Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 51792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Eventually, Avery convinced Zoe to go with her to Mountainside to see Avery’s father. They hadn’t gone the night before with the storm warnings. Today was clear, and the roads had been too.
After waving goodbye, I went upstairs first to my room before I knocked on Sunshine’s.
Her “come in” didn’t sound good. When I opened the door, I stopped at the sight of her packed bag on the bed.
“What is this?” I said, unable to hold back my anger.
“What does it look like?” Her eyes were dull as they met mine.
“It looks like you’re tucking tail and running.”
She stood. “You fired me, remember?”
I stepped in, closed the door, and marched forward, erasing any distance between us. “I fired you.” I flicked the folded paper in my hand so it would come undone. “This is the contract you wanted. Dad’s your boss now, not me.”
She took it, and while she scanned it, she asked, “What about Zoe?”
“In there, you’ll see your duties would include taking care of my dad and any guests he might have, including his granddaughter. The salary is commensurate with that.”
Her eyes widened before she held it back out to me. “I can’t take this. I can’t stay.” She turned her back to me and went for her bag.
I stepped in her path. “You can and you will.”
Eyes with unshed tears pierced mine as her mouth wobbled. “I can’t bring this danger to your family, especially not to Zoe.”
I took both of her hands and wound our fingers together. “I said I would fix it, didn’t I?” She nodded. “Trust me.”
“I can’t.”
“You can. Start by giving me the letters you received.”
Reluctantly, I let her go. She moved to her dresser as I pulled out my phone. There was a call I needed to make that I hadn’t. I’d been so focused on getting Sunshine home safe I’d neglected to do it.
When he answered, I said, “Aiden. I need to report a shooting. I don’t know if you are the right person because it wasn’t in Mason Creek, but I don’t know who else to call.”
Aiden was almost the top cop in town and my brother’s best friend, which made him my go-to person for this. He listened as I went back through it all. I had Sunshine tucked into my chest as she cried again with racking sobs. I couldn’t blame her. When we’d hit that patch of ice on the mountain, I was sure I’d punched my ticket to the afterlife. That didn’t stop the caveman in me from wanting to go back and end those two miserable lives. I hadn’t forgotten the suggestion that they had wanted me dead to do bad things to my girl.
“Do you know their names?” Aiden asked, crashing into my thoughts. “Though if it is their mountain, they have a right to protect it.”
“I know. But I want this on record. And I only heard one name: Bill. I might have more for you later. I have to check a few things.”
“I’ll contact county and see if they want to come out for a formal statement.”
“Sure thing,” I said, before we ended the call. I didn’t let go, but I pulled back enough so she didn’t have to bend her head so far back to meet my eyes. “Where are those letters?”
She reached around me for a stack of envelopes. I guided her to the bed and shoved her packed bag out of the way. We sat side by side as I opened them one by one.
“I should have asked before, but did you find out if Zoe’s yours?”
I only briefly glanced at her to say, “You’re trying to distract me.” But I hadn’t really talked about this, maybe because I had always known. “But to answer your question, yes. Not that I doubted it for a second. And even if she hadn’t been, I’d resolved that she was my responsibility.”
“You are a good man, Mitchell Bowmen.”
I stopped what I was doing long enough to take her hand and kiss the back of it. “You are an incredible woman who doesn’t deserve what happened today. Don’t forget that.”
She didn’t answer, but I hoped to have one for her soon enough. When I finished reading, I had two piles of letters. I handed her the first. “This is a load of crap. Those two idiots are full of it.” Her gaze was too damn hopeful, and I hated the pair more for the torment they’d caused her. “In here, they say you don’t have rights to the mountain. Yet they are asking you to sign a document to give up your rights.”
“And?”
“And I know it’s a lot of lawyer-speak in there, but basically, if you didn’t have the rights, why would you need to sign them away? They pretty it up like you’re doing yourself a favor when, in fact, if you signed, you’d be giving up the rights they claim you don’t have.”