Free A Girl Called Fearless by Catherine Linka

was almost out the door when I saw the red light on over the confessional. Father Gabriel was waiting, but I didn’t have anything to confess. Sure, okay, so I lied on a regular basis, but I wouldn’t have to if I wasn’t gated, guarded, and spied on.
    Still … I stepped inside and sat down. The shade over the grate pulled back and I heard someone whisper, “Avie.”
    My head whipped up. Yates peered at me through the brass grate. “Hi.” His blue eyes were ultramarine in this light.
    â€œHi.” I leaned in until our faces were only a few inches apart. Yates smelled faintly of coffee and maple syrup.
    â€œSo did you meet Father G?”
    I sighed. “Yeah. Why didn’t you tell me you thought I should go to Canada?”
    â€œI thought you should meet Gabe first. See if you could trust him.”
    This was all coming at me so fast. “I’m not sure. I don’t know.”
    â€œHe helped Dayla.”
    â€œYeah, and look how that turned out.”
    â€œIt wasn’t his fault,” Yates said.
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œDayla’s father posted a reward. Seth owed money to another bodyguard and the guy gave him up.”
    â€œSo they were outed?”
    â€œThey’d have made it if it wasn’t for that. I’m sure of it.”
    I shook my head. Yates acted like this was so simple. “If I run, Jes Hawkins can hire a whole army to track me.”
    â€œYeah, he’s got a lot of money to throw around, but we know how to get girls out.”
    Yates didn’t get it. “I haven’t even turned seventeen yet and you want me to go to Canada all by myself and start a whole new life just like that?”
    He dropped his eyes and a moment passed before he said in a too quiet voice, “Don’t you remember what happened with Becca?”
    Tears blurred my eyes. “Yes.” I’d tried so hard to block it from my mind, how Becca had handed her newborn son to her husband, telling him, “Now you have your heart’s desire,” before she went upstairs and threw the rope over the beam in their bedroom.
    â€œI’m not going to kill myself,” I said.
    â€œI’m not saying you would, but the things that happened to her, they could happen to you.”
    A shiver traveled up my legs. “Like what?”
    â€œWell, like your fiancé starts scheduling your life. Dress fittings. Sessions with the Signing Planner. Verification appointment with the doctor. Have they sprung that on you yet?”
    My cheeks flamed, and I was glad the confessional was semidark. “Yes.” My appointment was tomorrow, and I prayed Yates wouldn’t ask about it.
    â€œAnd when you get tired of all this crap and you tell your Intended you don’t like it, he takes you out of school. Now you’re cut off from your friends. The next thing he does is move you into his compound, and take away your phone so you can’t call your family without permission. He listens in on your calls. He restricts access on your computer. Don’t you remember how we could never see Becca? How we could barely get to talk to her?”
    Yates’ eyes pleaded with me. I didn’t remember everything that happened to Becca, but I remembered a lot.
    â€œBecca didn’t have any money,” Yates said. “Not one credit card. Her husband wouldn’t even let her out to go to the grocery store without her bodyguard along.”
    â€œAre you trying to scare me, because you’ve succeeded!”
    Yates blew out a hard breath and the dark curls on his forehead stirred. “I’m sorry,” he said. His hand hung on the brass grate and he stretched his fingers toward me. “I don’t want anything to happen to you, and I can’t—you can’t pretend or wish it will all go away, because it won’t.”
    I felt like we were standing together in a cold rain. Okay, so I had to deal with the future