AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Or the one I have every intention of changing into.
“You don’t know me at all, Parker. But that’s just as well. What about the employees?”
“You were right, a significant majority of the men and a couple who either worked or continue to work for Black Horse Ranch have records, most for either drug usage, petty theft, or other nonviolent crimes.”
“But?”
“But George Stanford does have assault on his record. Second degree manslaughter that was pleaded down but he still served eight months in prison.”
“Fuck. I had a feeling the man had a violent background.”
“Don’t jump to any conclusions. That was almost fifteen years ago,” Parker warned.
“I don’t give a shit. Not only did Walter receive threats before he died, but I’d had one myself. Someone wants this ranch badly and guess what, they’re not getting it.”
“You’re not selling it?”
Why did he seem so surprised? “Not at this time. I just might add a new business.” At this point, I wasn’t going to tip my hand to anyone, including Parker, about my plans. While the family attorney had been nothing but loyal up to this point, Parker’s real alliance was to my father. The fact Pops had even had a conversation with Hank Barclay without mentioning it to me continued to add insult to injury. It didn’t matter if Hank had initiated the call. I knew my father far too well. He would offer whatever advice possible to the pompous son of a bitch to try to help in steering me into selling.
“I understand you were close to your grandfather, Sebastian, but think about the toll it will take on you professionally as well as personally if you stay there.”
“That sounds suspiciously like you’re on my father’s side about this.”
“Hell, no. Your father is pigheaded and rarely follows my advice. I told him a long time ago to bury the hatchet, but he refused.”
“I wonder why.”
“My guess is there’s more to this, but it would seem Walter refused to loan Dinalto money to start the company.”
“Their feud was all about money?”
“Apparently so.”
That would make sense, especially since my father had been forced to work menial jobs for several years. “What about James Jenson’s wife? Is she anyone of importance in this mix?”
“She’s some debutante from Fort Lauderdale. Pretty girl. Yes, her family is extremely wealthy and given her father is a senator out of Delaware, I have a feeling the dirty laundry wasn’t appreciated.”
“Hmm… Okay, good to know.” As I’d learned a long time ago, everyone has at least one nasty little secret. I glanced at my watch. Jackson was due in less than an hour. He’d called before catching his flight, already making arrangements for a rental car. That freed me to have a nice, long conversation with George. If I remembered correctly, what I’d seen in his hand when I’d passed him on the road had been a chainsaw.
“Do you need anything else at this point, Sebastian? I’m about to head into a meeting.”
“No, I think I have everything I need.” I felt justified in how I’d handled James. In fact, what Parker had said put a smile on my face and it would have remained there expect that George would need to be handled.
“Good to hear. I’ll email you the name of the attorney I mentioned.”
“You do that.” I stood staring at the fence Luis had mentioned and he’d been right in his assessment. There was no doubt the wood had been purposely cut crudely. The person hadn’t bothered to hide it. It would seem the idiot responsible thought I was a pushover. Maybe it was good that Grandpops had never talked about me and what I was capable of. I backed away, shaking my head. George didn’t live on the property, the small house he’d shared with his wife only a couple of miles out.
I’d left the engine idling and the moment I hopped into the truck, I pressed my foot down on the accelerator. Within ten minutes, I’d found the location of his place, jerking to a stop beside his truck. As I climbed out, I glanced into the back of his pickup truck. There was no chainsaw in plain sight but that didn’t mean it wasn’t inside the storage building located just off to the side.
I glanced at the house, unable to see him anywhere. However, the door to the smaller building was open a crack. Heading toward it, I pulled it open, the late afternoon light enough to see inside. Almost immediately, I noticed the chainsaw placed on a table, as if recently used. There were other typical garden implements lining the walls as well. I glanced from one side to the other, making mental note of what was located in the small space.
While there was an entire warehouse full of similar tools used on the ranch itself, I could see him using his own private chainsaw for acting on whatever revenge the man had going.
“Can I help you with something?”
Hearing George’s terse voice drew my attention immediately.
“I thought it was time you and I had a discussion,” I told him as I turned around, noticing the extreme anger on his face.
