Briar Valley: The Complete Duet

Prologue

PROLOGUE

IF I COME HOME – SUZI QUATRO & KT TUNSTALL

WILLOW

Rolling over in the warm sheets covering me, I let loose a contented sigh. The heat from three familiar bodies sandwiches me in until I’m bathed in comfort and reassurance.

Home.

Safe.

Protected.

I can feel Killian’s heartbeat pounding through his burnished skin that’s pushed up against my chest. Zach lazily strokes my hip from behind while Micah kisses his way up my exposed leg.

Between the three of them, the grip of sleep releases me, and I feel the furnace between my thighs roar to life. I’m on fire. Tingling. Aching. Begging for the relief of their touch.

“You boys sure know how to wake a girl up,” I groan.

Killian’s lips brush my earlobe. “You’re ours, baby.”

“And we’d do anything to protect you,” Zach adds.

Micah’s mouth reaches my pubic bone. “Anything.”

With my eyes still shut, I smile at their antics. “I love you three so much it scares me. I’m terrified that I’ll lose you all.”

“You’ll never lose us,” Killian growls.

“But I can’t let Mr Sanchez hurt you,” I reason. “I have to keep you safe from him. He’ll use you against me.”

“Nothing can tear us apart, angel. We’re a family and not even you can change that now. Come home and let us prove it to you.”

“Home?” I repeat, feeling more awake.

Killian’s voice deepens into an angry rasp. “Come home. Stop running. We need you.”

Loud, insistent knocking causes my heart to suddenly explode in my chest. I shoot upright in a tangle of sweaty sheets on the cramped, queen-sized bed and wrestle my eyelids open.

Nothing.

Empty.

Alone.

The tears well up in my eyes like they do every morning when I realise the bed next to me is empty. Nothing but my loneliness and regret surround me as another day of torture begins.

It was all a dream.

I’m not home.

I’m still lost.

The sound of knocking comes again, mirroring the beat of my heart. When the door to my bedroom slams open, Arianna bursts in with a scowl on her face, still dressed in pyjamas.

She doesn’t smile much anymore. It kills me inside, more with each passing day, to see her fade back into the scared little girl I birthed alone seven long years ago.

“The door, Mummy. Someone’s here. It’s too early.”

Reaching under my pillow, I grab the switchblade that I keep stashed in case of emergencies. Arianna’s eyes grow wide with fear. I motion for her to hide under the bed, safely out of sight.

“Mummy?” she whines.

“It’s okay, baby. Keep nice and quiet for me now.”

“I’m scared.”

“You’re okay, sweetie.”

Once she’s hidden, I hold the switchblade tight and pad into the dreary kitchen at the centre of our cheap, dated apartment. The knocking on the front door is constant.

I’m barely dressed in panties and a loose t-shirt, my now-short, raven hair barely brushing my shoulders. The warm, golden tan that I developed in Briar Valley has been replaced with pale, ghost-like skin.

With the switchblade in my hand, I leave the safety chain on the door and open it an inch, peering out into the crisp winter air.

“Seriously?”

A familiar face waits for me, framed by long black locks and a forced smile. Her bangs cover the twisted scar marring her face, but her moss-coloured eyes haven’t changed.

“Let me in,” Katie pleads. “It’s cold out here.”

“You’re early by several hours. We agreed you’d never do that. Arianna is hiding under the bed!”

“I know, darling. I’m sorry, but we need to talk. Inside.”

Sighing heavily, I shut the door then slide off the chain before reopening it on her weary face. Katie lets herself in then slots the deadbolt back on behind her.

Taking in my disgruntled state, she raises an eyebrow at the switchblade still held ready and waiting in the air. I set it down on the kitchen counter and force air into my lungs.

“Planning to stab me, huh?”

I glare at her. “I thought you were here to kill me.”

“Not today.” Sadness coats her words. “Get dressed while I put the kettle on.”

“Did something happen?” A vice clamps around my hammering heart. “I haven’t spoken to Lola since last week. Did you hear something? Are the guys okay?”

