Hi all,

Bit of a tougher chapter here, TW for murder and child abuse.

Chapter 16

Reg Evans had made the biggest mistake of his life; coming to Gold Springs. His second mistake was being better than him. Reg was the only opponent that he'd ever come up against that was better at playing the game and that was one thing Cade wouldn't swallow easily. He'd been humiliated by him and that was utterly unforgivable. For the first time in his life, Cade had known two feelings he'd never experienced before when he'd lost so horribly to the grinning cowboy; fear and uncertainty.

It was more than just the fact of losing so much to him that really got him. Money could be replaced and after all, now that he had his nest egg safely back in his possession he'd have no more money worries again. He just had to figure out a way to cash in on his investment early, something he'd been doing discreetly with his lawyer from San Francisco while Missie had been missing. If his lawyer could find a loophole and he could get the money earlier, he'd be set. No. Money wasn't the issue.

It was his pride.

It was the fact that this upstart kid half his age was better at playing the game it had taken him his entire life to perfect.

After Jeanie had taken Missie upstairs, they had played another couple of rounds and he'd been able to win back a small amount of what he'd lost. Reg folded after the third game, stating that he'd had enough for one night and it was time for him to go enjoy his other winnings. After he had left, Cade was left alone at the table, swirling around the last of his whiskey in its glass while he pondered what he'd do next.

One thing was certain; Reg Evans wouldn't be leaving town alive.

It wasn't just the fact that he was still carrying around almost a thousand dollars that he'd been able to win from him, or the other money he'd already lost through him playing with Dusty and Ralph, it was the fact he'd taken his pride too. He'd become so desperate to win that he'd bet on his niece and then ultimately, his horse. It was just lucky that the cards had finally fallen in his favor on the last big bet otherwise he'd have been walking home. No, Reg Evans had just found himself a marked man and one that wasn't going to live much longer than that.

Chugging back the last of his drink, a sinister smirk grew across his lips. Reg Evans better enjoy the time that he had with Missie, it'd be the last he'd ever have. Thinking of it now, he'd been foolish to bet on the girl but he'd been desperate. As he thought about his niece, he shrugged his shoulders and poured himself another shot from the bottle. What was done was done. There was nothing he could do about it now. All she really meant to him was every penny of that one million dollar inheritance. What else happened to her was of no concern to him.

As the saloon began to empty with the late hour, Cade and Berta had retired to her room. Later that night, while the saloon girl slept beside him, he silently rose and snuck out, heading for his next order of business. Meeting in a dark alley with Dusty, he obtained the location of the cowboy and made tracks to his camp on the outskirts of town.

Reg's camp wasn't hard to find, the cowboy passed out in his bedroll with an empty bottle of booze beside him. Cade moved as silently as a cat stalking his prey, the knife he held in his hand glimmering in the light from the dying fire. Crouching down behind his victim, he tapped him on the shoulder to wake him. It wouldn't do to kill him in his sleep. That was too easy. The man at least deserved to know why he was about to meet a grizzly end.

With a start, Reg woke to see Cade above him, the man turning a knife over in his hand. "What-what do you want?" He asked, looking around anxiously as two other men appeared from the shadows. "W-what are you doing here?"

"You took something from me." Cade replied coldly, grasping the man's head with one hand while the other held the knife over his throat. "I've come back to get what's owed to me."

Fear as like none other he'd ever experienced flooded over him. Oh why hadn't he listened to his mother and kept away from gambling? "Y-you'll never get away with this." His eyes darted from Cade to the other two men who'd come into view. He recognized them, having played poker with them the night before. "They-they'll know it was you."

"That's where I'm afraid you're wrong." He countered, grinning ghastly. "I own this town. No one dares to defy me."

"The Sheriff-"

"No one!" He yelled, digging the blade in a little deeper. "No one crosses me and lives to tell the tale. Not even the Sheriff."

