In her last effort to leave, she felt her feet moving in the wrong direction in a mad rush and she tentatively picked up the phone before it could go to voicemail.
“H…hello,” she said, her voice tripping over the words.
“Sierra? Is that you? What’s wrong?”
Sierra breathed a sigh of relief.
“How did you find me?” she teased, her body relaxing to almost jelly as she sat on the bed. She knew she’d be even later to see her father, but the sound of the familiar voice – one she missed so much, was a welcomed distraction and she couldn’t bring herself to take a rain check on the conversation. Bree was the one person she’d risk the wrath of her father for.
“I have my ways,” Bree replied with a laugh.
“Or, you have a husband who has connections.”
“Well…that, too. But, hey, I can find you without him.”
“Did you?”
There was a long, telling pause. “Well…”
“That’s what I thought. Did you have him place tracking devices on me?”
“You told me where you were going to be for the brat’s wedding, remember? It didn’t take much to deduce you stayed at the hotel, and which room you were in,” Brianne said with a laugh.
“I wish you would’ve been here,” Sierra said, knowing the wedding would’ve been so much more bearable if her best friend was there.
“We both know your little sister would’ve had a cow, throwing a tantrum and causing a big scene. She hates me.”
“She’s just jealous of you. I stopped taking so much crap from her after we met. It didn’t help matters when she came to the campus acting like her spoiled self and you threw a cake in her face.”
“I admit that might have upset her a little bit but, dang it, she should’ve been appreciative. That was really good cake and I wasted it on her face,” Brianne said with mock exasperation through the receiver.
“You’re such a trouble maker,” Sierra said fondly.
“I miss you. We need to have a day out. Do you think the warden will allow it?” Bree asked with hope.
“I don’t know. He’s summoned me, and I’m running really late. I’m not sure what kind of mood he’ll be in when I get home.” Sierra hated admitting how controlling her father was, but at least Bree never made her feel badly about it.
“You know, Sierra, my offer always stands. I’ll not only break you out of that prison, but be there for you every step of the way. You’re an adult and can have a good life.”
Sierra wished she had the courage to take her friend up on her offer, but she didn’t. Each day she grew stronger, though – maybe someday soon.
Bree didn’t know about the physical abuse. She’d guessed about the mental censures, but no one knew about the bruising continually covering her body. She was too ashamed to admit it to anyone, even her best friend.
“Maybe I just never want to grow up,” Sierra tried to joke, but it fell flat. They both knew she wanted out of there.
“I’m going to kidnap you, just so you know. I’ll bring my brothers to run guard, and I’m taking you away. I miss my best friend.”
“I’ll make sure and see you this week, okay? Just give me a few days. I know my dad’s going to be all emotional about his baby getting married and leaving,” Sierra said, not able to keep the resentment from her tone.
“Okay, I’ll give you a couple days, but if I haven’t heard from you, just expect to hear helicopters landing on your roof. I’m sending my husband and brothers in, and we’re breaking you out.”
Knowing Bree would actually follow through on her threat was the scariest part of the conversation. Sierra would have to find a way to see Bree soon, because she didn’t know what her father’s reaction would be if Bree really did storm the house.
They talked a few more minutes before Bree reluctantly allowed Sierra to hang up the phone. With a heavy heart, she gathered her purse and walked from the room. It was going to be a long day. Her shoulders and neck unconsciously began to tense, preparing for the stress of the upcoming conversation with her father. All she could do now was hope that her father wouldn’t be too angry…
Chapter Four
“Sir, another letter has come in.”
Damien turned, only half-listening to the man who’d just walked in, speaking to Douglas. Sierra was late. Damien watched as her father nervously looked toward the door, then the clock. Damien didn’t miss anything, and he could see the fury brewing in her father’s eyes. It seemed he didn’t like his daughter taking her sweet time getting there.
Damien didn’t like waiting on the girl, either, but his irritation was pushed down as he watched Douglas grow more upset.
Women were notoriously late, and Damien didn’t see a reason for the rage behind Douglas’s eyes.
Interesting, he thought.
“What are you talking about?” Douglas snapped at his head of security. The guy was huge and Damien had no doubt he could drop Douglas in the blink of the eye. He must be very loyal to take that kind of tone from the weak little man.
“Another threat against your daughter, sir,” the man said, not showing the slightest reaction to the criticism in his boss’s voice.
Suddenly, Douglas became nervous, his eyes darting toward Damien before jerking back to his security man. It seemed Douglas didn’t want Damien to know about the letter, which meant that Damien really wanted to know. He hadn’t been interested, in the least, until Douglas wanted to keep it from him.
“Just put it away. I’ll look later,” Douglas snapped.
“Wait,” Damien interrupted, both men’s eyes turning in his direction as he strode over to them. “I want to see.”
“It’s got nothing to do with you,” Douglas said, his face flushing.
“Considering it’s a threat against my newest employee, I’d say it has a lot to do with me,” Damien countered, not backing down.
The security man looked from his boss to Damien, and then back again. He obviously didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to defy his boss, but Damien’s confident demeanor was hard to ignore.
“Whatever!” Douglas snapped, turning away with a wave of his hand.
The obviously relieved security man handed the envelope to Damien before stepping back. Damien walked to the couch and sat down, pulling out the contents of the envelope. His stomach dropped at what he saw.