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I watch Carly walk away, and with each step, she takes another piece of my heart. Because a curvy slip of a woman has penetrated every one of my defenses.
I turn to Chance, my temper on fire. “Fix this. You have to fix this shit.”
“You heard the man.” Chance takes off his Stetson and slaps it on his jean-clad thigh. “He doesn’t want our money. Damn. He wants our hides.”
“Just exactly what kind of a man was Jonathan Bridger?” Miles asks. “Because while I knew he was an asshole, a lot of other people think the same thing.”
“He was a dick,” Chance says, “but the two of you already know that. Vance, too. He didn’t win any popularity contests in town, but I never thought he was a damned criminal.”
“Vance didn’t call him a criminal,” I clarify, glancing in the direction Carly went. They’ve turned a corner and are out of sight.
“Not outright, he didn’t.” Chance adjusts his hat back on his head. “But he said our father was skirting the law for years, which doesn’t sound off brand for him. Or that he cheated the Vance family out of their property.”
“That’s some great genetic material we’ve got,” I say, more to myself than to my brothers. Then I realize that Chance knew the guy. Maybe better than anyone else. “What aren’t you telling us?”
He pulls a red bandana out of his pocket and rubs the sweat off his forehead. “You know what I know.”
“You lived with the guy,” Miles prompts.
Chance rolls his eyes. “You’re in the house, and you know how big it is. Shit, you could have a threesome in your room and I’d never see the women come in the house or hear a thing.”
Miles grins. “Good to know.”
It’s my turn to roll my eyes. “You can’t tell me you never had dinner together? Passed in the hall? Hell, saw each other while working? He didn’t mention he took the Vance land?”
“To him, I was an employee, just like everyone else on the ranch. The only difference is I lived in the house. You asked about facts. I don’t know shit about what Vance mentioned or the deal itself. I mean, there have been rumors for years, but my father always told me to pay them no mind. That the townsfolk were just jealous.”
It’s easy to be jealous of billions of dollars.
“Uh…what kind of rumors?” Anger slithers up my spine. The more I learn about Jonathan Bridger, the more I hate him.
If my bastard father hurt Carly’s family, after everything they’ve already been through…
Vance may be angry, but he seems justified, although his focus is directed at the wrong people. Still…
“We’ve got to find a way to fix this,” I say, this time to both my brothers.
“I agree,” Miles says. “I know the mayor came on pretty strong, but I don’t get the feeling that he’s a bad guy.”
Yeah, he’s thinking like me.
“Then he ought to know we aren’t our father,” Chance says. “But he doesn’t seem to.”
I rub at my temples, which are starting to ache. “Let’s just make a deal with Vance. In a year, when we get our money, we’ll pay him the fair market value of his property plus a healthy amount of interest. Surely he’ll agree to that.”
Except I don’t believe my words.
Rick Vance might want his land back, but his focus now doesn’t seem to be the Bridger money.
He seems out for Bridger blood. That means mine. I knew it was tainted all along, but now it’s truly fucking with me. Vance’s hatred is like a sticky web, ensnaring Carly in it. Making her unhappy, which I don’t like at all.
Miles and I sit in the truck when Chance runs into the store for the supplies he needs and then we mutually decide to ditch the beer idea. We don’t talk much during the drive back to the ranch. I spend the time ruminating on how I disappointed Carly and how I can make it up to her.
I come up with zilch. I can’t fix my mom being sick. I don’t know how to fix this because I have no clue what’s going on.
Fuck.
We pull into the long driveway only to see a black Jaguar parked off in one of the guest spots.
