Chapter 1
Kelly’s phone rang, disturbing the silence. She looked down at it, not recognizing the number on the screen. The area code was Iowa. It had been a long damn time since she had been there. She picked it up and tapped the screen, “Hello.”
An audible gasp came from on the other end then a distracted female voice called out, “Kelly? Is that really you? Please tell me it’s you.”
Kelly froze. “Char? Charlene Richards?”
“Oh, thank God.” Char sighed hard. “I’ve been trying to find you for over a year. I was so hoping you would remember me.”
Kelly paused then asked, “Where did you go? One day you were there and the next you weren’t. What happened to you?” She swallowed hard and added, “I thought we were best friends growing up.”
“Oh honey, I thought so too,” Char told her.
“The night we left for good, my uncle came for us,” Char explained.
“Our mom’s brother, Victor. He busted through our door then he and my mom had a fight.
He told her she had disgraced the family long enough.
He needed her to come home and do her duty for the family.
Mom told him she had walked away from the family for a reason and she wasn’t going back. ”
Kelly could read the shock in her voice, but she didn’t say anything yet. She just listened.
“Victor told my mom she didn’t have to live like she did now.
That's all she had to do was come back and apologize to our mother and take her place again.” Char caught her breath and then she stumbled on, “But Mom told him she wouldn’t come back and she didn’t owe her mother any apology because she hadn’t done anything wrong.
She just didn’t want to be in an arranged marriage for the purpose of a business deal.
That’s when Victor looked around our house and said, “So where is your husband then? Why then are you living here in this dump of a house? You know what mother’s rules are. ”
Kelly had to ask, “What were the rules about?”
Char paused then said, “My grandmother is a powerful woman and rich too. My mom told us that all the children were to be married off to the highest bidder and that my mom was supposed to marry a man named Taggert Williams before I was born. But my mom didn’t love him, she loved my dad instead and they had to run away to be together.
My dad’s name was Luke Richards and he died in a construction accident two years after Rosie was born.
I was ten at the time and I saw how hard my mom worked for everything we had after my dad was gone.
We had to give up the house and move to the neighborhood where we met you, remember? ”
“I remember,” Kelly said quietly. “I remember your mom too.”
“Yeah well, that night Victor hit my mom, over and over. In fact, he left her there, on the floor unconscious. Do you remember my little sister Rosie?”
“Yeah, I remember her. Sweet little Rosie. Of course.”
“He grabbed me and Rosie. We fought him then he had another guy come in. He hit us and they made us leave. They had to literally drag us out of that house and drove away with us. He took us to our grandmother’s house in Kansas City and that old biddy made our lives hell for the next six years.
She groomed me and Rosie to make us biddable brides to gain our place in society.
We were nothing more than slaves to gain another link to our grandmother’s business empire. ”
Kelly gasped and asked. “What did you do?”
Char went quiet for a few seconds then she said softly, “I took a note from my mom’s book and I ran away before grandma dearest could sell me into marriage with a man three times my age.
I walked from Kansas City back to Iowa and that’s where I found my mom’s headstone.
That beating Victor had given her along with both of her daughters disappearing.
.. it killed her. She died of a broken heart. ”
“Oh, my God,” Kelly whispered. “What have you been doing since then?”
Char replied with a growl in her voice, “I’ve been watching and waiting for the right time to get back at Victor.
To bring the old bitch’s empire down and I’m almost there.
Then a year ago I found out something. My grandmother made another deal, this time she made one for Rosie.
Before I could stop her, she sold my baby sister into a marriage with the devil himself.
I finally found Rosie and I think she’s in real trouble. ”
“What do you mean, in trouble?” Kelly asked.
Char took a deep breath and told her, “A week ago, Rosie finally called me. She said she was a prisoner inside his house and she thought he was gonna kill her. That’s when I heard her scream and then the phone went dead. Oh, Kelly, I have to get her out of that house and get her safe.”
“What do you want me to do?” Kelly asked.
“I want you to meet me and go on a rescue mission with me,” Char said.
“Will you help me get my sister out of her hell and somewhere safe? I know it’s asking a lot from someone you haven’t seen in almost five years but I don’t know who else to ask.
