Broken Free (The Broken Series) Read online

  Daniel leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees, looking at the coffee table. “He’s not. But we think we found a way to get him out immediately.”

  Tears filled her eyes and she wiped them quickly when they overflowed. “He tell me there is no chance to stay in, can you help him?” The desperate beg in her tone matched her sincere gaze.

  Daniel grabbed Sofia’s hand, needing the support. “We found…we found the movies that his uncle made. Bad movies.”

  She covered her face with both hands and Sofia hurried and sat next to her, putting an arm around her shoulder. “It’s not your fault, you’re not in trouble, what that man did to you and Seth was very very bad and it’s good he’s dead.”

  “He hurts Seth, I didn’t mean to.”

  Sofia looked at Daniel with hope in her eyes. “You did the right thing to stop him. It’s called self-defense when somebody is hurting another person and you stop them you don’t get in trouble, did you know that?”

  “I am so scared he will kill Seth. I am so angry and scared and I got this knife and stab him, I did not mean to kill him but then…then I cannot stop stabbing I keep stabbing and stabbing and stabbing.” She sobbed and covered her face, shaking her head. “He is such a bad man.”

  “Yes he was and I’m so very glad you killed him and saved my brother’s life, thank you so much Sarah,” Daniel said. “Do you understand that the movies we found will help get Seth out of jail?”

  She wiped her eyes. “I want to tell police that I do this and Seth make me not to tell. I don’t care to go to jail for Seth,” she wailed. “I go to jail for him, I love him.” She wiped her eyes, sobbing. “I love him, tell me what to do to help.”

  Oh hell. She loved him. Did that mean Seth loved her too?

  Daniel went and knelt before her. He took hold of her hands and squeezed them, sorry he did the instant he saw Sofia’s jealous look. “All you have to do is tell the truth. And the movies we have will get him out of jail and they will also keep you from going to jail, they will not put you in jail when they see these movies and you tell them you were trying to stop him from hurting Seth.”

  “But I stab so many times.”

  “I know, I know, it’s okay. You were scared, that’s all.”

  “And angry.” Her eyes were wide as though that incriminated her.

  “Yes, and angry and you had a right to be angry Sarah, remember all the bad things he’s done?”

  “Very bad,” she nodded, wailing.

  “Yes sweetheart, very bad.”

  “Oh honey,” Sofia whispered, pulling her in her arms. “You are a hero, you got rid of a very bad man and you saved Seth, thank you so much. And now you’re going to help get him home where he belongs.”

  She nodded and gasped, “Please, take me to police right now, I need to help Seth. He is very angry when he tells me to shhh not say the truth.” She put her hand over her mouth and sobbed. “I want to say truth, want to save him to not go to jail. I go to jail.” She nodded rapidly. “I go to jail, not him, he is so good to me, I go to jail!” She sobbed and hugged Sofia.

  “We’ll go right now,” Sofia said, eyeing Daniel to see if that was a good idea.

  He nodded. The sooner the better. “And Seth will come home.”

  Daniel felt guilty for pretending he knew what the fuck they would do with her when she confessed. He needed to call his lawyer. Excitement made him want to vomit as he stood. “Help her get ready Sofia.” He pointed at his phone then outside, and she nodded.

  Daniel walked outside and nearly collapsed on the steps, tears filling his eyes. A sob escaped him as he fought to keep his cool. Thank you God. Thank you. He didn’t care that he wasn’t religious. Sofia was. That was enough for him.

  He found his lawyer’s phone number and dialed it. But the very brief conversation that ensued shredded all his hopes. If she confessed, she’d go to jail and await trial. No doubt about it. And he couldn’t be sure that the evidence would clear either of them. Fucking wow. Just fucking wow.

  Daniel would take her home anyway. It was time to pull out his demon wild card. He had hoped to God it wouldn’t come to this, but he had no choice. He knew somebody who could help. Somebody who was deeply entrenched in the judicial system’s wicked sexual perversions. The man had supplied them with choice kinks for years and he had the kind of pull his brother needed.

