Time Thieves (28 page)

“Father,” the man started, bowing his head slightly, giving the impression that more of a ruler than a father sat before him. “We felt it best to bring this man to you.”

Father stood tall in front of Jordan, anger vibrating through his spine. “We don’t bring strangers across. We can’t control the portal if we let other people know about it.”

“He already knew.”

Father’s scowl deepened. “How?” he barked.

“From Sari,” Ward said calmly, in a slightly amused voice as if he knew more than he let on.

“And who are you?” snapped Father.

“I’m Ward, Sari’s fiancé, and the man who’s going to make you pay for all the pain she’s suffered.”

G
reg took a
step back. Wiping tears from his eyes, he sniffled several times then tried to clear his voice. “I wish you hadn’t come.”

Sari started. Tears threatened again. He wished she’d never come while she’d spent her whole life getting to this point. “Why?” she cried out. “I’ve been looking for you for years. You disappeared in front of me, remember? How could I not be obsessed with finding you?”

“But you were safe over there. Here you are a prisoner.” He placed both hands on either side of her cheeks. “You’ve grown into a beautiful woman. I want you to have a future. A life.”

“My whole life has been trying to find you,” she whispered. “There was no life. You were on my mind every single day. Trying to find you. Trying to figure out what had happened. Trying to not feel guilty because I couldn’t stop it. Whatever
it
was.” The tears slid down her cheeks. “Don’t you understand? When you left, my life came to a stop. Sure, I grew up, there are some things that carry on – but in many ways I never did. I missed you terribly. The way you disappeared was traumatizing to a level I couldn’t deal with.”

His deep blue eyes clouded with tears. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered brokenly. “I’d have done anything to have been there for you. To protect you. To watch you grow up. You were my life.”

“And you were mine!” she cried. “I couldn’t function for a long time. Did you think I’d forget about you?”

“No, but I’d hoped you’d recover and move on.” He ran his fingers down over his face. “If I could have found a way to return and still keep you safe, I would have.” He closed his eyes. “And if I hadn’t done the job properly, they’d have come after me – and likely taken you as well.”

“How is it these people know about this and we didn’t?” She shook her head. She didn’t like anything about this place. And she wanted to go home.

“What started as a business arrangement to benefit both sides ended up as a tyranny as things went wrong. Each generation, the father and now the son have taken slaves from our side. Our family. They are feudal here. The one lord and many serfs. Serfs can have families, but essentially they live on the whim of Tron. There are four generations of males from the same family here, each indoctrinating the next one down.”

He pulled her tight into his embrace again. “As much as I wish you weren’t here, I’m so very happy to see you. But you have to realize – there is no escape.”

“We’ll see about that. Did you know today is the lunar eclipse? If we can get back to the portal today, tonight…we can all go back home.”

“They won’t let us. Don’t you see? We’re not here just because of the portal. Our being here keeps the rest of you safe.” He shook her shoulders gently. “I had to make sure you stayed safe.”

“Well, they came after me anyway. So now we can both leave,” she said, determination in her voice.

“What? They went after you? They brought you here?” At her nod, anger infused his features, turning his pale aging skin to a deep red. “That’s a different story. If he’s broken his word, then the rules have changed.”

He stood, deep in thought. She studied him, looking for the man she knew. The beloved, in-control father figure. It was hard to see him inside this aging man. He wasn’t old by any means, but these last many years hadn’t been easy on him. Her protective instincts rose even as she watched the changes in him. He stood straighter. His shoulders squared. The years seemed to fall away from his features. Anger had given his pale blue eyes a sharper glint.

That was when she saw it. That one flash sent her back into herself.
My God, it really is him!
She could hardly speak, she was so overcome with emotion. She closed her eyes as warmth and unbelievable amounts of love swelled through her.
She’d finally found him.
On the heels of that thought, one shocking realization swept through her. They weren’t safe.

She could so easily lose all that she’d found.

Determination and anger at all the two of them had suffered filled her heart. There was no way she was going to stay here. And he was coming home with her.

Today was their one window of chance.

Her father spoke up. “We’ll need the watches to cross. The boys carry them with them all the time.”

She frowned. “The boys?” she asked. “Do you mean the redhead and the black-haired man?”

“Jed and Jordan. Both sons of Tron. Both from different mothers.”

“They are the two that kidnapped me from home and brought me here.”

Anger rippled across her father’s face. “Did they?” he asked softly. “Well now. That’s good to know. They will pay for that.”

She snorted. “Stand in line. Ward wants first crack at them. They broke into the house one night looking for something and then attacked him as they were escaping. They’ve followed me around town, kidnapped me, and stashed me under the damn stairs. And I’d forgotten about that place until I woke up in there with Ward hunting for me.” She shrugged. “At that point, things had gone beyond coincidental.”

Her voice came to a stop at the odd look on his face.

