Page 3 of The Blairville Legacies

“I don't like your tone!” he pressed out.

“You come between me and them now, brother?!”

“Guys! Stop it!” Amara admonished loudly. “You sign those damn contracts now, and then we'll get out of here!”

The brothers didn't like being ordered around, but that wasn't the matter now. His little brother understood that, too, as he remained quiet.

“If you leave this building today, new rules will apply. You must realize that.”

Amanda looked at each of them. They all nodded silently.

He was still sitting there watching them all, listening to Amanda but not really able to concentrate on her voice.

His thoughts were all abouther-onlyabout her. They would always revolve aroundher. For a moment, he wished he hadn't met her because then he wouldn't be sitting here now. But hehadmet her,and she had opened up a whole new world to him.

When Amanda finished, each of them picked up the pen, including him.

He watched as the black ink stretched across the page.

It had all started with a signature and now it would end with one.

At least that’s what they thought…

„Family, they said. A time bomb, they created.”

Chapter 1

Bayla

My mother had kidnapped me. She had simply tied me up and thrown me in the boot, and now I was trying to free myself with a lighter. My wrists were burning from the flames...or was it the rope cutting into my skin?

I wish it had happened that way because then I would have a valid reason to be mad at her. But instead, here I was, sitting in the passenger seat of her fat SUV, hoping she would change her mind after all.

I looked down at my wrists, which were already red from my non-stop scratching.

“Tell me...were you even listening to me?” her words reached my ear distantly.

Of course, I had been listening. But this time, I wasn't in the mood for the usual arguments with her. Whenever she tried to get her way, she succeeded. And that upset me. I had to control myself, or something would happen again. And nothing was allowed to happen, not this time and especially not in the middle of a packed jeep on the motorway.

For this reason, I kept silent and stared out the window at the passing cars. There weren't many of them here, in the middleof nowhere, but at least they took my mind off things for a few seconds.

The further north we drove, the emptier the road became, and I feared that we wouldn't arrive in this abandoned village in the middle ofWallachiain time before nightfall.

The forests here were beautiful, but something about them reminded me of those axe murder movies.

“Bayla, I understand that this isn't easy for you. But you know we have no choice,” Mum said, gently now.

Of course, we have had a choice. Butshehad made her choice, and I had to live with it.Again. Nothing new, actually.

“I'm old enough to look after myself, and I would have got through that one week without you.”

And that was true. My mother had come to this remote area once before for four weeks, only to come back even weaker than usual. During that time, I had gotten a part-time job and had earned good money. Besides, my mother had enough financial means in case of an emergency. Not that I was dependent on her.

I had left my old school behind. The school I graduated from a month ago, and the school from which I applied to study in San Francisco. I could forget about that plan now. Just like the wild student life withLarissa.

“You're only seventeen years old, and I still remember well what happened last time. Besides, it's going to take even a little longer this time.”

Oh yes,that... I'd been busy for five minutes with the postman, who'd messed up the address list for the entire block, so my dinner had been burnt. The beeping sound of the smoke alarm had prompted the anxious neighbor below us to call the fire brigade. My mother had been forced to return from her outing, almost tearing me apart.