“I’m not here to talk about Briar Valley.” Katie collapses in a chair at the dining table. “Go sort Arianna out. You don’t want her to hear this.”

Blinking rapidly, I force myself to move, unable to form words. My mouth has turned into the Sahara Desert, my legs trembling beneath me as I return to the darkened bedroom.

Plastering on a fake smile for Arianna’s sake, I crouch down to peer at her underneath the bed. She’s curled up in the farthest corner, hugging the butterfly sculpture that Micah gifted her to her chest.

“Is it safe to come out?” she whimpers.

“Yeah, Ari. It’s safe.”

“I’m still scared.” Her eyes are squeezed shut with tears spilling over her cheeks. “I don’t think I want to come out yet.”

My heart twinges at the palpable fear in her voice. This is no life for a little kid. In many ways, it’s worse than when we lived in the mansion. I’ve torn the only home she ever knew away from her.

We’re so isolated out here and stuck in this crappy apartment twenty-four hours a day, too scared to even set foot outside for fear of being recognised at any given moment.

It’s a nightmare that feels like it will never end, stretching on endlessly, agonisingly, into the bleak unknown. For as long as Mr Sanchez breathes, we will never be safe. Not here. Not anywhere.

“You can stay under there if it makes you feel better.” I stretch out my hand. “Or you can take Mummy’s hand and sleep in a big girl’s bed. How does that sound?”

“Will you sleep with me?” Her eyes peek open.

“I need to talk to Katie for a moment about some stuff. I’ll come cuddle with you after, if you want?”

Her eyes narrow in defiance. “I want to cuddle now.”

“We can watch the new Frozen movie again later,” I try to sweeten the deal. “I’ll even let you break open the emergency ice cream. How’s that for a deal?”

Arianna manages to nod. “Okay. Katie’s here?”

“Yeah, she’s here. I’ll come wake you up when it’s time for breakfast.”

Settling Arianna into my vacated bed, I tuck the covers up to her chin. Her blonde hair has grown so long now, it’s spilling down to her lower back. She blinks up at me with jewel-like, bottomless blue eyes.

“I like your bed, Mummy. It’s nice and big.”

“That’s because I have a bigger body than you, Ari. Keep eating your greens, and you’ll grow up to be big and strong too.”

“How big?” she demands sassily.

“Taller than the tower that Rapunzel was trapped in.”

Arianna’s sadness swims back to the forefront as her eyes glisten with tears again. “We’re in a tower too.”

I drop a kiss on her forehead. “I know, baby. It isn’t forever though, I promise.”

“I want to go home.”

The sorrow in her voice is like a knife in the heart.

“We can go home soon, and you’ll see your friends again.”

“You said that last month,” she deadpans. “And the one before.”

Arianna sucks her thumb into her mouth, rolling over and giving me her back before I can muster up another crappy excuse to appease her. It takes everything in me not to break down.

I stare for a moment, completely gutted by her words and letting the moisture leak down my cheeks. I’m the world’s worst parent. She’s suffering along with me, and I can’t fix this shit.

Pulling on my discarded sweats from the floor, I flee before she can hear me sob. I’m too ashamed to even attempt to console her. There’s nothing I can say to make this any better.

Back in the kitchen, Katie has filled two chipped mugs with fresh coffee and sat back down. She lights a cigarette with shaking hands, slowly inhaling before letting the smoke out.

I take the seat opposite her, pulling a steaming mug into my hands. Not even the hit of strong coffee can alleviate the cloud of exhaustion that has infected us for the five months we’ve spent hidden.

“Since when did you start smoking inside?” I ask tiredly.

“Sorry.” She quickly puts it out. “Long night. We had two new families arrive at the centre. I had to get them temporarily set up in a hotel until an apartment becomes available.”

Believe it or not, Katie was the one who saved our asses when we fled. She has connections in local councils across the country due to her work resettling families for the government.