Those were the last words the cowboy would ever hear, his throat being slit in one smooth motion. Watching the life drain from his eyes, Cade was satisfied that justice had been served. Rising, he went over to the man's belongings, his saddle, saddlebags and other things having been set just over from him. "You two know what's to be done." He remarked as he drew the cash that was rightfully his from the deceased man's saddlebags. Reg no longer had a need for it. Pulling a couple of bills from the pile he handed each of them a fifty dollar bill. "I trust you'll execute this discreetly."

Dusty grinned, revealing missing teeth. "Just like always, boss."

It was the noise of the commotion outside that woke Millie and Jeanie early in the morning, Jeanie getting up to investigate. Pulling her curtains aside, down in the street below about fifty yards in front of the hotel, were a group of people gathered around. In the midst of them lay the figure of a man and Jeanie knew instantly what had happened.

Another murder.

"What's going on?" Millie questioned, joining her as Jeanie dropped the curtain. "What's happening out there?"

Sighing heavily, Jeanie turned back to her. "I knew it wasn't going to end well last night. That man, Reg. He's been killed."

Both her eyebrows raised. "How'd you know that?"

"He had it coming, beating Cade at poker like that. I've seen it before. A couple of cowboys came through just after I came here. They won big against Dusty. The next morning they were both found murdered and robbed. Word around here is Cade had his hand in it but no one dares go against him. Like I said last night, the old Sheriff tried once. He ended up dead."

Utterly disgusted, Millie shook her head. "There's only one way of stopping someone like Cade and that's by him ending up dead too."

At a knock sounding on the door, both girls jumped as the very man they were talking about entered the room. "Millie, let's go."

Swallowing, she nodded and after giving Jeanie the tiniest of smiles to say goodbye, she followed after him.

As the door closed on her room, Jeanie flopped down on her bed again, staring up at the ceiling.

Her fingers finding the locket around her neck Millie had given for her, her heart was filled with nothing but pity for the poor girl.

There had to be something she could do to help.

Something.

A week.

One whole agonizing week had passed by and still they weren't any closer to finding Millie.

Wearily, after reading over the rest of his notes again, Jarrod tossed the paper back onto the pile in the center of his desk and rubbed his hands over his face. He couldn't help but feel like he was missing something important. There had to be something he just wasn't seeing here or maybe there was something he hadn't remembered yet. Try as he did he couldn't remember anything else that Millie had told him that he hadn't already written down. Again he'd questioned his family the night before but still, nothing else had been told to him he didn't already know.

He just couldn't shake the feeling that there was some piece of vital information he couldn't remember.

If only he could recall what it was.

With a sigh, picking up another paper, he began to look it over again. There was nothing else he could do. Sheriff Madden had assured him that he'd let them know as soon as anything came in but still, no one had reported seeing her. Despite the telegrams Sheriff Madden had sent out to the sheriffs of the surrounding counties or the efforts of the Pinkertons, Millie had been missing for a week now and still there hadn't been any sign of her.

She'd seemingly vanished without a trace.

Standing in the doorway of the study, Victoria's heart went out to her son as she watched him still pouring over his notes. Her eldest had hardly slept the entire week, barely had eaten too. All he did was continue going over and over the little pieces of information Millie had shared with them in the hopes of finding some clue that would lead them to her. It was a hopeless task. If there had been any clues he'd have found them already but she understood. She understood his need to be doing something while they waited anxiously for any word of her whereabouts.

"Jarrod, you need to get some rest." She said gently as she entered, her son looking up at her for a brief moment as she came and sat on the corner of the desk. "Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately?"

Jarrod sighed heavily. "I can't help but feel that I'm missing something." He responded, ignoring her question. "I-I don't know if there's something I should remember or if there's something here I'm not seeing but there's something missing." Picking up another piece of paper, the notes from his second conversation with Silas, he began going over them again. "It's here, I've just got to keep looking."

"No Jarrod. It's not here or you'd have already found it." Victoria pointed out, her son looking back up at her as he placed the paper down. "I know you want to find Millie, I want that too but you have got to stop. You have got to take a break. You can't keep on like this."

