by Karen Kelley
Branded
Sisters Bound by Blood
Book One: Savannah
Copyright
Published by K and K Publishing
Copyright 2020 by K and K Publishing
Cover by Karl Kelley
No Part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organization or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Dedication
I’m dedicating this book to my niece, Tommie Pike. I see the strength and perseverance in you that I put in my heroines. Always believe in yourself.
TOC
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Epilogue
Forgotten
Chapter One
Chapter One
"Tell me about momma," Rena asked as they wandered around the area thick with trees and brush. They weren’t far from the house, walking on a narrow trail that wound down to the creek. Sometimes they would try to catch a fish or just dip their feet into the cool water on a hot summer day. Jade said it was their pretend place. They could be anything they wanted here, but you had to be quiet and not disturb the fairies. Jade was great at playing make-believe.
But Jade wasn’t here anymore.
Savannah looked at her little sister and smiled. "You haven't asked about momma in a long time.” She breathed in the strong scent of cedar. She loved being outside. It was peaceful and quiet with just the two of them. “What brought her to mind?"
She stepped over a log, then made sure Rena crossed okay, too. She didn't know why. Habit, she supposed. Rena was twelve now, growing up fast. They both were. She was already fourteen herself. A tremble of fear swept over her. The same age as Jade when she left.
She drew in a deep, calming breath. No, he wouldn't do that to them again. He couldn’t. She wouldn’t let him get away with it. Rena needed her.
"Savannah?" Rena urged.
She swallowed down the sick feeling that rose inside her and concentrated on her little sister." I haven't thought about Rose in a long time. There's not a lot I remember about momma." Disappointment crossed her little sister's face, so she continued. "She was beautiful," she began.
Rena smiled.
"Her hair was the same color as ours, pale blonde. She had the prettiest blue eyes that would sparkle when she laughed.”
“Like ours,” Rena added.
She nodded. “You used to love sitting on her lap." She wouldn’t tell Rena how tired momma had been most of the time, or that she’d carried bruises when she didn’t move fast enough to suit their father.
"And she had the voice of an angel, and now she is one," Rena finished the story on a deep sigh.
"Yes, she's an angel in heaven, but every time you sing, think about her. You have the same kind of voice as momma. Pretty, like that bird we heard the other day." If she closed her eyes, Savannah could almost picture her mother again. As the years passed, her memories of Rose were fading. No matter how hard she tried to hang on to them, they were slipping away.
Jade had remembered their mother the best. She’d been six when momma passed. At the thought of her older sister, Savannah's hands curled into fists. She should’ve been here with them.
"I'm hungry," Rena said. "Can we eat something?"
They were always hungry. That was nothing new. She'd already searched their father's pockets after he passed out drunk on the bed, but there wasn’t even one thin dime. For just a moment, she’d thought about the loaded shotgun in the closet.
The police would probably believe her if she said he'd been cleaning his gun and it went off. It wasn't like anyone in town would miss him. They all knew what kind of man he was. Maybe the grocer was right when he'd said Emmett wasn't worth shooting.
It would be nice if just once they could have access to the disability checks that came in every month. Or even the card they could put groceries on. Instead, her father had worked out a system where he would buy the Crocket's groceries for them. They lived down the road. Then Emmett would sell the food at half price for cash to buy booze. Emmett laughed about how he’d cheated the government. He didn't give a damn if his kids ate or not.
Savannah mentally went through the cabinets as she tried to figure out what there was left to eat. "We might still have some of that macaroni you like. You know, the ones that look like shells. I think there's a little bit of butter, too."
"No meat?"
"Maybe the hen laid another egg or two. We could boil them if she did." They’d found one and had it earlier for lunch, along with the last two slices of bread. Half of a scrambled egg sandwich each hadn’t filled them up very well.
"And we'll pretend we’re at a fancy restaurant." Rena smiled as she danced in front of Savannah.
When Jade still lived at home, and Emmett was off drunk somewhere, she’d pretend that they'd all been invited to a lavish restaurant for a tea party. Before too long, she'd have them believing they were dining on tiny cakes with sugary icing in pastel colors and drinking specialty tea from china teacups.
In reality, it was usually only one slice of toast that she’d buttered and cut into thirds. The tea would be warm water with a bit of mint that grew wild at the back of the house near where the porch leaned the worst. Jade always made their party feel special. She missed her so much.
As they stepped from the trees, Savannah happened to glance toward the house. When she stopped dead in her tracks, Rena looked at her with a question in her eyes.
"Is something wrong, Savannah?"
