Prologue #3
“And you think that means something to me? It doesn’t.
That bastard never cared about me. The only reason I’ve been taking care of him all these years is because of you.
So I’d have a way of controlling you if you got out of hand.
And it wouldn’t look good if my father was out on his ass, living on the streets. ”
“Then you won’t follow through. This is a bluff.” Her heart was racing so hard that it hurt.
“Well, he’s very elderly and he has that heart condition. I’m sure no one would be surprised if he died of a heart attack.”
“Are you . . . are you really saying that you’d kill your own father just to get me to do what you want?” she asked.
How was she only now seeing the depth of his evil?
She shook in reaction, her stomach rolling over nauseously.
It was working, though, wasn’t it?
Hank knew that Arabella would do anything for her grandfather. He was the only person in this world that loved her.
“If you don’t come with me, you’ll have nothing, Arabella. You’ll be out on the streets. Your precious Pop-Pop will be all alone. But you can avoid all of that by just doing what the fuck you are told!”
“Why do you want me to go with you?” she whispered.
She didn’t understand.
“Because you’re a fucking pawn, Arabella,” he told her tiredly.
“Really, why did I pay for years of schooling for you to end up this dumb? You’re an asset.
You owe me. And when the time comes, you’ll pay.
Now, go and get ready. I have a car coming to take me to the airport in two hours so you need to pack my bag first.”
“What about Pop-Pop?” she asked. “If he stays here it’s too far for me to visit. And I’ll want to make sure that he’s well taken care of.”
He eyed her for a long moment. “Do everything I tell you and I’ll have him transferred to a nice place in Austin. You can even choose it. Go against me and he won’t live a very nice life. What’s left of it. Do we have a deal?”
A deal?
What sort of deal was that? One where she ended off worse off, that was for sure.
But what choice did she have? She couldn’t look after Pop-Pop. She couldn’t protect him from her father. Well, she could. But only by doing what this bastard wanted.
Gritting her teeth, she nodded. “We have a deal.”
“Good.”
Moving out of his study, she headed into her bedroom. Then she slid down onto her ass. Tears threatened but she pushed them back.
They wouldn’t help.
They never did. They hadn’t brought her mom back. They hadn’t helped when she’d been sent away to school and the other kids bullied her.
And they wouldn’t help now.
Why was he like this? She would have loved him . . . if he’d only once shown that he loved her.
But it was clear that she was a pawn on his chessboard. And he’d move her wherever he needed her most.
Eighteen months later . . .
Austin, Texas
Arabella rushed into the nursing home, breathing hard. She’d just gotten a call asking her to come down and she had no idea why.
“Hey Arabella,” Crystal greeted her with a harried look.
“Hi. Mrs. Owens just called and left a message. Do you have any idea what is going on?”
Crystal cringed. “Yes, I do. It’s—”
“Ms. Bridges, this way.”
Shit.
Arabella glanced over to find Mrs. Owens standing there. The nursing home manager was a thin, older woman who was always grimacing.
Arabella wasn’t a fan of hers. Neither was Pop-Pop. However, this was the best nursing home in Austin. And Pop-Pop loved it here.
Sometimes he loved it a bit too much. That old man could definitely create some trouble.
Trouble that she had to keep her father from finding out. Because it wouldn’t go down well with him. He had a reputation to uphold as the Lieutenant Governor of Texas.
Or that’s what he liked to tell her.
Sometimes she dreamed about telling everyone what he was really like. But who would believe her?
Everyone loved him. It was bizarre. How could they not see that good ole boy, Hank Bridges was a lie?
The PR people behind his reimage should all get a raise because they were freaking miracle workers.
What she didn’t understand is where the money for all of this came from. How could he afford their large house in Austin when they’d been close to broke?
He was driving around in a brand new car, wore expensive clothes, and had the backing of a huge team. None of that came cheap.
Part of her thought she should try to figure all of that out.
Another part told her that it wasn’t her problem. All she cared about was getting away from him. And taking Pop-Pop with her.
“Mrs. Owens, hi! Is there an issue?” she asked with a big smile.
Mrs. Owens sniffed and stared at her like she smelled bad. Honestly, the first few times she’d dealt with the woman, she’d had to discreetly sniff herself, worried that she did smell.
“Yes, there is an issue with your grandfather. Last night there was an . . . incident.” She sniffed again.
Perhaps she had something wrong with her olfactory system.
