Excerpt from Barbed Wire Heart by Tess Sharpe, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

It feels like it's the first time they've ever been.

"Tell me," Daddy says, when Ben finally quiets to a whimper.

"I can't," Ben gasps out. "I can't. He'll kill me if I do."

"You Springfields, your momma didn't pop you out too bright, did she?" Daddy asks mockingly. "What do you think I'm gonna do if you don't tell me where he is?"

"Please. I'll do anything—money, whores, drugs, you name it, Duke, and I'll do—" His words dissolve into a yell, though I can't see what Daddy's doing to him with that knife.

I press my lips together to hold back the nausea as Daddy says, "Tell me," again, like it's the only words he knows.

"Unnggghh," Ben gurgles, panting. "Please. Please."

"Tell me."

"I can't. Carl's my brother."

Ben's left foot keeps twitching, like it's trying to make a break for it. It's the only part of him that's not blocked by the tractor, and I keep staring at his boots, because Daddy has the same pair. Momma bought them for him last year for Christmas. I'd helped her wrap them.

"Tell me where Springfield is," Daddy says. "Or I go find Caroline. How does that sound? That worth protecting your brother for? Last time I saw that wife of yours, she was looking mighty fine. Maybe I'll take my time."

I'm too young to understand what he means. Later, it'll horrify me.

Later, I'll tell myself it was a bluff. That he isn't that man.

But the possibility is there, right in front of me: He might be.

"No," Ben says weakly. "Not Caroline. Please."

"Then tell me," Daddy demands. "And I won't touch her or your boys. They'll be safe from me and mine. All I want is Springfield."

"Shit, shit…Carl's in Manton. Exit thirty-four on the old highway. House at the end of Hell's Pass. Don't you fucking touch my family!"

Daddy gets up off his knees, straightening, finally in full view. "Thank you."

He moves so fast—the motion so familiar as he reaches. His hands—and then gun—are almost a blur.

It's loud—the gunshot hammers in my ears, and there's this squishy sound that makes my stomach lurch.

I clap my hand over my mouth, but it's too late. I throw up, vomit staining my shirt, a wet splat against my skin. The smell of sour bile makes me gag as I try to get up, my legs refusing to cooperate.

I have to get into the house before he realizes what I've seen. But my legs are like rubber and there's dried salt on my cheeks when I push my messy hair out of my face.

I want Momma with an ache that never seems to get smaller, and just thinking about her makes me clumsy, stupid. When I get up, my foot hits a rock, sending it skittering against the barn, making a loud thunk.

I freeze on the spot.

"Who's there?" Daddy's voice thunders through the walls of the barn. I hear his footsteps, swiftly crossing the ground, and then the creak of the door opening as he peers out.

Oh no. My stomach tightens horribly. I feel like throwing up again.

"Harley, if that's you, you've got three seconds to let me know. Otherwise, I'm shooting. One…" Daddy says.

My mind's racing. I'm trying to understand.

Daddy killed him. Made it look easy. Like it doesn't matter.

Like it wasn't the first time.

"Two."

What's he going to do with the body? Will he bury it? Where? The woods?

"Th—"

"It's me!" I yell out, scrambling to my feet. My jeans are covered in dirt and my shirt's damp with vomit. My legs are still shaky, but I dart forward, around the corner and to the front of the barn.

He's standing in the entryway, the light spilling out, his arm still holding the door open.

Excerpted from Barbed Wire Heart by Tess Sharpe. Copyright © 2018 by Tess Sharpe. Excerpted by permission of Grand Central Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.