AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I placed the wine on the table, holding my head in my hands. When my phone rang, my stomach immediately lurched, fearful something else had happened to Phoenix. Seeing Cammie’s number, I cringed.
“Hiya, girl,” I said, zero enthusiasm in my voice.
“For a woman who’s getting married to a hunky man,” she said, laughing, “you sound terrible.”
“I’m happy. I’m just worried.”
“I know.” The silence was awkward as if she had something on her mind.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen? Don’t tell me Marcus is trying to get you back.”
Cammie snorted. “Actually he is, but that’s not what I called.”
“Then why did you call?”
“Do you remember asking me to talk to one of the attorneys in the office?”
I thought about it and had completely forgotten. “That was right before…”
“I didn’t think you remembered, or you would have been grilling me this morning. Anyway, I made the call then met him for lunch to see what he found. He wanted to make certain our conversation was private.”
“Why?”
“Because of what he discovered.”
“That sounds ominous.” It would seem we were both full of bad news.
“Are you sitting down?”
I stood as soon as she said that, grabbing my wine. “Yes. Talk to me.”
As she started to relay the information, a strange vibration occurred under my feet. What in the hell was that? An earthquake? I rushed to the front window, scanning the perimeter. When I caught a glimpse of orange, I froze for a few seconds.
“Wren. Are you there?”
“Hold on. I need to go outside.” I threw open the front door, racing onto the porch.
Oh, God, no. The barn was on fire. I could already hear the horses whinnying. “Cammie. Call the fire department. Get them to the ranch.”
“What’s going on?”
“Just do it. I need to go.” I ended the call, my hands shaking as I tried to dial Jorge’s phone number.
“Ms. Tillman. Is something wrong?”
“The barn’s on fire.”
“Shit. I’ll be right there. Stay put. I’m ten minutes away,” Jorge said.
“I can’t wait that long. The horses,” I told him as I bolted off the porch, running toward the fence.
“Just hold on. Hold—”
I cut him off, ending the call, fighting to shove it into my back pocket. The fire was already raging over the roofline. And the stench was ungodly.
The accelerant.
There was no time to waste or to contact Phoenix. I had to get the horses out of the barn. I jerked open the door, hissing as a blast of hot air hit me like a ton of bricks. Thank God the electricity was still working. As I raced to one of the gates, I struggled with getting the latch open. “Please, God. Let me do this.” I finally got it open, jerking on the rail. But the horse was too terrified to move.