Or she just thought that sniffing gave her more of an air of disapproval.
It did.
“Is Pop-Pop all right?” she asked urgently. Surely they would have told her straight away if he was injured or ill.
“Oh, Mr. Bridges is fine. In fact, he seems quite pleased with himself. The two women fighting over him because they both believed they were dating him came off second best, though. One of them lost a chunk of hair and the other one has a black eye.”
Oh crap.
If only this was the first time she’d been called in for an ‘incident’ like this.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t.
Pop-Pop was a charmer and a definite favorite with the ladies at the nursing home.
“I’m sorry, but you can’t blame Pop-Pop for that. They are all adults.”
“This is a respectable nursing home. People here want peace and quiet. They do not want all this disruption and it must stop.”
“I’ll speak to him,” she promised.
“You do that. Just be aware that this is his last warning, Ms. Bridges. Next time we will have no choice but to ask that you find him other arrangements.”
This bitch.
Arabella thought about telling her exactly what she thought of her.
But her father wouldn’t like it if the press got wind of that. So she kept her mask on and nodded regally.
“I understand,” she said calmly.
Even though she was seething on the inside.
After walking out, she headed into the nursing home to find her grandfather. Surprisingly, he was in his room with the television on.
She frowned. That wasn’t like him at all.
“Pop-Pop?” she asked worriedly, stepping into the room.
He glanced up and she saw he was pale and appeared shaky.
“What is it? What’s wrong? Shall I get someone?” she asked urgently.
Shaking his head, he gestured at her. “Shut the door. Come. Come.”
After shutting the door, she headed over to sit next to him on the couch. “What is it?”
“Look.” He pointed at the television where a reporter was talking. But her words faded into the background as she read the writing streaming along a banner at the bottom of the screen.
Shock filled her.
Then horror.
And, finally, suspicion.
“Do you think that he . . . that he had something to do with this?” she whispered hoarsely.
“They said it was a heart attack,” Pop-Pop replied. “Did you know if the governor had a heart condition?”
“No. But I didn’t know him that well. What does this . . . what does this mean?”
“It means that the Governor of Texas is dead,” Pop-Pop replied grimly. “And that your father just became a lot more powerful.”
“He’s basically the governor now, isn’t he?” she asked.
“Yes, girl, he is.”
“He can’t have done this. He wouldn’t.” She shook her head. Sure, he’d threatened her and Pop-Pop, and she’d been scared enough to do what he wanted.
But arranging the death of the Governor of Texas . . . there was no way.
Right?
“There’s no proof that this was anything but a heart attack,” Pop-Pop said. “And if there is, then the cops will find it. This is the governor, they’ll be thorough. Your father couldn’t have done this.”
Right. Pop-Pop was right. She just had an overreactive imagination.
That was all.
Seven months later . . .
Austin, Texas
Shit. Shit. Shit.
She was late for dinner. She didn’t know what was going on tonight. But her father wanted her home for whatever dinner he was hosting.
And she lived to obey.
Ha.
She did the bare minimum necessary to keep him out of her life. At the moment, they lived two separate lives, barely seeing each other.
And that was the way she liked it. So long as she did the things he wanted, he left her alone.
Which meant that she could build up her secret custom cakes business. She’d started to gather quite the following on social media. Things were really starting to take off for her.
Soon she’d have enough money to get free of her father.
She rushed out of the bakery, waving at Wilma as she left.
“Good luck!” Wilma called out.
“Thanks.” She was going to need it. Since her father had taken over as Acting Governor, she’d seen a lot less of him.
Thankfully.
It meant that she could spend more time at Café Comma, creating cakes and cupcakes. Mostly, she did it after the café closed because then she could create her videos without any interruptions or noise. She never showed her face, she didn’t want anyone recognizing her.
The only people who knew that she made these videos were Pop-Pop and Wilma. Wilma was the daughter of one of Pop-Pop’s old friends. He’d connected them and they’d hit it off. Wilma had been all too happy to let Arabella use her café to bake her cakes.
So far her father had no clue about this arrangement and that’s the way she wanted to keep it until she was ready to move out.
And she knew exactly where she wanted to go.
It would be hard to leave Wilma, but if she could find her own place. . . God, that would be amazing.
She climbed into her car and drove as fast as she dared to the governor’s mansion. Her father insisted that she live there. He’d used the excuse that it was for security. Which seemed insane to her.