  But involving his father came with risks. And now that he had Sofia and a baby on the way, it was a thousand times worse. But the movie they’d found….if Daniel had to, he’d use it to keep his father in line. He had his own nightmare playing in his head, an unending horror clip he couldn’t escape. And push came to shove, he’d use both as leverage. His father would help his brother with no strings attached, or Daniel would prosecute that motherfucker.

  ****

  Daniel waited with Sofia at the airport, dizzy with dejavu. His notion about it not being a good time for Dara to be coming was stronger than ever. But whether he liked it or not, the Romanian freight train barreled toward their lives. At least Sofia seemed just as uncomfortable. But it was all to do with Sarah living at the house. She voiced the complication that would present should Seth get out. When Seth got out, he’d corrected her. He’d not contacted his father yet, but soon. He just needed to build the right courage. The kind that accompanied ruthless killing.

  The sound of her Romanian voice squealed from across the square and Daniel couldn’t believe his eyes. Either she’d lied her ass off again, or she’d gained seventy-five pounds in the week she’d talked to Sofia.

  “Holy fucking shit,” Daniel muttered.

  “Don’t you dare say it,” Sofia somehow managed while smiling and squealing then hurrying to hug the glob of rapidly advancing red. Daniel plastered on his smile, wondering what else she may have lied about. She could hide a pregnancy till her due date and nobody would be the wiser.

  She turned to Daniel with arms open wide. “Awwww little sugar daddy!”

  Even the hug was dejavu with Daniel having to grab hold of her to keep from being torpedoed backwards from the initial oomph of her body making contact before her arms sucked him in. “Good to see you Dara.” The words jolted out of him at the momentum of her bouncy hug. It was like being molested by a Romanian marshmallow bear, fucking weird.

  “Oh my goodness, such a healthy father.” She marked the words with seduction and bounced her brows that weren’t quite adult caterpillars…maybe teenager. He hated to say it, but Sarah was ten times prettier. He couldn’t wait to see how that panned out. But with Dara supposedly carrying his baby, that put Sarah at a serious disadvantage. Poor girl. And her personality was entirely different from Dara. Complete opposites. Dara would run her over.

  They headed home and Daniel couldn’t wait till the day was over and Sofia and his baby were in his arms. Tomorrow. Tomorrow he would get it over with and call his father.

  Chapter Nine

  Sofia cringed inside on the drive back from the airport. She needed to frickn tell Dara already. “Oh hey!” She turned in her seat, big excited smile. “I forgot to tell you in all the excitement that Sarah will be staying at the house until Seth is home.”

  At the sudden pin drop silence, she turned back around and chanced a glance toward Daniel who had his brows raised with a you didn’t tell her? incredulity. “I hope that’s okay?” Sofia turned again to Dara, fighting to appear innocent.

  “Oh momma, it’s your house honey, of course it’s okay, I have nothing against this girl, I’m sure we’ll become best friends in no time. I’m even thinking to let her be an aunt, you know?” She followed with hysterical laughter that Sofia thought was a few shades shy of postal sounding.

  “Awww how sweet, yes, good idea.”

  Daniel laced his fingers into Sofia’s and gave her a few squeezes as though to remind her he was there for support. She squeezed back, grateful.

  “Is the baby kicking yet?” Dara asked.

  “Oh, yes it is and next week is one month befo
re the ultrasound to find out the sex.”

  “I want to be surprised, no ultrasounds for me. Where I come from, we do everything at home, child birth is thought of to be a natural process.”

  “Oh?” Sofia couldn’t help but feel…weird now.

  Like she read her mind, she muttered, “Don’t worry momma, you’re American, doctors is the way to go for you.”

  The weird feeling intensified. Like Americans were made of more fragile materials than Romanians. She thought about it. Maybe they were. The idea of going all natural in child birth with no doctor was insane.

  “Don’t they have midwives at least?” Daniel asked, skepticism blaring.

  “Yes, yes, of course. That is why my sister will be coming eventually. But don’t worry, Seth and I will have our own place by then.”