If I went in alone I don’t think Rosie or I would survive. I need your help.”
Kelly smiled and she said, “You better not go without me. Just tell me when and where to meet you. I’ll be there.” She paused, “Can I bring a friend along?”
Char sighed deeply. “God yes, bring whoever you want, we may need the help. Meet me in San Antonio as soon as you can get there. I’ll be on the River Walk.”
Going after Ty...
Kelly quietly stepped inside the room. She looked at the sleeping figure on the bed and sneered without saying a word.
Ty Regis lay in the middle of the bed. He was a big guy and his hands resting on top of the blanket looked to be big enough to snap bones in an instant.
But his hands also looked soft, not like he’d worked hard all his life.
One of the kind of men who just took what he wanted from anyone who wasn’t well off enough to fight him.
He also had an arrogant look on his face that told Kelly exactly what kind of man he was even while he slept. She curled her lip up a notch and made her way carefully over to the bed.
A selfishness reflected from his overall presence that told her he was a user and a despot.
This was a cruel man who didn’t care about anything but the next dollar he could steal away from someone who’d worked hard for a wage.
Like what meant everything to them was his prize to take.
The only way he could be happy was when he made others miserable.
A man just like Uncle Victor or her so-called father Owen. She knew his type alright. He wore a cruel smirk on his lips. Kelly knew his type and she despised them.
Yeah, she was ready to lay this fucker out.
Kelly looked up and Comanche and nodded.
Comanche reached next to the door with a gloved hand and snapped on the lights.
Ty grimaced and opened his eyes while sitting up in the bed.
“What the fuck is this?” he shouted. He quickly looked around and saw three others in his bedroom.
“Who the hell are you people and how dare you enter my house.” He quickly shoved the covers back and leapt from the bed.
He grabbed Kelly by the throat and shoved her back.
Then he hit her. His strike split her lip. “How fucking dare you!”
Kelly just smiled, wiped her hand across mouth, then she spit out a glob of blood and it hit his chest.
Ty curled his hand into a fist and raised it to hit her again.
He didn’t know this but...the previous hit was the only one he would get in on her.
Kelly raised her bat and sneered as she stepped closer. Then she swung the bat and the thud it made when it connected with his jaw was loud. “How dare we? How dare you.”
Ty screamed as he was laid out on his bed. His hand flew to his jaw and his burning eyes would have scorched Kelly if looks could do that. “Who the fuck are you and what do you want h-here?” Ty managed to mutter as his jaw was throbbing in pain.
Kelly smiled. She stared at Ty and told her men, “Search the room. I'm sure there’s something here that we can use against this fool in court.”
Ty glared at her and sat up again. “How dare you come into my home... into my bedroom. I’ll have you arrested for this.”
“Did you make a good deal with Olivia, or was it Victor you made the deal with?”
Ty paled slightly but he didn’t say anything for a long moment. Then he said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Kelly snarled then raised her bat again and slammed it down onto his left leg.
Ty screamed again as his hands flew to his knee cap. He released more foul-mouthed shouting as he clutched his leg. “W-what the hell are you doing?”
“Have you raped her yet?” Kelly growled.
“You’re forty-five fucking years old. She’s seventeen and scared to death.
We know you’ve beaten her already. We have a witness.
You’re the type of man that likes to hurt women, aren’t you?
Your hands tell a story, did you know that?
” Kelly slammed her bat into his shoulder.
Ty screamed out in pain again.
“I’ve seen your type on the streets,” she went on with rage in her voice.
“You are nothing more than a fucking- fat- ass bully. How many women have you paid off for the beatings you gave them? Huh? How many times have you crossed that line?” Kelly raised the bat in her hand and brought it down on his groin area.
The hit sounded hard in the silence of the room.
Ty opened his mouth to shout but no sound came out of his mouth, instead his face went grey and he slumped on his bed. The hit had been vicious.
Comanche looked around Ty’s bedroom and just shook his head. The once pristine bedroom looked like a tornado in a trailer park. There was blood everywhere, mostly Ty’s but some of it was Kelly’s as well.
“Wow,” Chase exclaimed as he joined him. “Kelly fights dirty and I fucking love it.” He grinned.