"I can't stop…" He finally said after a long pause. "I have to keep looking. I have to find something. I've got to find her."

"I know but you can't help Millie if you don't look after yourself. You are beyond exhausted, you haven't eaten in goodness knows how long. How can you think clearly when you are in this state? Maybe if you take a break and get some rest you can come back and look at this again through a different set of eyes."

Jarrod sighed again, knowing his mother was right in what she said. "I just…" His eyes began to mist as he looked up at her. "I let her down once and leaving this when I could be so close to finding something feels like I'm letting her down again."

Moving closer to her son, Victoria placed her hand on his shoulder. "You aren't letting her down Jarrod. You're doing everything you can to try and find her. We know more than we've ever known about Millie because of you piecing together everything each of us have told you. We will find her, Jarrod, you just have to keep hope."

"I think I'm beyond holding out hope."

"We will find her, Jarrod."

"She shouldn't have been taken in the first place." He replied angrily, making a fist as he looked at the pile of papers on his desk. "It's all because I allowed her to ride in that damn race! If she'd never ridden, if she'd never won, her photo would never have been in the paper and none of this would have ever happened. She'd still be here where she belongs, safe. With people who love and care about her. Not somewhere across the country with…" He stopped himself before cursing in front of his mother. "If I'd only made sure they wouldn't have put her photo in the paper."

"We can't change the past Jarrod and you know it. Beating yourself up isn't going to help Millie any now, is it?"

"No. I guess not." Breathing in deeply, he shook his head. "I just feel so helpless. It makes me sick knowing what Millie has gone through before at the hands of this man and to know that she's out there, somewhere with him again it's…" He took another deep breath as he struggled to hold himself together. "I promised her. I promised her I'd keep her safe. I promised her he'd never hurt her again. I couldn't keep my promise and now… Now we don't know if she's still alive or if…" His voice trailed off as he swallowed the rising lump in his throat. "And to top it off, if we do find her, I doubt Judge Banner is ever going to grant me permanent custody now of her with all this."

"You've come to care for her, deeply. Haven't you?"

"She's become like another sister or even a daughter to me." Jarrod replied wholeheartedly, his voice breaking a little. "She's become one of the family. As much a part of my family as you and my siblings are."

Victoria smiled a little at her son's declaration of Millie being a part of their family.

"And I..." He paused. "I've been considering adopting her instead of just going for custody." He stopped again, his eyes misting. "I just hope she knows how much she means to me. To us."

"I think she does." She patted his shoulder. "Go get something to eat and some sleep. I'm sure it'll come to you what you're missing in time."

Leaving the town of Gold Springs behind them and moving on in the direction of Cade's home, what had taken place there played over and over in Millie's mind. Cade hadn't said anything to her about him having pawned her off during the poker game and she was content leaving him none the wiser as to the little swap that had taken place between her and Jeanie. One thing was for sure, she'd be forever thankful to that girl for giving herself up in her stead. Giving her mother's locket Jeanie had been one of the hardest things she'd ever done but it was the only way she could think of repaying her. Nothing she could think of would ever be able to fully repay her for what she'd done for her.

As the day wore on, Millie obediently keeping her horse in step with Cade's, she wondered about what her next steps were going to be. She needed to come up with some kind of a plan. While she could have tried escaping from the saloon the night before she'd ultimately decided against it. She'd never have gotten far before Cade caught up with her, especially given he owned the Sheriff and the rest of the town.

She was on her own as far as rescuing herself was concerned.

Riding on, they arrived in Alder mid-afternoon, Cade stopping as they passed through to purchase supplies before they continued on back to the ranch. As the hills she recognized came into view, she couldn't help the shiver of fear that coursed through her. She was returning to the place of her nightmares. Back to where it all had begun.

As they came atop a rise, the ranch below in view now, Cade reined his horse in and turned to the girl as she stopped beside him. "Well my dear, here we are. Home, sweet, sweet home."

"Stuff a sock in it, Uncle Cade. This was never my home and it never will be."

