Silence.
The storm pounded harder outside.
“Whose names?” Trigger asked quietly.
Rook’s eyes lifted toward me.
“Politicians. Judges. Federal agents.” His voice turned lethal. “Military contractors.”
Mercer hadn’t built a trafficking ring.
He’d built an empire.
A protected one.
My knees nearly buckled.
All this time…
Dad had been trying to expose something enormous.
Something powerful enough to get him killed.
Something powerful enough to hunt me now.
The realization hit so hard I could barely breathe.
Hersh saw itimmediately.
His hand slid against my lower back.
Grounding me.
Keeping me standing.
“You’re okay,” he said quietly.
But I wasn’t.
Because suddenly I understood something horrifying.
“They were never trying to scare me away from the ranch,” I whispered.
Everybody looked at me.
My voice shook harder.
“They thought Dad gave me the list.”
The barn went silent again.
Because they all realized it too.
Every threat.
Every attack.
Every lie.
