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Isaac felt a sting in his gut. “Yesterday? You didn’t think to invite me?”
“Jeffrey wanted a quiet affair. Just me and him on the ranch, with the priest, of course.”
Isaac ran his fingers through his hair. “Okay. Well, I’d like to come and see you. Pay my respects.”
It took all his strength to say that. He didn’t want to visit Aunt Meg at all. Especially not at the ranch. The ranch that used to belong to his parents. The ranch that should have been his.
He still remembered the day she told him that she was to inherit the ranch instead of him. How pathetic he felt as he asked her to let him have it. How desperately he begged to buy it off her. And how cold she looked as she told him that he couldn’t have it for all the money in the world.
“There’s no need for you to visit,” said Aunt Meg. “I prefer my own company.”
Isaac’s gaze flicked over to the framed photograph on his desk. A black and white picture of the ranch, back when his parents were running it. His mother was holding him in her arms, and there were happily grazing cattle in the background. Even though he was a baby in that picture, he’d studied the scene so often that he felt as though he remembered it.
That ranch was rightfully his.
And he wasn’t giving up.
“I won’t take no for an answer,” he said. “I’ll be there at the weekend.”
“I don’t think—“
Isaac didn’t wait for his aunt to finish what she was saying. He hung up the phone, the blood whooshing in his ears.
Just then, he heard that sound again.
Miaaaaaaoooooow.
The stray kitten.
“Ugh,” he said aloud. “Fine.”
He walked into his huge kitchen, grabbed a saucer and filled it generously with milk. Then, he put it outside the door for the cat.
Curious, the kitten appeared from the shadows and sniffed the saucer. Then, hungrily, it began to lap up the milk.
“Drink that, kitty,” Isaac said, “then leave me in peace. There must be a hundred people in this neighborhood looking for a pet like you. I’m afraid that I’m not one of them.”
The cat looked up at him with sad eyes.
Miaow?
“Oh, for goodness sake,” he said. “Fine. For one night. But don’t pee on any of my stuff. Okay?”
He moved the saucer into his office, and the cat came in with it. Then, he cleaned out an old box and filled it with strips of paper from his shredder. He was always fastidious about shredding. It was important to hide exactly how many figures were in his gazillion bank accounts. You could never be too careful, even in a place as secure as this.
The cat looked at its cardboard box for a moment, then it rubbed its face against it and climbed inside. It curled up among the shredded bank statements, yawned, and fell asleep. He couldn’t deny it: the little thing was cute.
“This isn’t a permanent arrangement, pussy-cat,” Isaac whispered. “So don’t get too comfortable.”
Shaking his head at how easily he caved in, he felt a surge of determination.
“Take no prisoners, Isaac,” he said, punching in the investor’s number.
He was going to win this deal right now. Then, he was going to take back his family ranch.
Nothing — no matter how cute it was — was going to stand in his way.
Chapter Two