"Oh, you've still got a touch of Ruth's fiery temper I see. We'll have to do something about that. I take it last night didn't quite do that for you."

Her jaw set, Millie glared at him. "What kind of Uncle sells his niece for another man's pleasure? And you have the audacity to say something about my temper?" She paused for a moment, knowing she was dancing on thin ice with the words that came from her mouth. "If anything, the only thing last night did for me was to hate you all the more."

"Hate's a strong word my dear."

"And it's accompanied with a strong feeling of loathing along with its friend; a healthy dose of wishing you were dead."

"Come now Missie, that's taking it a little too far, even for you." Cade replied with amusement. Apparently last night hadn't affected her at all. If anything, she was starting to find that little bit of fight she'd had the first night they'd been together again. "You really wish harm to come to your dear ol' Uncle?"

If I could kill you with my bare hands right here, right now, I would. "After the hell you've put me through-" She hissed as she held eye contact with him. "in a heartbeat."

There was something in the way she looked at him that Cade didn't like. He'd never seen this in her in the past. Something had happened the night before. A change had taken place within her. No longer was she the obedient, sniveling, pathetic little human she'd been all week. No. This new Missie had found a backbone he'd never expected her to have within her.

It was going to make things all the more interesting.

Nudging his horse forward again, the two riders continued on their way. Millie's eyes bored holes into Cade's back as she rode off to the side just behind him. She'd just have to wait and buy her time. Out of her three options, herself dying was no longer one of them. Either she'd escape or kill Cade herself. They were the only two acceptable solutions to this situation now.

She had to stop him.

Somehow, she had to stop him for good.

Cade sat in the dining room at the table later that night, a bottle of his best whiskey sitting in front of him with a glass in his hand. He looked back up at the grandfather clock across the room, Missie was late with his supper. "Tsk tsk." He tutted softly as he poured himself a little more to drink. She'd really forgotten the lessons she'd been taught in the time she'd been away. Oh well, no time like the present to start making her remember them again. A smirk came to his lips at the thought and he looked back towards the kitchen. "What's the holdup girl? You out there butchering that steer for steak yourself?" He hollered.

"Oh shut up."

Cade chuckled, shaking his head. Oh when would she learn? "You're really pushing my patience here, dear girl."

"It'll be done when it's done."

Picking up his glass again, he continued to ponder the change that had taken place in Missie while he waited for her to finish with his meal. The girl wasn't happy to be back here, that much she'd made clear. She'd been unwilling to cooperate with his request for her to start cleaning up the mess that had occurred during her absence and after he'd had enough of her back talking, a well placed fist had seen fit to correct her attitude for the moment.

He'd put up with her nonsense for long enough.

Now that they were out of the public eye, he wouldn't be taking cheek from her any longer.

The girl was going to learn her place again.

He'd make sure of that.

Looking back down in his glass, he wondered if the lawyer he was paying a small fortune to had made any progress on finding a loophole with Missie's trust fund. To him, all she was worth was that money that should have been his and once he'd obtained it, she was just another problem that would need to be taken care of in time. Until then though, he needed her alive unless…

Maybe there was a way of getting that money sooner than he'd expected.

If some unfortunate accident befell her that resulted in her untimely death, then given that he was her custodian, the money by rights would be forfeited to him.

Wouldn't it?

His evil scheming was interrupted by the sound of footsteps, Missie coming to deliver a plate in front of him. Looking down at his plate, he was unimpressed at what he saw. His steak had been burnt to shoe leather and the potatoes and gravy were so watery that they could be mistaken for soup. "This isn't fit for pigs."

"Oh I'm sorry." Millie smirked at him, her left eye already swelling up and bruising from their earlier encounter. "I was having problems with the stove. Seems like I just couldn't get the heat quite right… And the potatoes and gravy, well, I seem to have forgotten what quantities to use."

Glaring at her, he could still see that look of belligerence and defiance in her eyes. "You did this on purpose."

"Who? Me? Do a thing like that? No."

