumstance found in each other a comradeship, built from the past of the suffering they'd endured. Millie found someone who, despite everything she'd witnessed Cade being capable of, still found within herself the desire to fight back against him. While she wouldn't let on to Jeanie her new found resolve, in talking with her she'd found her spirit was revived. Cade couldn't be allowed to continue ruining people's lives like he had to her and Jeanie. Somehow, she had to stop him.
Jeanie, on the other hand, found hope that maybe, one day, like Millie, she'd be able to run away from Cade too. Even if it was only for a short time, it was better to know the taste of freedom then to never experience it. She'd been with Cade for longer now then she cared to remember but it had been more than enough for her. If Millie had been able to run away, she had to at least try.
Later that night, unable to sleep, she opened the locket she had been given. Glancing back over at Millie as the young woman slept, she looked back at the picture inside. On one side was a picture of a woman which she supposed was her mother and on the other, a family photo. She frowned a little, seeing there was an older boy in it. Millie had said her mother and father were dead but she'd never mentioned having an older brother.
Somewhere out there, maybe Millie did have family.
Shutting the locket after a time she closed her eyes, hoping to get some more sleep before dawn. Regardless of the consequences, if there was something she could do to help Millie, she'd do it even if it was the last thing she'd ever do.
As the morning sun rose, a body was found in the street.
Cade Alton had taken another life.
