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A line had been drawn in the sand. It would seem I’d been underestimated by a significant group of people.
The knock on the door pulled at my anxiety from before. I took long strides toward it, throwing it open. I could tell by the look on Luis’ face that I must have a scowl on mine. “Luis. What can I do for you?”
“I’m sorry to bother you, Mr. Cawthorne, but I thought you should know that I found an issue at the rear fence. A section is missing. A few horses escaped but I managed to corral them before they went too far.”
“Thank you for letting me know. How did it happen?”
He took a deep breath, glancing over his shoulder as if he expected someone to be standing right behind me, someone he didn’t want to overhear what he was about to say. “The section was deliberately taken down, sir. A chainsaw was used. It’s not the first issue we’ve experienced either.”
A chainsaw. Was it possible what George had been doing was sabotaging the work on the ranch? While I couldn’t jump to any conclusions, I would keep it in the back of my mind. “What else?”
“A small fire at one of the barns, feed that was poisoned. Walter was becoming very concerned.”
“Any idea who you think is it?”
He seemed more nervous than before. “No, sir. I just wanted you to know.”
“I’ll email you my direct phone number. Text or call me if anything else happens. No matter how small. Understood?” Of course he had his own suspicions of who was responsible. That was easy to tell.
“Yes, sir. I’ll do that.” He backed away, giving me a slight nod. The kid was worried to death. Were the threats the reason for my grandfather’s calls?
Goddamn it. What the fuck had I done?
It was time to get busy. It was time to take matters fully into my hands.
Soon, people would learn I wasn’t to be fucked with.
I didn’t like nor would I tolerate the feeling of being completely out of control. That was one thing I excelled at, putting all the pieces of a situation into a tidy box, and handling it appropriately. This situation was unnerving and had pushed me to an edge I usually took care of instantly.
Maybe that had been my problem. I hadn’t shut down the asshole from minute one, at least not in the way I usually did. I’d allowed some sense of decorum to slide into my actions.
I was finished with being nice on any level.
With someone out to sabotage the ranch, I had a feeling the issues would only start to escalate, especially the moment the person or parties responsible knew I had no intention of selling. However, if you wanted to bring a pig to slaughter, you needed to provide them with bait.
And Hank Barclay was very much a stuffed pig.
“I’m sorry. You can’t go in there. Mr. Barclay is on a phone call!”
I ignored the receptionist, taking long strides down the corridor, my anger in check.
For now.
However, this was the first of two stops I was making. The next one could end up being violent and that was just fine with me.
I didn’t bother knocking on the door, bursting into the fucking asshole’s office with a smile plastered on my face. I’d learned that it paid to have a damn good attorney and Parker had come through in a couple of ways. First of all, he’d sent me his opinion on the temporary executor position dear old Hank had placed on himself. He’d also provided me with some useful information about how Hank had initiated the contract on the ranch. Given the shit I’d been faced with from the get-go, I hadn’t noticed the codicil had been after the original will had been done, the addendum legal unless it hadn’t been witnessed. And lo and behold, the man had believed no one would challenge it. Well, I wasn’t any man.
Parker had also been good enough to send me a passage from the Colorado law highlighted so I could present it to the hillbilly fuck. He’d also sent me a short warning that Canyon Industries was bad news, promising to provide more information after a family get-together he had to go to. He’d also grumbled about Jenson, warning me to keep my hands to myself.
But he’d followed through with sending me the kind of email including art that men like me salivated over. And the naughty little items were just the tip of the iceberg.
Not a chance.
I was ready to walk through fire to protect the woman I loved. And I didn’t give a shit about the consequences.
Whatever happened on this first stop, Hank was going to learn very quickly that if he didn’t want me to proceed with legal action, he’d back the fuck away.
Hank gave me a hateful look, keeping his feet on his desk and remaining leaning back in his chair. “No, I understand what you’re saying, Ben, and hopefully, I’ll have it all under control in an hour or so.”
