Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 70097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
“You can join us for this meeting, but if you cause any trouble, you’ll be locked up like I promised.”
“Don’t tell me you’re scared of him.”
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.” But TJ was right. I was terrified of what Jacob could make me feel.
“If I find one of the assholes that’s after me, I will kill him very, very slowly.”
I nodded. “Unless you’re putting my people in danger, I won’t stop you.”
When we joined my brothers, Madison, and Colton, we brainstormed options for solving our problems. The key was figuring out motivations, identifying the body now buried past the property line, and finding out who our disappearing stalker was.
I asked X to put his tech wizard on it, and I planned to reach out to my military contacts who could find anyone, no matter how hard they tried to hide, but even with experts at our disposal, we might not get the information we needed in time.
How quickly would the other guy be back, and how damn good was he at being invisible?
I could increase our patrols, but we had a lot of land to cover. Our best advantage was our remoteness. How the hell had someone found us so fast?
When we’d settled on a plan, I sent everyone back to work except my brothers. They were the only ones I absolutely trusted. “I hate to even think it, but we’ve got to consider the possibility of a mole in our crew.”
“You think someone leaked our location?” Rhys asked. “They might have just followed one of us back here.”
I looked at Rogue.
He shook his head. “I was careful. I swear. No one followed us. I knew how high the stakes were for Jacob.”
I was reassured that he’d at least been doing his best to keep Jacob and the ranch safe. He didn’t have the training Rhys and I did, but he’d had to learn to move around without our father or his colleagues knowing what he was up to. I wasn’t completely dismissing the possibility that he and Jacob had been followed, but we needed to discuss the more likely option. “That leaves us with the likelihood that someone on this ranch is a fucking snitch.”
“We’ll know soon if they were just in this room,” Rhys said. He looked toward the door and scowled.
“TJ is the one who shot the fucking guy.” Rogue clearly understood Rhys’s implied meaning.
Rhys huffed. “The man’s a fucking psycho. Maybe his family made a deal to expose Evan.”
I shook my head. “That doesn’t make any sense. TJ’s family has used this safehouse several times before. Why would they ruin something that was working for them? I’m sure they have much better ways to bring down an enemy.”
Rhys sighed. “True.”
“I know you want him to be a villain, but—”
“He is a villain. I want him to be dealt with justly.”
“Believe it or not,” Rogue said, “he’s one of the better ones of his type.”
Rhys snorted.
I didn’t have time to soothe his feelings. “Just be on guard. Be careful what you say around anyone other than us.”
“Shit.” Rhys glanced at his phone. “How did it get so late? I’ve got hours of work left in the barn.”
I shook my head. “You two go check out the south pasture. Make sure there’s no sign of activity there. We don’t want to risk someone coming from that side rather than the north. I’ll handle settling the horses in for the night.” Some satisfying physical work was just what I needed. Maybe alone in the barn I’d be able to think. Maybe I could even figure out what to do about Jacob.
When I’d finished the chores, I was no closer to an answer, so I saddled Zion, the gelding I’d started thinking of as mine, and took off on a ride. I knew how stupid it was to be out by myself as it got dark, especially when no one knew where I was, but I needed more time to get my head on straight.
You really think that’s going to happen? You think you’re just going to solve this?
That’s what I do. I solve problems.
Is Jacob really a problem?
No. Yes. I didn’t know. While it was still light enough to be safe, I let the horse have its head. When the wild rush of the ride came to an end, I slowed our pace and headed back to the barn. I tensed when I saw someone walking away from the back of the building. Tugging on the reins, I urged Zion to stop and remain still. We waited so I could see where the person would go.
When the figure turned toward the bunkhouse, I got a better look and realized it was Evan. What was he doing out of the house? Maybe he just wanted a quiet moment with the horses. He’d been interested in seeing them, but he didn’t like being around people. I followed him to the house, and one of the guards stationed there gave me a wave as Evan stopped to speak to him. I’d have to talk to Evan about leaving the house at night and tell the guard not to let it happen again.