She managed to get us in this crummy apartment when we were hopping from one cheap hotel to another, desperate to stay off the radar.

In a weird way, she stepped up when I needed her the most, and I had no one else in the world to turn to. For the first time in my whole life, I had a mother there to save me.

“Katie,” I prompt, my grip on the mug tightening. “The news?”

Staring into the depths of her pitch-black coffee, her mouth is pinched tight with tension. My leg begins to bounce underneath the table, expelling the nervous energy eating away at me.

“Since you’ve dropped off the radar, Dimitri Sanchez has been playing the sympathy card—claiming you had a nervous breakdown and left with Arianna.”

“I already know this,” I snap.

“He’s used your disappearance to his advantage through a slick PR campaign that’s removed any and all suspicion from him.”

“The news has been full of his face for months,” I spit out. “He’s been releasing those stupid statements, playing the doting father and husband.”

Katie nods. “His campaign to discredit you has been very well-coordinated. The entire world is convinced that you ran away with Arianna and are endangering her life.”

Tears prickle my eyes. It hurts to be accused of deliberately harming my daughter, even when it’s far from the truth. The world doesn’t hear that. Mr Sanchez is the only voice they care about.

“But we’re still safe, right? He hasn’t had a location on me since Briar Valley. He doesn’t know about you either.”

“Sanchez hasn’t found you, Willow. This location is still secure and safely off-grid for the time being. That’s not why I’m here.”

“Then why are you here?”

She rakes a hand through her hair. “I know you don’t want to talk to him, but Ethan Tarkington has been in touch again.”

Shit . Ryder’s boyfriend. I’ve dodged his phone calls and emails for months now, unwilling to assist in his company’s investigation.

“What does he want?”

“He works for Sabre Security, who has been investigating a global, multi-million pound human trafficking ring for the last twelve months.”

“He mentioned it to me when we were in Briar Valley. That has nothing to do with us or Mr Sanchez, though.”

“Willow,” Katie whispers bleakly. “Dimitri Sanchez has been named as a person of interest in their case along with several other men. Sabre is asking for victims to come forward.”

Her voice is drowned out by the loud ringing in my ears. Ticking. Buzzing. Screaming. Ten long years of tears, pain and anguish drown out everything else as her words sink in.

“A human trafficking ring,” I repeat, my mouth feeling like cotton wool. “I don’t understand.”

“You told me what he did to you, sweetheart. That’s textbook human trafficking. You may not be the only person he’s hurt.”

I stare deep into her worried eyes. Nothing is computing. What he did to me was beyond the realms of evil, but the thought that there could be others like me out there is unhinging my sanity.

“He’s a suspect?” I say in a robotic voice.

She nods. “It’s early days, but I’ve seen the file. It’s definitely him. From what Ethan has told me, there are many players involved. He’s one of the big ones.”

A hissed breath escapes my clenched teeth before I drop my mug. It shatters against the worn kitchen floor, spilling coffee and sharp ceramic shards across the room.

“Willow.” Katie recoils.

“N-No!”

“Just breathe for me and think this through. Ethan needs your help to bring Dimitri Sanchez down.”

“I c-can’t do that… He’s too powerful. He has friends everywhere, and I won’t risk Arianna falling back into his hands.”

“Every second that he’s allowed to continue living freely poses a risk to you both and other potential victims. He has to be stopped.”

I’m under no illusions. I know what he’s capable of, and if the world knew how many people he’d hurt, Mr Sanchez would be locked away for the rest of his life.

That doesn’t mean I’m strong enough to do anything about it. Going public would mean facing the demons I fled from when I left Mexico and confronting my past head-on.

“I can’t do anything to stop him,” I repeat shakily.

“We have the chance to prove that you were trafficked and abused by him.” She clutches my hand tight. “We could take him down, Willow. Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”

I slowly nod, feeling the tiniest flicker of hope for the first time in five long, agonising months of emotional hell. This is what I’ve been waiting for all along.

“I could go home to Briar Valley.”