  Crap. She sure sounded confident that Seth was going to just…want to be with her. Maybe that’s because you haven’t told her about his feelings for Sarah, dummy. Double crap. But it’s not like she even knew herself. Just because Sarah liked—loved—him didn’t mean he did. She hated being in this position. Maybe she could just…let things work themselves out. Maybe nothing will need saying. Why open a can of worms that may not even be worms?

  “Home sweet home,” Daniel muttered, pulling into the driveway. “How about we get down and I’ll come get your luggage in a bit Dara?”

  “Sounds perfect,” she moaned.

  They opened the door and were greeted by none other than Sarah. Sarah the servant. And the dog, her now faithful companion. Daniel and Sofia were amazed how the dog knew her when she first walked into the house. She’d gasped and dropped to her knees and called him Dan. Sofia asked her later and found out that’s what Seth had named him. Wonder if it was short for Danny.

  Sarah stood there in that same cute dress she’d had on the first day they’d met. Sofia wasn’t sure if it was all she had or maybe direly special to her. But she never parted with it, not even for a wash. Shopping is what Sofia desperately needed to do with the girl. Aside from that, the poor thing had assumed a maid type of position in the house, like right away. More like slave. A telepathic slave that tried to know what you needed before you did. It was really sad and sweet and weird all at once. And creepy. But a sad creepy.

  “Sarah, hi!” Sofia immediately went into introductions. “This is Dara, my best friend from Romania, Dara this is Sarah. Where’s Gammie?” For once, Sofia needed the woman’s gift of gab.

  “Very nice to meet your acquaintance?” Sarah more asked as though she weren’t sure it was correct even though she’s rehearsed it a hundred times.

  Dara gasped. “Wow, you didn’t tell me she looked like a ten year old!”

  Sarah gave a wavery smile seeming unsure of how to respond. “Miss Rachel is in the kitchen.”

  “Ohhh momma,” Dara gasped again, “English is not her first language either, her and I should get along great!”

  “Here I am, I’m coming, slow as molasses,” Gammie said.

  Sofia hurried to help Gammie only to have Sarah beat her to it.

  “Hi hi hi Gammie, Gammie,” Dara squealed, hurrying toward her.

  Her grandmother studied Dara as she approached like she were an anomaly in motion. Oh God, Gammie, please don’t be rude!

  Her head bobbed the way it did when she had a lot to say but wasn’t sure where to begin. “Seth’s gone have himself a brood of kids all at once.”

  “Gammie!” Sofia gasped.

  She looked at Sofia, mouth slack. “Well it’s true. Sarah over here is pregnant by him and Dara looks like she’s gonna have triplets.”

  Sofia jerked her gaze to Sarah who stood by with her head lowered, then looked at Daniel frozen to the spot with holy fucking shit all over his face.

  And Dara. Wow. Sofia had never seen her friend sooooo pissed!

  ****

  “I need to talk to you,” Daniel said the second his father answered.

  “Danny? Is that you?” Deep laughter. “What a surprise. Pleasant though, what brings your fingers to dial your ole man’s number?”

  His father’s deep gravelly voice scraped along Daniel’s spine and tickled like spider legs in his ear. “I want you to pull some strings and get Seth out of jail.”

  “Why the fuck would I want to do that, little piece of shit killed my brother.” His voice had dropped to those familiar ominous octaves Daniel’s psyche had been scarred with. He fought to keep it from intimidating him.

  “Because he’s my brother and your son.”

  “You got a point pussy face?”

  “I got an eight millimeter film that I confiscated from your brother’s house that has a fine point. I also have my own eight millimeter playing in my head of all the shit you’ve done to me that I’m more than willing to charge you with. My lawyer says crimes like this don’t have a statutory limitation and I promise you, I will spend every dime I have to see you rot in jail if Seth isn’t out real fucking soon.”

  A brief silence preceded low rumbling laughter. “Now, you didn’t have to threaten me Danny. You coulda just asked real nicey nicey.” His tone echoed sure retaliation but Daniel was past the point of caring even though he was already mentally kicking his own ass for this.

  “Just call this number when it’s done,” Daniel said.

  “I ain’t callin’ shit.” He erupted in noisy coughing, sounding like he was living on half a lung. “But I’ll do it.”

