Bound by Revenge (Guardian Series) (3 page)

Bradley told Sam to come here and meet with his daughter when they spoke. He made sure Sam went in under the guise of a long lost cousin. But that was the only information that Bradley provided. Now was the real test. Either that tiny snippet would be enough to get Sam safely entrenched in the group or he just withheld more information because he felt it wasn’t worth the risk of revealing too many details over the insecure lines. Either way, Sam was walking in blind and she had no idea what to expect of Abby. But, now that they were face to face and Sam had to opportunity to examine the young woman, what she saw didn’t surprise her in the least.

Abby was very attractive and had an immaculately manicured appearance. She couldn’t be more that 25 year old, just a baby in Sam’s perspective. She had dark brown hair and crystal blue eyes, with “girl-next-door” beauty. The kind that could knock you out before you ever saw it coming.

Both girls stood motionless for a moment, watching each other, waiting for the other to make a move. Sam tried hard to look as sweet and innocent as possible as Abby’s hard stare pierced through her while she waited to be invited in. Finally, Abby slid open the door and let out a slow breath to relax her tensed posture.

“Hi, Abby. Did your father tell you I was coming?” Sam spoke in her most professional tone, considering the young woman’s face was a snapshot of extreme confusion and concern.

“Samantha?” Abby paused briefly and gave Sam one more quick look up and down.

“I go by Sam, now.” Sam added while bobbing her head in agreement.

“I thought you were going to meet me at the office on Monday. That’s what my father had said, at least.”

“I know. I’m sorry but I got into town early and I couldn’t wait to catch up.” Sam lied. She was determined to stick to the background story she had agreed on with Bradley. She was relieved they’d discussed strategy when she called to tell him she was on her way. After bouncing a variety of ideas back and forth they agreed coming here first would be best.

Bradley suggested that the transition might be easier for his daughter if they started with the elaborate lie. He wanted the two girls to meet outside of the office first, thinking they would have a better opportunity to bond if they came together as family first.

Abby stepped out of the way to welcome her cousin into her home.

Abby dressed neatly, and kept her home the same way. Nothing was out of place.

It was clear from the set up that Abby was born into a family of wealth and privilege. Everything in the home was the best quality and it was arranged in a way that implied to Sam an interior decorator had a strong influence in the design. Sam had expected nothing less from a guardian’s bloodline.

Despite the wealth Abby’d grown up with, she didn’t come off as a spoiled rich kid. Sam could tell from the quick scan of the room that Abby was a hard worker who took pride in everything that she had accomplished or acquired. There wasn’t a speck of dust anywhere to be found in Abby’s home, or even so much as a water ring. And, as Sam looked into the sweet face before her, she saw the truth. There was no denying the steel strength flickering behind the smiling eyes of her new “cousin”.

“I was so excited when daddy told me you were going to come and join the business. It’s a real boy’s club at the office sometimes.” Abby’s voice cracked and betrayed her disgust. Chances were she’d had to fight hard for every ounce of respect she’d gotten. Sam had seen that, all too often, during her other interactions with humanity. It had been a regular obstacle to Sam’s success and frequently a source of contention among her charges.

“But I have to be honest, no matter how hard I try to place you, I just can’t remember you. I even went through some of my mom’s old albums and I couldn’t find any pictures of you and your parents.” Abby looked away. The slight sting of blush flashed across her cheeks as she made her confession.

“We were only five when my parents dragged me to Oregon for my dad’s job.” Sam smiled to herself, “I don’t remember too much about living in Ruthers.

“We always stayed in touch with Uncle Bradley, though. And when I called to tell him about the car accident last year, he suggested I come back. I wasn’t ready at the time. But I am now, so here I am.” Sam threw her hands out to her sides, curled the sides of her lips up and raised both eyebrows.

“You don’t have to act brave for my benefit; I know how hard it is to lose family. It’s been five years for my mother and I still think about her every day.” Abby sniffed back at her. “I can’t even imagine how hard it must have been losing the two of them at the same time. My father was right. You belong here with us, with your family.” Abby hooked her arm into Sam’s and walked her the rest of the way across the room, heading for the beige couch.

“I know I showed up before I was supposed to, but I wanted to come say hello before I went to search for somewhere to stay.” Sam knew that Abby would never let her stay anywhere else. And, not to disappoint, before Sam even finished talking, Abby bounced out of her seat.

“There’s no way I’m letting you head off on your own. I have the extra room. I’m alone here all the time, anyway. Plus, it would be nice to have some company.” Abby puffed the air out through her nose and threw her head back with a motion so small, Sam almost missed it.

“I can’t believe that you would do that for me.” Sam lied, letting alligator tears roll out of her eyes for effect.

The two girls sat together for the next hour. Catching up on all the little things in life that seemed appropriate conversation topics for long lost relatives until Abby finally got the idea Sam was waiting for.

“Give me a minute. I wanna call my dad and see if he has lunch plans today. I bet he can’t wait to see you.” Abby jumped up off the couch, grabbed the black cordless phone from its stand on the end table and headed for the kitchen.

Sam had no trouble hearing Abby’s end of the conversation, despite the thick walls between them. An angel’s senses were more like an animal’s than a human’s. She would have been able to hear every word, even if Abby had taken the call outside.

