Prologue #2
Shaw drew his phone out, swearing. “Shit. It’s getting late and I have to go.”
“Oh.” She tried to hide his disappointment. “Thank you for line dancing with me.”
“Anytime. You be good, darlin’. Do what Devon says or he’ll let me know.” He pointed at her. “And don’t listen to people who try to pull you down.”
She raised her eyebrows. “And what will you do if I misbehave?”
“I don’t know. Probably spank you or something.”
She gaped at him. “You wouldn’t!”
He winked at her.
Yeah, he had to be joking. He definitely seemed like a bit of a trickster.
Hmm. He probably thought she was gullible or something because she’d never been to a bar.
That was kind of true. In some ways she hadn’t experienced much of life. And in other ways she’d experienced far too much.
“Wait!” she said quickly. “I . . . I probably won’t see you again.”
He walked backward toward the door. She had no idea how he didn’t bump into anything. But everyone just walked around him, seemingly unconcerned. Perhaps they were used to him.
“You never know when we will meet again. Especially if Devon tells me you’ve been naughty, then I’ll have to track you down!”
Oh, dear Lord.
He was terrible. She turned back around to sip on her orange juice in the hopes of hiding her red cheeks.
She wouldn’t see him again, but it was a nice fantasy.
Three months later . . .
Los Angeles
“Arabella! Arabella, where are you?”
Shoot. She wiped her hands on her apron. He wasn’t supposed to be home for another few hours and she’d just gotten the cupcakes into the oven.
Oh well.
She’d just tell him they were for the nursing home. That would annoy him, but it was better than him knowing that she was making money selling her baking.
Not that it was much money.
It wouldn’t pay for Pop-Pop’s nursing home or his medication. Or even her Epi-pens if she had to replace them regularly.
But at least it felt like she was doing something.
“Arabella!” her father yelled. “Where are you?”
Crap. Crap. Crap.
She took off her apron and rushed out of the kitchen, banging into the corner of the island as she ran.
Ouch.
Shit.
That was going to leave a bruise. She quickly checked her appearance in the mirror in the hall, then headed to her father’s study.
As she entered, she saw him pouring himself a drink. She grimaced when she saw it was only two in the afternoon.
And he was already drinking?
That didn’t bode well.
“Is everything all right, Father?” she asked, trying to keep her voice calm and emotionless.
Her father wasn’t fond of emotions. At least when it came to her. He loved to express his own emotions.
Turning to her, he looked her up and down. “Why do you look like such a mess?”
“I’m sorry. I was in the kitchen.”
“In the kitchen? What are you doing in there?”
“Well, since we had to let Michelle go, I’ve been cooking and baking.” To say their financial situation was dire was understating it.
At least the nursing home was paid for another two months. She had to figure out a plan before Pop-Pop got kicked out.
He waved his hand through the air. “Forget about all of that. I’ve solved our financial issues.”
A feeling of dread filled her. “How?”
His business was in a financial mess that she was meant to get him out of by marrying Cole. But that hadn’t worked the way that her father had thought.
Since Cole was now living in Haven with his former assistant. And her husband.
Who she guessed was now Cole’s boyfriend too.
Anywhere else people would look askance at someone being in a relationship with two people. In Haven, no one had even blinked. In fact, from what she’d heard while they’d been there, that wasn’t even the most unusual arrangement.
She’d been thinking about Haven a lot. About how women were treated there.
Protected. Cherished.
She’d never experienced that from her own family, let alone strangers.
It was unusual and intriguing and she couldn’t seem to stop thinking about what it would be like to live in that cute town where people seemed to really care about each other.
She was certain there was a catch. There had to be.
Her father thought they were all weird sickos.
“We’re moving to Texas.”
“Texas? Father, Cole doesn’t want to marry me.”
Was she an idiot? Why did she bring up Cole?
Hank’s face started to turn purple. “Fuck that asshole,” he snarled. “Thought he could ruin me by pulling out of our agreement? Well, he’ll regret the day he went against me.”
“I don’t think he was going against . . .” she trailed off at the look her father gave her.
Right. He didn’t want to hear that she was pretty certain Cole hadn’t given her or her father another thought.
It might have been nice if he’d cared a little bit about her, but she didn’t think that Cole had never really seen her.