  “How will I know you did?”

  His breath rattled like a bucket of phlegm waited to be hacked up. “When you see your precious pussy faced brother, that’s when. But this here is gonna cost you.”

  “How much.”

  He chuckled, the sound of pure evil. “Not how much, but what?”

  Daniel’s guts froze. “Tell me what the fuck you want.”

  “Hey, I just want to be involved in my son’s life,” he sang like a fucking saint.

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  His laughter erupted like joyful insanity. “Nothing rapturous or parabolic, that’s for fucking sure. I heard you got a new wife. I’d like to meet her.”

  Fuck. Daniel closed his eyes.

  What the fuck was he thinking? No. He was safe from him, his father couldn’t hurt him or his family. Not anymore. “Fine. You’re officially invited to Thanksgiving dinner.”

  “Ohhhhh, ho-ho-hooooo.”

  Daniel realized his old man hadn’t expected that degree of generosity. Motherfuck, he should’ve just offered to meet at a coffee shop or some shit.

  “You got yourself a deal son.” He chuckled, knowing the word was nothing but a mockery to both of them.

  Daniel ground his teeth, fighting his fury. He was a breath from saying never fucking mind. He conjured up images of his brother’s sad little mouth in those videos and held on to his focus. Seth needed him to be strong. He could do it. For him.

  Chapter Ten

  “What am I supposed to do?” Sofia choked out on the way to the doctor’s visit. Daniel had managed to talk Sofia into going alone on this trip. It hadn’t taken much and he knew why now. She needed to vent.

  “Do about what?”

  “About what? Dara, Sarah, Seth! Babies!”

  “That’s not your issue, that’s Seth’s.”

  “No, it’s kinda my issue too Daniel, with Dara being my best friend, you know?”

  “All you can do is be supportive.”

  “How? She hates Sarah now. I am not good at handling that, I mean I don’t think it’s fair to Sarah that she treats her bad but I don’t know how to stop it.”

  “How is she treating her bad?”

  Crap. Sofia had a suspicion that Dara only did it in front of her. “She just…she treats her like a slave, like a second class citizen, mocking her English in a “funny way.” Sofia quoted the air with fingers. “And I know Sarah sort of presents herself that way but I mean it’s not right, she’s just confused. Sometimes I think I should show Dara that video just so she quits treating h
er like shit.”

  “Don’t you dare,” Daniel said, his voice hard.

  “I know,” she mumbled, undoing her seatbelt and looking around the parking garage. “Are you sure this is the right level? Isn’t it on the fourth floor?”

  “Yes, but remember they don’t have an entrance to the building on that level?”

  “Oh yeah, I keep forgetting.”

  “Hold on, let me help you out.”

  Sofia opened her door with a snort as Daniel hurried around the car.

  “Gee thanks,” he said, taking her hand and helping her out.

  “What? I just opened the door! I’m kinda sick of everybody running to do everything for me and I’m only four months pregnant.”

  He pulled her into his arms and moaned like he hadn’t touched her in forever. She melted in his embrace, letting the roam of his sensual hands relieve her. She wrapped her arms around him and rested against his chest. “I love you baby,” he said next to her ear.

  The amount of emotion in his voice just…

  A sob escaped her and Daniel pulled her even closer, wrapping more of his arms around her as he rushed to soothe her with various cooings, his tone sounding like she were the most pitiful thing ever. She felt ridiculous but that didn’t register with her emotions, the more he cooed the more she gushed.

  “Let it out, that’s it, you don’t want to keep that in, this is good baby,” he whispered, “you’re fine.”

  Sob sob sob. Sob.

  Good grief. Good, good, grief.

  After Sofia finally got her shit together she went through the doctor without any more break downs. It was difficult with the way Daniel spoke so tenderly toward her and about her. Like she were just a fragile thing. Made her feel fragile.

  The doctor counteracted it with exuberant confidence and bubbly energy. It helped keep her together.

  “What do you think we should do about Sarah?” Sofia asked on the way back home. “Oh, can we stop for orange sherbet? I’ve been so hungry for it.”

  “Absolutely. What do you mean do about Sarah?”