“Hi, Daddy.” Abby’s voice was an octave higher than normal when Bradley finally answered the phone after the third ring.

“Hi, hun. What’s going on?” Bradley spoke cheerfully for his daughter’s benefit. But he already knew. He could feel Sam’s presence across town. It was just a matter of time before Abby reached out to him to get the ball rolling.

“I wanted to know if you were available for lunch today. I have someone who wants to see you.” Abby’s tone was under control again and steady as she delivered the line as if it were a business proposition.

“Not another man, already, pumpkin. You barely got away from that last sap.” He played along and pretended he knew nothing about her visitor. After all, Sam showed up “early” and there was no reason for him to know that.

Even though there was no truth to his words, he couldn’t prevent the harsh tone that seeped through the line when he mentioned his daughter’s ex. He thought no one was ever good enough for his only daughter and unfortunately, he seemed to be right about that. Her record in that department was far less than stellar.

“No, no. Nothing like that.” Abby shook her head. “Sam’s here.”

Bradley faltered for just a second as he tried to think of the best way to shatter his daughter’s view of the world. It was a mask he’d built slowly and carefully throughout the years. “Just meet me at the Lake House. Say at 12:30.”

“Great! We’ll see you there. Bye, Daddy.”

“Bye, pumpkin.”

Bradley held his breath as he hung up the phone and pulled the Bluetooth out of his ear.

He’d been dreading this moment since the children were born. And now it was here. Somehow he had to ease his children into the lives they were destined to live. That would be no easy task since they had no idea how many unnatural creatures roamed the periphery, camouflaged as humans, never mind any idea about their own twisted family tree.

It would have been so much easier for them if their mother was still alive, he thought. She’d always been the backbone of the family. Too bad the marriage ended in dismal failure.

They had been divorced since right before Abby’s sixth birthday. Her mother was the children’s caretaker and a housewife extraordinaire. Bradley was the oil to her water. He traveled across the country and the world while she spent her life as a homebody in Ruthers. He used his consulting business as cover so he could tend to his inherent occupation as a guardian.

It broke his heart when Abby told him how she spent so many nights listening to her mother after she’d thought the kids had all gone to bed. Abby would sit on the top step with her arms around her knees, pulling them into her chest, rocking back and forth, and shaking. Every night was the same. She would listen to the soft voice coming from her mother, intermittently hiccupping then gasping for air before breaking down in panicked burst of tears.

The woman just couldn’t take having an absentee husband. To be a wealthy married woman, left alone to live like a single mother was just too much for the poor thing to handle. And Bradley had never blamed her for that choice.

Even though Bradley had loved his wife, it was work that was his life and he couldn’t find a way to put her before his duty. His children were another story entirely. He loved them as much as any father ever could. He never spent a night away without calling the house to speak to each of the kids about school, homework, and friends or anything else they would have said over dinner if they’d all been together.

But it was Abby’s mom who was left to really raise them. She was the one who helped with homework. She was the one who attended the school plays. She was the counselor and the disciplinarian, the hairdresser and the cheerleader. She was everything to Abby and her two brothers, one younger and one older, until she died of heart failure about five years ago.

She was the reason Bradley had chosen to send Sam in as a long lost relative and to mold Sam’s back-story to fit well with Abby’s emotional trigger. Sam would go in as the girl who’d lost the people she loved most. Abby wouldn’t be able to turn her away. She’d do anything she could to pull Sam into her life and make her welcome. It would give Abby a new family and someone else to care about.

Sam heard Abby hang up the phone so she wasn’t surprised when she looked up and saw Abby standing in the doorway, leaning her hip against the frame, arms crossed over her chest, with a shit-eating grin plastered across her face.

“Lunch at 12:30 down at The Lake House. Food’s great there. And I’m
sure
you’ve got lots to talk about.” Abby winked at Sam before shuffling out of the room to get ready.

Abby hit it head on. She had no clue how much they really had to talk about. The Lake house wasn’t gonna be the place, though. It wasn’t likely any relevant conversation would take place in such a public venue. That wasn’t a sandwich-and-tea kind of convo. It was more of a down-a-bottle-of-whiskey-and-see-how-it-goes type of exchange. 

Chapter Two

As they prepared to go, Sam’s nerves tore through her with tornado-like strength. Her body was so full of anxiety and excitement in response to the stimulus of heading out to meet the guardian, never mind the prospect of taking on the form of that idol. Finally, Sam summoned enough strength of will to bind the raw nerve endings and head off. She walked slowly, an unusual feat for someone normally blessed with a ballerina’s grace, trying to ignore the butterflies that seemed to be using the depths of her stomach as their own personal mosh pit.

The house was just as clean-cut from the front as it had appeared from the side entrance that she came through when she arrived. There was only one thing that surprised her. The car sitting in the driveway.

“Is that yours?” Sam looked at Abby incredulously, forgetting about her nerves in favor of the little girl inside her jumping up and down, begging for her turn behind the wheel.

“Yep. My dad says image is everything in this business. You need to show you’re successful for people to take you seriously.”

Abby cast her eyes away from Sam’s intense gaze and spent almost a full minute examining the rosebush at the corner of her house until the red drained from her skin. There was only a subtle peach hue to her cheeks when she looked back.