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PROLOGUE
Two Years Earlier, Dallas, Texas
Rarely did Fiona Wilder’s brother take her to the mall. But she was sixteen and didn’t have her driver’s license yet and to her surprise Justin had agreed to drive her. At eighteen, he was already in college, and she couldn’t wait to go too.
“So how are Mom and Dad?” Justin asked as they walked through the mall. He was six feet tall, dark-haired, and dark eyed, nothing like Fiona. He was studious and wanted to be a doctor.
“Dad’s drunk after work as usual and Mom stays out of his way as much as possible. Well, me too. But the fights about money and his drinking go on. And you know Dad. If she hides his bottles or pours his whiskey into the kitchen sink, he goes to the pub or just gets more at the liquor store.” Fiona was surprised her brother was sticking close to her. She thought he would just drop her off at the mall and do his own thing, then they could meet up and he’d leave her at the house afterwards.
“What about you?” Justin glanced down at her, and she saw the concern in his dark eyes.
She shrugged. “I have two more years to live there before I can escape our dysfunctional parents. You got through it. I’ll get through it also.” She adored him for caring. And for protecting their mother from their father during his drunken outbursts when Justin had still been living at home.
“You can’t stay with me at the dorm,” he said.
“I know.”
Justin ran his hands through his dark hair. “I wish you could.”
“I wish so too.”
“We don’t have any other relatives except for Uncle Nat and Aunt Bea, but we’ve never even met them. I couldn’t locate them to see if you could live with them or with someone else possibly.” Justin sounded apologetic.
Fiona appreciated that her brother had attempted to find another place for her to live. She hadn’t known he’d tried. “I’ve asked Mom about that too. She said that they are on the move all the time. She said she thought they were with the CIA.”
“You don’t believe that, do you?” Justin asked, sounding incredulous.
“No. Who knows what they do to make money. Maybe it’s illegal.”
“I hope not. Our grandparents are all gone,” Justin said.
“We don’t know about Dad’s side of the family. We could never ask him about them, or he would go ballistic.” Which she thought was odd, but they didn’t even know if he had brothers or sisters, who his parents were or anything. So that was a dead end.
“Right. If…if Dad ever gets violent with you or Mom, call 911 and then call me.”
“I will.” Fiona was surprised that Justin seemed so worried for her. He had been so glad to leave home and go away to college that she thought he hadn’t really cared about what was going on at home any longer. She certainly didn’t blame him for not even coming home once he got away from there. Once she left, she was never going back.
They went to the food court, and both got sodas. “I’m checking out the phone shop. Do you want to go to any shops and then meet up with me back here to have lunch?”
“Yeah, sure.” She smiled, glad her brother had brought her to the mall. This had been the first time she had seen him since he moved away three months ago. She knew he’d been keeping up with schoolwork and making lots of new friends while still enjoying the company of his pals from high school. Keeping in touch with his high school sister hadn’t been a priority.
He waved at her and headed for the phone store. She turned to walk to a nearby clothing store and ran smack dab into the cutest guy she’d seen in forever, spilling her dark, sticky soda all over his black T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers.
“Ohmigod, I am so sorry!” She couldn’t believe the mess she’d made all over him. Immediately, she expected him to blow up at her like her dad would have if she had done that to him.
But the dark-haired teen actually smiled at her, his eyes sparkling with good humor. “No problem,” he said. “I’m Arman. And you are?”
“Fiona. And I…I can’t believe I did that to you. I’m so sorry.”
Three male teens were standing next to him, all smiling also. The redhead of the bunch said, “He should have apologized to you for running into you.”
Ha! She was the one who had turned so quickly and walked right into tall, dark, and gorgeous. But the redhead had sounded dead serious. She hadn’t looked where she was going. Arman had just been there and was now wearing her icy soda.
“Why don’t I buy you another soda to make up for it?” Arman said.
“Oh, no.”
“Can I buy you lunch?” Arman persisted.
