AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Now, the work was done, the herd was managed, the livestock exchange wass around the corner, and I had two women and a little boy at the house waiting for me, along with a cold shower.
“Have a goodnight,” I hollered, putting my hat back on. I turned to head out of the barn when my cellphone rang.
It was Grayson.
“This is Denver.”
“Took you long enough,” he deadpanned.
“Did you get in touch with my brother?” I asked, cutting straight through the bullshit.
“I did.”
I remained silent waiting for him to continue, and when he didn’t, I growled, “Don’t have all night, Grayson.”
“He isn’t coming home, but you and I both knew he wouldn’t.”
I ignored the burning in my chest, shoving it down where it belonged. “I appreciate the time,” I clipped, ready to hang up.
“Denver, there’s something else.”
My feet moved to the corral, and I leaned against the metal fence, my eyes on the sunlight setting behind my mountain. “There always is,” I grumbled.
“Your girl is playing you.”
I stiffened, my blood running cold. “The fuck you just say to me?”
“You heard me. One thing to note; I never ignore my gut, and my gut was telling me that Valerie Cross was a fucking—”
“Careful, bounty hunter. Choose your next words wisely,” I warned, my voice low.
“Ran an extensive background check on her, Langston. Didn’t like what I found,” he quipped.
“And what did you find?” I snarled.
How dare he? Valerie was clean—good. She was everything to me.
She cared about me.
She cared about my son.
She cared about Hallow Ranch.
Whatever Grayson found was—
“She’s still on the Moonie Pipelines Incorporated payroll,” he informed, his voice tight.
I scoffed, pushing off the fence. “You do realize he fired her less than a month ago and that your data is—”
“She was removed from it the day she was fired, company policy. She was added back to the payroll a week after Tim Moonie fired her.”
The world around me stilled.
The beauty of the sunset dulled and faded away, along with the lush green covering the valley before me. In its place was a construction site and a Moonie Pipelines semi-truck parked where the bunk house should be.
I took a slow turn, watching everything that my grandfather, my father, and me built and protected. The bunk house, the barn, and my home vanished before my eyes. Piles of dirt stood in their places, and standing in the center of it all was the woman I’d fallen in love with. The woman I’d bared my broken soul to.
My enchantress.
