Bound to Ransom Read online

  Bound To Ransom

  Bound Series: Book 2

  By

  Kiru Taye

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and

  incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are

  used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any

  resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or

  persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Smashwords Edition

  Bound to Ransom

  ISBN: 9781310424946

  Copyright© 2016 Kiru Taye

  Editor: Zee Monodee

  Cover Artist: Love Bites and Silk

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used

  or reproduced electronically or in print without written

  permission, except in the case of brief quotations

  embodied in reviews.

  Kiru Taye

  www.kirutaye.com

  Blurb

  Since the death of her mother, Gloria Rawlins' life has been a string of disappointments by the people she cares about; first by her father, and then in a series of disastrous relationships that have shattered pieces of her heart one after another. She knows she's no angel and refuses to make herself vulnerable to anyone again. Until one man threatens to strip away the wall shielding her heart.

  Henry Coker is not afraid of challenges. Abandoned by his father and raised by a single mother, he's had to work hard from the bottom up to prove himself to his peers and the world. But Gloria, the one person he desires above all others, remains out of reach until an opportunity presents itself and he has the chance to buy her from her father.

  Despite their incongruous arrangement, desire like theirs cannot be hidden and passion sizzles between them. But making someone fall in love may just be a challenge too far.

  Bound to Ransom is a story about breaking the cycle of self-destruction, finding redemption, and the powerful love that endures.

  Acknowledgments

  Writing can be a lonely process, but a group of fabulous beta readers make it a wonderful experience. This story wouldn't have turned out the way it did without the encouragement of Queenie, Henza, Kemi, Chinwe, Bimbo, Sola, and Lara. I love you, ladies.

  I have to mention my fabulous editor, Zee, who helped me polish the story and make it shine. Every book needs a good editor, and she is a fabulous one.

  And my family who have learned to be patient with me when I'm in the middle of writing a book and everything else takes a back seat. I love you all.

  And of course, I can't forget you the wonderful readers who kept faith with me and picked up a copy of this. You make it all worthwhile. Thank you!

  Dedication

  Sometimes, it's not until you lose everything that you come to appreciate what you have.

  This book is dedicated to everyone who believes women deserve to be treated like princesses.

  Prologue

  “Mummy, when are you coming home?” Gloria Rawlins asked in a breaking voice as she held tight onto her mother’s hand. Her shoulders drooped and the back of her throat hurt.

  The skinny woman with the sallow skin and limp hair lying on the hospital bed in front of her seemed less and less like the beautiful, youthful mummy she’d known.

  Gloria’s mother, Petra, usually had beautiful, golden tanned Caucasian skin acquired from her years of living in Nigeria. She’d been born in Germany where she’d met and fallen in love with Gerald Rawlins while they’d both been at University.

  Gloria’s dad had often said he’d fallen in love with his wife the moment he’d seen her hair of spun honey and sparkling emerald-green eyes one autumn evening many years ago. When Gerald had completed the Engineering program he’d gone to study for, Petra had returned to Nigeria with him. They’d married, having Gloria as their only child.

  Now, Petra’s sunken eyes drifted in the direction of Gerald, who stood beside his daughter. Something flickered in her mother’s gaze that Gloria couldn’t decipher as her parents communicated silently. They did that a lot when they didn’t want her to know what was going on.

  Gloria tilted her head to the side to look up at her father. His bottom lip trembled, and his eyes glassed over as he gave a slight shake of his head. She’d never seen her father distressed before. He’d always been strong and protective, larger than life. As far as she was concerned, he was untouchable. Invincible.

  “Honey,” her mum said in a gentle voice, drawing her attention again. “I’m very sick. The doctors want to try a new treatment as the old one isn’t working. I don’t know when I’ll be home.”

  Tears clogged Gloria’s eyes and rolled down her face. “Oh, Mummy, I’ve been very good, and I’ve been praying for you to get better and come home, so we can all be together again.”

  Crying, she buried her face against her mother’s body. She’d missed Mummy’s soft and warm cuddles. Although the skin beneath the white bed linen felt bony and cool, she wanted to crawl into the bed and lie beside her mother.

  Outside the window, the sun shone brightly in the blue sky and birds nestling in the trees within the hospital grounds tweeted merrily. But Gloria couldn't shake the dark cloud that hovered over her family in this room.

  Her father lifted her up into his arms like he always did whenever she hurt herself playing outside. She lowered her head onto his shoulder and sniffled. The hardness and strength of her father’s embrace always made her feel safe. Like she could come to no harm and whatever problem existed would go away.

  “Princess,” he said in a deep, soothing voice that cracked a little. “Your mummy is being taken care of here. She needs to rest. I’m going to take you home now.”

  Gloria held on tight to her father for a moment before turning back to look at her mother. “We’ll be back to see you soon, Mummy.”

  “Okay, honey.” Her mum’s thin lips curled in a smile without its usual radiance. “Daddy will take care of you. Promise to be a good girl for him.”