It didn’t mean he was a bad person.
He’d just been in love with two other people. She didn’t really have the right to expect any level of care from him.
“Why are we moving to Texas? Have you got a new job or something?”
Hank smiled. “You could say that. I’m going to run for Lieutenant Governor of Texas.”
She blinked.
“Um. What do you mean? You’ve got no experience with politics.”
“Don’t need experience when you know people. You think your old man can’t do it?” he asked.
“Well, yes, of course you can,” she said. When Hank Bridges wanted something, he usually found a way to get it.
She figured that’s why he was so upset about Cole. People didn’t generally go against him.
“But what about the business?” she asked.
“Who cares about that?” he said.
Well, she’d thought he did. It seemed to be all he lived and breathed for.
What was going on here?
“So start packing. I need to get to Austin immediately and start working on the campaign. You’ll have to sort everything here.” He turned away, looking at something on his phone and smiling.
It wasn’t a nice smile.
What was going on here? What was he planning? Nothing about this made any sense.
But what she did know was that she couldn’t trust him.
It was sad when you couldn’t trust your own father.
Arabella was starting to feel like she’d given this man so much and he’d given her nothing but grief in return.
He was manipulative. And would say anything to get his own way. Yeah, she’d wanted to marry Cole to free herself. But also because her father had told her that without the merger, his employees would all lose their jobs.
She didn’t know how he’d managed to run his business into the ground. He’d owned a large construction firm and a manufacturing plant. Not to mention that at one stage he’d also owned some commercial properties.
She’d figured that she could enter what was essentially a business arrangement to help all those people keep their jobs.
She also had trouble telling people no.
Especially her father.
“But what if I don’t want to move?” she said. Los Angeles was her home. And what about Pop-Pop? She couldn’t leave him. There was no way.
Her breathing grew faster.
Hank turned back to her. “What do you mean what if you don’t want to leave?”
Give him what he wants.
You can’t go against him, Arabella.
“What if I don’t want to leave? I have friends here.” Lies. The only friends she had were over eighty and lived in a nursing home. “Los Angeles is my home and I’m not sure I want to go.”
“It’s quite amusing that you think you have a choice, Arabella,” he said, striding over to her.
She stepped back, feeling a shaft of fear race through her.
There was a weird look on his face. And his cheeks were a deep red. His breathing grew faster, sweat coating his upper lip.
“Do you really think that you get to do things that you want? What makes you think your wants come into this decision? You do what I tell you to do because you belong to me!”
It wasn’t like she hadn’t known that was how he felt. But it still hurt hearing it.
“I don’t belong to you,” she whispered. “You can’t make me do anything.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Arabella.” His voice grew quieter.
Hank Bridges wasn’t a quiet man. He was a big, larger-than-life guy. And so him going quiet like was terrifying.
Breathe.
“I can make you do exactly what I want and you’ll do it. You should just be grateful that I found a way to get us out of this mess that didn’t involve you having to whore out your body. But you were prepared to do that, weren’t you, Arabella? You were going to whore yourself to Cole.”
Why was he saying these awful things?
Arabella swallowed back her tears, raising her chin. “I was going to be his wife.”
“You were being sold to him. He was basically paying for you.”
She shook her head. Cole had been aloof and distracted. Removed. But she hadn’t gotten any vibes from him that he’d seen her as a possession.
A whore.
“No. Cole wasn’t like that.”
“Get a grip, Arabella. Of course he was. And now he lives in that depraved fucking town. A place we’ll never return to. Pack our stuff up, Arabella. This is happening.”
Maybe she should just keep her mouth shut and once he was gone . . . she’d just leave.
She didn’t have much money saved, but surely there was somewhere cheap she could stay while she got a job.
Right. Because people will snap you up. You have no job experience. You have no real skills other than baking and decorating.
She needed to step things up. Because it was clear that she desperately needed to get out from under her father’s thumb.
“Oh, and if you think about trying to run, just remember who pays for your precious Pop-Pop to live in such a nice home.”
Oh God.
Swallowing, she took a step to the side, toward the door of his study. He couldn’t mean that, right?
Arabella licked her lips as she gaped at him. “You wouldn’t. He has nothing to do with this. He’s your father!”