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He grunts once and lets out a rattling breath. “It went too far.”
“You don’t give a fuck how far things go,” I say with more anger than I actually feel. Right now, I’m too numb to have much of any emotion in me at all. “You only ever cared about your precious ranch. What did Daisy promise you?”
Colton’s head dips down, chin to his chest, and he takes big, heaving breaths. I wonder if he’s on his way out, and I don’t move to help. But finally, he grunts and sighs and leans back.
“She promised to sell,” he whispers. “There are big ranching consortiums. They’ve been trying to buy for a long time, and I made her swear she’ll let me finally sell. You think I can do anything alone in this room? She controls what comes in and what goes out.”
“Huh,” I say and study him. “Why sell? How’s that better?”
“Because at least this place will run again. With Daisy in charge, it’s falling apart, and the longer she holds on, the worse it’ll be. It’s time to let go. I’m going to die soon, and so will the ranch.”
I cross my legs, studying the old man. I hate him for breaking down like this and ruining everything, but I understand his sick logic. If he loves the ranch as much as he pretends, then he should do anything he can to make sure it keeps on functioning, even if it means selling it to some investment banker.
“You know this means the Leader family will be finished. The name will keep on going, but—” I shake my head. “No more ranch. No more money.”
“It’s already done,” Colton says with a sigh. “How many mistakes have I made? How could this place have gone from thriving to this in only so many years? I don’t understand how I could fail so miserably.”
“I do,” I say softly and lean toward him. “You didn’t believe your own daughter. That’s how.”
His eyes roll to meet mine. “What?”
“She told you the truth, old man.” I get closer, showing him my teeth. “But you know that already, don’t you? Everyone figured it out by now. Melody wasn’t lying back then, but you all shoved her away, and the guilt’s been eating this family from the inside ever since. How much did you know back then? About Rosie and her father?”
His face twists in agony and he looks away from me. His falls into a coughing fit that ends with him spitting blood into a tissue. I watch him, curious about how much time he has left, but he finally clears his throat enough to speak.
“My sister told me everything after Melody was already gone. Her husband was a drunk and an asshole, but I thought it ended there. Turns out he’d been abusing Rosie for years, and my sister only found out toward the end. She made that piece of shit leave and held the secret for years and years, and I think it was only after Rosie was gone and Melody started telling everyone about what happened that she realized how badly it had messed everyone up.”
I shake my head, astounded at the dysfunction. “You knew,” I say. “You could’ve called Melody up and apologized and admitted that you knew, but you didn’t.”
“It’s not easy,” he says, sounding like he’s going to cry.
I have no pity for him. “You deserve this, old man.” I slowly stand up.
“Going to leave now?” he asks. “Can’t say I’m surprised.”
“I want my money.”
“There is no money, Warren.” He chuckles darkly. “Never was any.”
“You hired me for a job. I did the job.”
“Go ask Daisy. Maybe she’ll pay.”
I stare at him and my hands curl into fists. I want to cover his face with a pillow and choke him out, but this house has seen enough death already and I don’t need to make my hands any dirtier than they already are.
I turn and leave the room. My father’s going to die because of this. I banked on making enough to pay off the Greeks, or at least enough to buy myself some more time to make the difference, but now Dad is completely fucked. I have nothing to give him, and the Greeks have no reason to hold back.
They’re going to murder him.
I steady myself against the doorframe. Melody’s gone, Colton fucked me, everyone in this family is a psychopath and monster, and my father is going to die, and my mother will likely follow him into the grave. My life is falling apart, and all I can think of is Melody, and her mouth against mine, and how close I finally got to feeling something real.
Only for my lies to fuck it all up again.
I pause in the hallway outside of Colton’s wing. It’s quiet in the main house—most of the family’s at the hospital with the cousins. I hope those fuckers think twice about trying something so fucking stupid in the future, but I suspect they’re not the types to learn much from their mistakes.
“What are you still doing here?”
I look down the hall and there she is, head tilted in curiosity. Daisy’s studying me with narrowed eyes, and I’m suddenly tempted to stalk down to her and shove my thumbs through her eyes, but instead I only straighten and move a little bit closer.