  “I promise, Mummy,” she said as her dad lowered her so she could kiss her mother on the cheek.

  She left the hospital holding onto her father’s hand. The ride in the car back home was silent. Her father seemed lost in his thoughts, his expression troubled. She reached out and placed her hand over his large one on the steering wheel.

  “Mummy is going to be alright,” she said to cheer him up.

  Distractedly, he glanced at her, and his Adam’s apple bobbed before he nodded. “How about we stop by for some ice cream?”

  She loved ice cream and would eat it every day if allowed. Her father took her to the ice cream parlour as a treat sometimes, so she knew he was trying to cheer her up even if she didn’t particularly feel like having ice cream today.

  “Okay, Daddy,” she replied.

  He parked in front of the shop and came round to help her down from the SUV. She held onto his hand as they walked in. He sat her at a small table before heading to the counter to order. He returned with two small round tubs of strawberry ice cream and tiny wooden spoons.

  Her melancholy disappeared as soon as she took her first spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. The taste of sugar, strawberries, and cream on her tongue transformed into bubbles in her veins and lifted her spirit. She broke out into a huge smile.

  Daddy smiled back at her. “I knew this would cheer you up.”

  “It does. I love strawberry ice cream,” she said with a moan of delight.

  Daddy chuckled. “I know.”

  One of the waitresses brought a paper bag with something in it. “Sir, here’s your to-go bag.”

  “Thank you,” he said and took it.

  “What’s in it, Daddy?” Gloria asked.

  “What else? More ice cream.” He
grinned at her. “I thought maybe you could go and visit your friend tomorrow and take some ice cream.”

  She screeched and jumped up to hug him. “You’re the best.”

  She skipped to the car. When they got home, her dad called her friend Christy’s mother and scheduled for her to go over.

  The next day, she could barely contain her excitement as her dad drove her over to Christy’s house. She’d been friends with Christy since they met in nursery school. They were now in the same primary school.

  She enjoyed the day playing with Christy. She didn’t get to think about her mummy in the hospital as much as she would normally if she were at home by herself.

  Later that evening, Christy’s mum drove her home. There were a lot of people at her house, and everyone looked very sad.

  Frightened, Gloria ran to her parents’ room where she found her father sitting in a chair, looking lost.

  “Daddy, why are you so sad?” she asked as she hugged him.

  He sat her on his lap. “Princess, I’m sad because Mummy isn’t going to come home again. She died.”

  Gloria’s world fell apart. “No!” she cried and tried to get out of her father’s arms.

  But he held her tight. She broke down into sobs, her body wracking almost violently.

  How could Mummy die? She needed her mother to drive her to school. To help with her homework. To make costumes for her school play. To give her a cuddle when she felt sad. To take her shopping to buy pretty dresses. Who was she going to bake cakes and muffins with in future?

  Had she done something bad to make Mummy die? Was Mummy’s death punishment for her being naughty?

  Now all she had was Daddy. She gripped her father tight as they cried together.

  She would be on her best behaviour from now on, so she didn’t lose the only family she had left.

  From that day, it became just the two of them. She’d always been close to her father. Now, they became inseparable. She missed her mother, but the strong bond with Daddy made up for the sad moments.

  He would drop her off at school in the mornings on his way out and pick her up afterwards. Sometimes, Christy’s mum would pick her, and she would stay with them if her father had to work late.

  Although there was domestic staff in the house who did everything, her dad helped her with her homework. She ate with him in the evenings, and he put her into bed and kissed her good night.

  About a year later, Gloria returned from a sleep-over at Christy’s house. She rushed into the house and left her small suitcase in the hallway, excited to see her father after more than a day away.

  “Daddy!” She skipped into the living room and halted. One of Mummy’s old friends sat on the maroon upholstered sofa.

  “Hello, Aunty Hanifa,” she greeted the woman in a cheerful voice. She hadn’t seen her in a long time.

  “Hi, Gloria. How are you?” Hanifa said, giving her a warm smile.

  “I’m fine,” she said as she went over to her father and gave him a hug before sitting beside him.

  “How are Christy and her parents?” her dad asked.

  “They’re well.” She curled up beside her father. She hadn’t seen him for more than twenty-four hours. Now, she wanted to spend the time with her daddy before she had to go to bed.

  Usually, they spent the time together watching a movie. Instead, today, the TV was switched on to some Latin American soap opera with English subtitles.

  She picked up the remote control. “Daddy, can we watch a movie?”

  “Of course,” he said.

  She jumped up and ran to the cupboard that stored all the VHS videos he’d bought on his numerous trips. She pulled out the case for Disney’s Beauty and The Beast and dropped on her knees in front of the video player to slide it in.

  “But I’m watching the soap,” Hanifa said. “Gloria can watch the movie any other time. Anyway, shouldn’t she be getting ready for bed?”

  Gloria turned with a frown on her face. Why would this woman come to her house and interrupt her ritual with her father?

