Page 201 of Ironwood Ranch Cowboys

Annie sits at the far end of the table, reading with that intense focus of hers. Blue hair twisted up messily. Pencil tucked behind one ear. Thumb tapping absently against her camera strap while she thinks.

Every time I look at her lately, my chest tightens harder.

I should’ve contained this weeks ago.

Instead, somehow, Annie Wright got under my skin quickly enough that I didn’t realize the damage until it was already structural.

Now she matters too much, and that changes everything.

Cody glances toward me briefly. “If the reroute triggers, we’ll know within minutes.”

I nod once. But my eyes drift back toward Annie automatically.

“What?” she asks without looking up from the spreadsheets.

“Nothing.”

Annie snorts softly. “You stare like a man preparing for battle.”

“I am preparing for battle.”

“That’s reassuring.”

Duke appears in the doorway carrying coffee and grilled chicken wraps because apparently his response to organized crime is support catering.

He sets one beside Annie first.

“You’ve all been in here too long,” he says.

“We’re working,” Cody replies.

“You’re deteriorating,” Duke corrects.

He leans down briefly beside Annie, fingers brushing lightly against the back of her chair as he steals one quick kiss against her temple.

Jealousy doesn’t spike. Not anymore.

I look back at the screen before anyone notices.

Annie glances between all of us eventually, perceptive as hell.

“You know,” she says carefully, “the tension in this room could probably power a small city.”

Duke grins. “That’s the ranch spirit.”

Cody wants to argue with gravity itself.

I focus on the operation because it’s the only thing keeping me functional.

The trap is simple in theory.

The fake vendor payment sits buried beneath legitimate operational transfers. Visible only to someone with internal access and enough familiarity with the system to recognize opportunity.

If someone moves the payment, if someone reroutes it, we’ll know. We’ll know the theft is active from inside Ironwood itself.

No more theories.

No more instinct.