"I don't know." As soon as she saw the shiny black car sitting in front of their house, cold chills of dread ran up and down her arms. "Let's go in the back door." It still might be nothing.
"Are we going to see if the hen laid an egg?"
"Not right now. Someone's at the house."
Rena looked up, her footsteps slowing. "That's a pretty car."
There'd been a nice car parked in front of their shack of a house the day the three of them had been walking home from the grocery store. Jade went in through the back door that day and told them to go play. Had she sensed something was wrong? Savannah had a feeling nothing good would come from this visit either.
She slowly opened the door, but there was still a distinct squea
k. For half a second, she thought about turning around and running, but she had a feeling it wouldn't do her any good. It hadn’t helped Jade.
Her father immediately came into the kitchen, his face red, as though he'd been arguing with someone. "Where you been, girl?" he growled. "Get your lazy ass in here. I want you to meet someone."
She glared at Emmett. Her father hadn't shaved, and she could smell him a good two feet away. He'd torn his shirt, and it was only half-tucked inside pants that were getting too tight. He certainly didn't go hungry.
"I'll be there in a minute," she said.
His gaze ran over her. "Wash your face before you come in. You kids are always filthy. You better be glad I kept you and gave you a good home after your mother died and left me without any help. Always costing me money and not a grateful bone in your bodies. Hurry it up now."
As soon as the door shut, Rena turned to Savannah. "Who does he want you to meet?"
Oh God, she was so innocent still. She grabbed her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. "He may be sending me away like he did Jade."
Rena's eyes immediately filled with tears. "But I don't want you to go away. I'll be all alone."
"I might not have a choice. I'll try to come back for you."
"Promise?"
She hugged her fiercely. "I'll try as hard as I can." When she stepped back, she brushed away the tear running down her little sister's cheek.
"Get in here, Savannah!"
"Stay in here. Don't come out. If I have to leave, just know I love you."
Rena nodded, bottom lip trembling.
Savannah went to the door, but turned and looked at Rena one last time before going into the other room. She raised her chin high as she stared into the cold, dark eyes of the man with her father. She was only brave up to a point. Her steps faltered, and she came to a halt, her gaze lowering.
The man walked nearer, stopping in front of her. She was five feet, six inches; he wasn't much taller than her. Maybe five feet, ten inches. With one finger, he raised her chin and looked into her eyes. If there was a face that could be called pure evil, Savannah was afraid it would look just like this man. Eyes as black as a starless night when an angry storm brews outside. Black hair and a trimmed beard. He brushed the hair away from her face, his fingers cold as ice. Fear trembled over her.
He turned back to her father, then reached into his pocket for an envelope, handing it to him. "The agreed price."
Her father opened the envelope and started to count the money inside.
"You don't trust me?" the stranger’s words were silky, but held a hard edge.
Emmett quickly closed the envelope, hands shaking. "Of course I trust you, Mr. Sanchez."
"I always like to make sure the seller knows exactly what's going on," he said to my father, but his gaze locked on mine. "You are selling your daughter to me for the sum of five thousand dollars. You will never have contact with her again. It's my right to do with her as I please." The man looked at her father again. "Is that clear?"
"I understand." His eyes sparkled with excitement.
She glared at her father. "You’re selling me? Like I'm no better than a dog? To a stranger who you know nothing about?"
Emmett’s face turned red. "Just go with the man! Do as he says," he growled.
"The deal is made," the stranger said. "You are my property, Chica."
The day Emmett sold Jade, she'd fought against the man, but they’d forced her to his car. Rena had continued playing out back that day, but Savannah snuck inside to see what was happening.
Later, Savannah told Rena that Jade had gone to live with someone else. Rena hadn’t seen their big sister struggle, or Emmett slapping Savannah so hard when she’d tried to help Jade that she carried a bruise for weeks afterward.
Savannah remembered, though. She didn't want to leave Rena with that kind of memory.
Instead, she marched over to her father and grabbed the envelope out of his hand. She quickly counted out five, twenty dollar bills. "This is for Rena, so she can buy something to eat. That's why you're doing this, isn't it, father? The money isn't so you can spend it on booze, right?" she sneered.
Emmet drew his hand back.
“She no longer belongs to you,” Mr. Sanchez reminded him.
Her father dropped his hand back to his side.
She marched into the other room. She trembled so hard on the inside, it was all she could do to stand. They would run away. As far as they could get on the money she'd taken. They could…
A shadow suddenly blocked the screened door leading outside. The man her father had called Mr. Sanchez had brought another man with him. Had he known she would try to run? Probably.
“I’m scared,” Rena whispered.