“Ward? They kidnapped you while you were home?” His voice grew faint. “I’d forgotten the cupboard under the stairs. That was one of your favorite places.”

“As a child,” she answered gently, slipping her arm through his. “But after you left, so did we. I only returned to the house two months ago. It’s been empty ever since. Sure, Mom had people go through and do whatever maintenance was necessary and she continued to pay the taxes but the house, for all intents and purposes, was left for your return.” She tugged him toward the closed door. They needed to make a move.

“No. It wasn’t supposed to happen that way. She was supposed to stay. Raise you. Stop Tron from having access.”

Sari stopped in mid-step. She spun slowly until she could look her father in the eye. “Are you saying Mom knew? About you coming here?”

Confusion clouded his gaze for a moment, but clarity still shone through. “Yes, of course. We didn’t know when or that it would even happen, but we discussed the possibilities at length once we found out Lisbeth was pregnant for the second time. For that reason, I was content here. I knew she understood.” He motioned with his hand. “Oh, I knew she wasn’t happy about it, but she is my wife.” He hesitated, a pinched look on his face. “Unless she has remarried.”

Pregnant?
For a second time
. Sari didn’t know what to say. She was shocked. Horrified. Talk about a betrayal of horrific proportions. Speaking slowly, as if the answers she was seeking would show up by the time she was through, she said, “Mom has not remarried. She, as far as I know, hasn’t even had you declared legally dead.”

And that was the strongest piece of confirmation that Sari could imagine. Her mother was all about gain. If there was something to gain from declaring her husband dead, then she would have done so. So why hadn’t she? Because she knew he wasn’t dead. She knew he might come back. One day.

She’d known.

And she hadn’t said anything to Sari. She gasped silently as the blows kept coming. She could understand her mother keeping the news secret when Sari had been little, but any time after she’d turned sixteen would have been good. Or how about after Sari had moved back to the very house her father had disappeared from? The final straw was the realization that last supposedly very heart-to-heart conversation she’d shared with her mother when she’d gone to pick up her father’s things was false. Her mother had known then, but she didn’t say a word.

“Dad, I don’t have a sibling. If she was pregnant, she lost it soon after.” She couldn’t remember ever seeing her mother with a pregnant belly. In fact, she couldn’t see her mother ever allowing her figure to get out of shape a second time. Suspicious, she wondered if her mother had pretended to be pregnant.

The color drained from his face. He said sadly, “I’d hoped that having a second child would have made up for losing me. I knew her parents would make sure she never needed anything.” He sighed. “Don’t blame her.”

“Why the hell not?” Frustrated, Sari tried to rein in her temper. “Not only did she know all these years, but she just gave me your books back that you’d asked her to take care of. And we had a long talk. Still, she never said anything.”

“Your mother loves you…” he started and stopped at her long look. He tried again. “She does. It’s just that she can’t deal with many things. She does this ostrich thing and tries to pretend that nothing happened.”

“Now I know you’re my father,” Sari laughed. “She still does that. It drives me crazy.”

He smiled. “She did me, too. And still I love her.”

Sari lost her smile. She thought of all her mother’s boyfriends over the years. It was so hard not to judge her. Her husband had been gone for fifteen years. That was a long time to be alone and not know if her husband would ever return. Sari had to admit it would be hard for anyone. Plus, her mother wasn’t strong in moral fiber. She sighed, and some of the anger relaxed. Her mother was who she was. Right now, Sari had something more important to think about than her mother’s character – getting her father home.

“Come on, we have to get out of here.”

“How? We need those watches,” he protested as she pulled him to the door. “We can’t just go out there right now.” He tugged his arm free. “Sari, we’ll be caught.”

She stared at him. How could she get him to throw off the prisoner mentality and understand they had to do something before that small window of opportunity closed and they were stuck here?

“We are caught already!” She struggled with her next words. “We are in a bad way. We have to do something and we have to do it now. This is not the time for quibbling. This
is
our window of escape.”

She opened the door and stuck her head out. Immediately, voices filled the small room.

*

Jed’s father laughed.
“Like hell. Sari is now my prisoner as is the rest of her family.” His tone turned grim. “So are you.” He waved toward his son. “Jordan had no business bringing you over. But you can’t be allowed to return, so my choices at this point are limited.” He glared at Ward. “As for Sari, she won’t be allowed to have any relationships, so you can forget that. Slaves have no rights here.”

It was all Ward could do to hold back from killing this man. But he had no idea where Sari was. That had to be first. Find her and her father, and then he’d make sure he took out this asshole who dared to consider Sari’s family as his personal property.

Oddly enough, he hadn’t been searched before being brought through the crossing. He still had his gun in the small of his back.

Good thing.

The last thing he planned on becoming was some asshole’s slave. And he’d never let that fate happen to Sari. This bastard had ruined her life enough.

Time for him to get a reality check.

And Ward was just the person to give it to him.