Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 101501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
“Yes, ma’am, it’s true. The police chief sits right there.” I pointed to the vacant barstool where Logan rarely sat because he was too busy pouring beer or clearing tables when he wasn’t out on a call.
It had been six months since Logan rescued my brothers, and I still hadn’t forgiven him for keeping me in the dark. Since it ended well for my brothers, I only brought up it up when I was losing a fight now.
It could have been so much worse, considering Jake had been shot. Thankfully, it was his non-throwing arm and the small caliber bullet only passed through the meaty part of his shoulder. He only missed two games before he insisted he was fit enough to play, even if I’d adamantly said no. It took Logan intervening on his behalf before I finally gave in. I shouldn’t have worried. His offensive line wasn’t about to let anyone touch him after what he went through. He finished the rest of the season without a single sack and the Mustangs took state. A month ago, he signed a letter of intent with the Oklahoma Sooners. In a few short months, he’d be leaving Montana to follow his dream on a full-ride scholarship—as long as I kept the girls away.
Josh was still Josh. I learned after we were all home and recouping together that he had nerves of steel. He’d held it together through the whole ordeal and had secretly pulled his pocketknife out of his back pocket and was moments away from cutting through the rope. He’d been egging Chance on to keep his focus on himself and off his brother. Logan told me in the dark of night that Josh was a natural born soldier, and I needed to prepare myself—because in three years, Josh would enlist—as long as I kept the girls away.
When Logan arrested Chance for kidnapping and attempted murder of my brothers, the town had been shocked. The sack of bones Logan found at the abduction sight were sent in for DNA analysis and we finally had confirmation about what had happen to Duke. Chance had killed his father in a fit of rage, then gone on a killing spree against those who knew about the abuse but never rescued him. He killed Frank to cover his tracks and Duke because Frank had called him. He’d burned Duke’s body alongside his father to cover up the murder, rigging the furnace to explode to throw us off his trail. Then he’d driven Duke’s truck and boat to Yellowstone with a motorcycle in the bed of the truck so he could return. Rip died for his sins, and Butch died because of greed. Eleanor and Eloise died because they feared Justice Bear more than they cared about what was happening to Chance.
Chance hadn’t fought any of the charges. He pled guilty with a blank face and was held over for a psychological evaluation before sentencing, after admitting to killing his father, and finding out Justice had lied about our mother. He was ruled mentally unstable and sentenced to Montana State Hospital. He’s been there four months and just recently asked to see me.
The town had been numb when he was first arrested. Some of the older residents had known about Justice Bear’s temper, but none had reported him because Justice owned the local law enforcement. As for blaming my family as I feared, instead of raising pitchforks and running the lot of us out of town for being related to Chance, the good people of Ennis, Montana, circled their wagons around all of us, Kenzie and Chace included. When the media swooped in like the buzzards they were, they barely got close to us. And with Logan at the bar each night, they never made it through the door.
Since Chance was locked up and unable to call in his loan, Kenzie wrote off the debt as his executor for the torment he put my family through. She also paid off all our medical bills as an act of contrition. I argued it was unnecessary, but she went behind my back to the hospital.
Kenzie and Chace took an extended break from Ennis until the media moved on to something new. They were now living at Bear Claw Ranch. Kenzie was in charge of everything until Chace was old enough to run things. She’d turned in her haute couture for jeans, boots, and flannel shirts. I’d forgotten that in her youth she was a barrel racing champion. She could work a horse with the best of them and did daily now. And her men were loyal to the Ennis beauty because she treated them with the respect neither Justice nor Chance ever gave them, Mac Macey said.
Ty and Jamie had been distant ever since my attack. Neither would talk about it, but I suspected Ty had made his intentions known and Jamie turned him down because of me. When she was ready to talk about it, I’d be there to listen. If I’d learned one thing with everything that had happened in the past six months, it was fate was never wrong. If they were meant to be, then it would happen without my help.