Savannah cupped her face. "Go down to the cafe and get something to eat. Then go to the grocer and buy some food. Give Jack two dollars and he'll bring you home in his pickup. Whatever money you have left, hide it from Emmett and if he asks, tell him you spent it all. Have you got that?"
Rena nodded, her face pale.
She couldn’t leave it like this. She had to warn her. “Emmett sold Jade. She didn’t want to leave. He’s selling me to this man. Someday, he might try to do the same to you. You run away before he can. Do you understand?”
She sniffed, but nodded.
"Go now, and don't look back."
"Am I ever going to see you again?"
She blinked back the tears filling her eyes. "Someday we'll find each other." She unfastened the necklace around her neck. It had been Jade’s, but after she was taken away, Savannah began wearing it. It was just a cheap necklace of their mother’s that had a little silver heart. Now, she fastened it on Rena.
"I love you, Savannah."
“I know. I love you, too. Now run.” Savannah went to the screen door and opened it. The man looked at Savannah. She scowled back at him. Then she waited until Rena was down the road and had turned the corner, out of sight.
She drew in a shaky breath, then she turned and went back into the other room. "I'll have to get my things."
"I will buy you whatever you need."
The enormity of what was happening hit her all at once. She frantically looked around for a way to escape, but Emmett must’ve sensed what she was going to do and took a step toward her.
The stranger walked over and grasped her arm in a tight hold. She tried to pull away, but his grip only tightened. He led her out of the house and to his car, shoving her into the back seat. The man who’d been at the screen door waited until Mr. Sanchez got into the back seat with her, then he got in and started the car. She took one last look at the house she’d called home as he pulled away.
“I’m Marco Sanchez, the most powerful man in San Antonio.”
She didn’t say anything.
“You will call me Marco.”
Savannah continued to ignore him. He leaned nearer, roughly pulling her chin so that she was forced to look at him.
“Don’t ever think about running. You belong to me now,” he warned in a silky, smooth voice that was even worse than if he’d yelled at her.
But running was exactly what she was going to do first chance she got. Savannah watched the passing scenery so that she would know how to get back to the house. As soon as she made it home again, she and Rena would run away together. Somehow, they would manage to survive.
There were too many roads, too much traffic, as they went farther and farther south. The sun dipped low in the sky so that it was difficult to judge how far they’d gone. The driver turned off the interstate, then down a tree-lined road.
He turned onto a property, and they drove a little farther before stopping at a gate with an armed guard. As the guard approached, the man driving rolled down his window. They nodded to each other, and the gate opened.
Savannah trembled with fear as they drove down a shorter road that led to one of the biggest houses she'd ever seen. The sprawling white, two-story hacienda reminded her more of a fortress t
han a home.
"This is your new home," Marco said as the driver pulled in front of it. "You should be grateful you're not living in that dump anymore with a father who cares nothing for you."
Somehow, she didn't feel grateful.
As Marco got out, two men came from around the side of the house. Both wore guns at their hips and carried assault rifles. She knew what the bigger guns were because she’d seen them on television.
She didn’t move once Marco got out. Her door opened. Marco smiled. “Look what I bought today, my friends. It’s as I always tell you, when you’re in our line of work, you can buy anything.” He turned to her with a spark of anger in his eyes. “Get out so my men can meet you.”
Savannah wanted to tell him that she didn’t want to meet them. They looked even scarier than him. Both were taller. One with a mustache and the other with a trimmed beard and mustache. She didn’t like the hungry look in their eyes when they looked at her.
“Just don’t get any ideas,” Marco warned. “Savannah belongs to me.”
She got out of the car and stood beside it. A woman hurried from the house. She was well-rounded and wore a spotless, white apron. When the woman looked at her, Savannah thought she saw a glimmer of pity.
“Take her inside. I want her bathed.” His gaze swept over her. “Put the red dress on her.”
“Yes, Patron.”
The woman took her hand, and Savannah had no choice but to go with her. “My name is Isabella. I’m Mr. Sanchez’s housekeeper.”
“I’m Savannah.” She stopped short when they went through the massive double doors. She’d never seen anything so beautiful in all her life, not even on TV. The floor was tiled, and a grand staircase wound up to the next level. Everything practically sparkled it was so clean.
“Come, we must hurry and not make Mr. Sanchez angry.” Isabella tugged on her arm.
“Why did he buy me?” She wasn’t stupid, but she needed to have someone tell her.
Isabella hesitated, looking around as if she was afraid someone might hear her talking. There wasn't anyone nearby as Savannah followed her up a winding staircase.