  “Daddy?” she asked. Her father knew how important their time together was.

  “Princess, your aunt is right. You can watch the movie anytime.”

  “Daddy, but Sunday evenings is our movie time.”

  “We have next Sunday to watch the movie, okay?”

  “Okay,” she said in a grudging voice as she put the case back into the cupboard. She returned to sit beside her father.

  “Go on upstairs and read a book. I’ll come up later and tuck you into bed.”

  “Okay, Daddy.”

  She left the room with a frown and did what her daddy said. Although she wasn’t happy at not spending the time with her dad as normal, she had promised her mother she would always be good. And she didn’t want anything bad to happen to Daddy because she’d been naughty. As long as he came up and said good night, then everything would be all right.

  She sat on her bed reading a book but fell asleep. When she woke up, the clock on her wall said it was nine o’clock. Her father hadn’t come to say good night as usual. She got out of bed and went downstairs. The lights were on, and the TV was on, but neither her Dad nor Hanifa was there.

  She looked out of the window, and her father’s cars were still there, so he hadn’t gone out.

  She went back upstairs and heard a sound coming from her parents’ room. Biting her lip, she hurried to the slightly open door as she worried something might be wrong with her father.

  She got in to find her, Hanifa, lying on top of her father on the bed. He had his eyes closed. She didn’t know what was going on, but she knew they were in her parents’ room and bed, space her father had shared with her mother. This area had been their sanctuary. She hated that some other woman was in the same space sharing what seemed to be a close moment with her father.

  The woman turned around and stared at Gloria, a self-satisfied smile on her face as if she was gloating.

  Fury spiked through Gloria, and she screamed. “Daddy!”

  Her father jumped up immediately and pushed the woman off him, his expression shocked. “Princess!”

  Feeling hurt and disgusted by her father’s betrayal, she ran back to her room and slammed the door. She lay on her bed and cried because deep down, she realised that something had changed in her relationship with her dad. It wasn’t the two of them against the world anymore.

  A third person who would ruin the special connection they had had entered.

  The door to her room opened. She heard footsteps across the floor and turned her head. Her father stood by the bed.

  The mattress depressed as he sat down beside her. “Princess, are you okay?”

  “No, Daddy. What is Aunty Hanifa doing in your room?”

  Her father grimaced. “Do you remember how things were when your mum was here? It was great with the three of us. Well, I’m going to marry Hanifa.”

  “No, Daddy. I don’t want her as my mother. I just want it to be the two of us.”

  “I thought you liked her.” He appeared concerned.

  She thought she did, too. But not after what the woman had done today. She shook her head.

  Her father sighed and scrubbed his face. “It’s not been easy for me since your mother’s been gone. I can’t spend as much time with you as I used to. The business needs my attention. And I can’t leave the domestic staff to raise you. I like Hanifa, and she’ll make a good mother for you. And perhaps, you’ll have a younger sibling, too.”

  Tears clogged her eyes, and she clutched her father’s arm. “Daddy, please don’t marry her.”

  “Princess, you know I’ll give you anything. Will you not let me have this little happiness?”

  The back of her throat hurt, and she had difficulty swallowing as she stared at her father. How had things changed so quickly? One moment they’d been a happy family, Mummy and Daddy and her. Then her life was shattered when her mother died.

  She’d thought that as long as she had her father,
everything would be all right. Now, she knew it wasn't true. Everything wouldn’t be okay. She was losing her father, too. The moment he married Hanifa, he wouldn’t belong to her anymore. Hanifa would become the centre of his attention. He’d already proved it tonight when the woman had disrupted their normal routine.

  Could she deny her father this if it made him happy? Wasn’t it better to have him alive and well while sharing him with Hanifa than to have him dead like her mother? Even if she was left being miserable.

  To keep her father alive, she would accept misery for his happiness.

  “Okay, Daddy. You can marry her.”

  Her father didn’t seem to notice the anguish that flattened her voice and stooped her shoulders. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her.

  “Thank you, Princess.”

  The happy little girl died the day her father married Hanifa. Perhaps he noticed a change in his daughter. He spent less time with Gloria and compensated for his absence by showering her with gifts. There were no more movie nights. But she had all the best things a girl of eleven years could want.

  Hanifa pulled the ace card up her sleeve by convincing Gerald to send Gloria to boarding school in Enugu, a town about five hundred kilometres from Lagos where they lived. Eight hours’ driving distance or over an hour's flight away.

  Still, Gloria hated being so far apart from Daddy. She would only see him during visiting days and school holidays.

  She confronted Hanifa and begged the woman not to send her away.

  Hanifa’s dismissed her coldly with this response, “You might be the little princess. But you have to realise that I’m now the queen of this house, and I control everything, including your father.”

  That was the last day Gloria cried as a child. Her heart turned to stone. She would never leave herself in a position where she would beg anyone for anything. She'd carve out a life where she would become queen and control everything in it.