ChapterTwenty-Eight
Bianca couldn’t believe her eyes. Sam? She had to be a figment of Bianca’s imagination. Was she so close to passing out from both shock and her crashing blood sugar that she’d hallucinated a knight in shining armor to rescue her?
No, she wasn’t hallucinating. Sam was right there, clad in her leather jacket, an earpiece in her ear and her focus trained on Ellen.
“What the hell!” Ellen’s hand jerked as she swiveled in Sam’s direction, but she kept the gun fixed on Bianca.
Bianca’s heart thumped furiously against the inside of her chest. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping her going as she begged the universe to spare Sam and her mom. Don’t let us all go out. Bianca didn’t care what happened to herself any longer. Now that Sam was here, she was equally relieved and terrified for her girlfriend’s safety.
“Are you okay?” Sam asked, her eyes and gun still pointed at Ellen.
Vivianne covered her face with her hands and shook her head. Bianca was afraid to speak. Ellen was the only one with the wherewithal to say a word.
“Put the gun down!” She waved her own gun at Bianca. “I’m not afraid to do it!”
Sam hesitated. They were at a stalemate. Could she risk trying to break it?
“I said put it down! And slide it over here.”
What choice did Sam have? Slowly, she crouched down and placed her gun beside her feet, sliding it over to Ellen.
Sam rose back up, both palms exposed to the air. “Let’s talk about this.”
“How did you get in here?” Ellen kept her gun steady as she picked Sam’s gun up from the floor and set it aside. “That door was locked!”
Bianca already knew the answer to that. For the first time, she was grateful for Sam’s lock-picking skills.
Unfortunately, Ellen didn’t share her relief. “And you,” she snapped at Vivianne. “I told you to come alone. Instead, you brought a bodyguard?” Ellen’s hair fell in front of her face. She blew it away, spit flying in Bianca’s direction. “Is that why you were squawking about my gun? To alert your backup here so she could come in and rescue you? Where’s the bug? In your purse?”
The look on Vivianne’s face confirmed all of Ellen’s suspicions.
She turned to Sam. “What was the plan, huh? Burst in here and blast me before I blast any of you?”
“Why don’t we talk this through?” Sam said. “It’s clear there are some things you want to hash out with Vivianne. And I get it. Believe me.”
“What the hell do you know?” The growl curdling in Ellen’s throat was enough to frighten the bones out of Bianca’s body. “You don’t know this family like I do.”
“You’d be surprised,” Sam said. “I’ve known the family long enough to understand what they’re capable of. When Vivianne hired my company, it was to protect everyone in her family, especially her daughters. She loves them more than anything else.”
“Are you kidding me? She treats them like shit. All three of them are as gay as me and you’ve seen what she’s driven them to do! One was in open war in the media with her. The other closeted herself for God knows how long. And this one?” Ellen waved the gun at Bianca’s chest as casually as if it were a conductor’s wand. “Vivi acts like this one is her sweet little doll, but I know the truth. She’d chew her baby up and spit her out in a heartbeat.”
“That’s not true,” her mother squeaked.
“Vivianne loves her daughters,” Sam quickly said, drawing Ellen’s attention back to her. “She may not show that love in the best way, but I don’t doubt for one second that she loves all of her daughters equally. That includes Bianca, you know. If you hurt her, you’ll take away a part of Vivianne’s soul.”
“Good. Because then she’ll know what she’s done to me my whole life.”
Sam shook her head. “It’s not only her you’ll be hurting. You’ll take a part of my soul, too.”
Bianca glanced at Sam, trying to decipher the game she was playing.
And she wasn’t the only one. Ellen tilted her nose toward the ceiling. “What are you talking about?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Sam said. “I’m in love with Bianca.”
Ellen glanced between Sam and Bianca, who tried not to let her disbelief at Sam’s words show. Is this really happening? Now, of all times?
Was Sam in love with her?