"I've had just about enough of you, young lady-" He declared loudly as he rose from his chair, standing over her.

"Good!" Millie unleashed her fury at him, yelling at him at the top of her lungs right back at him. "Because I've had more than my fill of you! You are the poorest excuse for a human being I've ever seen if ever I've seen one. You are nothing and you'll all ways be nothing but a horrible, gutless coward-"

Moments later, Millie would come to regret the words that had come from her mouth.

Slowly, Millie's senses began to return to her, her body aching as she returned to consciousness. She'd paid dearly for the remarks she'd made, having been beaten senseless by Cade. Forcing her eyes open, her vision cleared after a moment and she could see through the dim moonlight through the window that she'd been dumped on the floor of her room while she'd been out of it. She couldn't have been out of it for more than a minute or so but the house was quiet and of that, she was glad. That meant that Cade had probably left for town, leaving her here on her own.

Had antagonizing him been worth it?

Probably not.

Would she do it again?

You bet she would.

She'd been pushed to her breaking point and had put up with his abuse enough.

Spurred on by her conversation with Jeanie, some of that fighting spirit had come back to her.

Her head feeling like a thousand hooves were running through it, she moved to sit up and when she did so, heard the sound of a chain rattling. Frowning, she looked down to see that an inch wide iron shackle had been padlocked around her wrist, the chain attached to it anchored her to the wall.

Well that's… Less than ideal.

Sitting still to wait for the nausea to pass, Millie took stock of the new scenario she found herself in. Well done. Well damn done. You've really done it this time! She chastised herself, tugging on the chain for a moment though she knew full well it was fruitless. Cade had apparently been busy while she'd been gone. She'd never been shackled before.

Then again, she'd never been successful in running away either.

And now, it appeared that Cade was making sure she'd never be successful again.

Winching, she rose from the floor and forced herself to make it to her bed. Cade had given her a thorough going over. Her ribs and stomach were killing her from where he'd laid his boot into her once she'd dropped to the floor. When he'd started throwing punches, she'd thrown them right back. It was the first time she'd fought back and she'd laid a good couple of her own punches back, as well as a good knee in the family jewels. That though… That didn't prove to be the smartest idea she'd ever had. She'd apparently not hit him there hard enough for all it did had further enraged him.

Yep.

She'd really done it this time.

Lying here, attempting to keep her breathing steady and even despite the protesting of her aching ribs, she couldn't help but chuckle as she thought of Nick. If he'd had been there to witness what had happened, she was sure he'd have been proud of her fighting back. Unbeknownst to anyone, after having begged him endlessly to teach her how to defend herself, Nick had been showing her a few things here and there. While it hadn't been enough to stop Cade, she was proud at least she'd given it her best shot.

She wasn't totally defenseless anymore.

Millie was done with taking it on the chin.

It was time for her to fight back.

Riding into town after having secured Missie in her room, Cade nursed his sore ribs angrily. How could he have known the little wildcat could throw such a punch? He'd been taken by surprise when she'd hit back, the girl having been able to lay a few solid punches of her own before he'd gotten the upper hand. Not only had she further aggravated his healing ribs (being sure he'd cracked a couple of them when he'd had that run-in with whoever had come to Audra's defense the week before) but to further add insult to injury, the little b**** had given him a solid knee to some very vital parts below the belt.

He'd really lost it then, having given it to her. He hadn't noticed until a little while later that he'd knocked her senseless and that was when he gave up, unceremoniously dumping her in her room and securing her before he left to go lick his wounds in Alder. Winching, he moved carefully in the saddle to try and alleviate some of the pain in his nether regions as his horse jogged down the road.

Perhaps heading to Alder hadn't been such a good idea after all.

If he didn't need her alive for the money, he would have killed her there and then.

It had taken all the restraint that he had not to bash her head in with the nearest object he could find when he'd realized he'd knocked her unconscious.

He needed her alive for now but if his lawyer confirmed he'd get the money in the event she died before receiving it, he'd take care of her without hesitation.

And he'd be glad to be rid of her.