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Nothing had ever come between them and he suddenly feared that Will would never agree to Seth turning him in. Yet, he knew the story of his family. Will knew this was the last member of the gang that killed his family and he’d kept it secret from Seth all this time. Why?
“We’re kin,” Calvin said. “Jim is our father.”
“Jim White may have helped create me, but he’s not my father. You and I both know what he did to our mothers. How could you accept his way of life?”
And Jim White was Will’s father. How fucked up could this get? Not only had his brother killed Seth’s family, but his own father was trying to take their bride’s ranch away.
Calvin sighed. “He’s got money. Cash. I'm tired of being poor. Of working and never getting ahead. Dear ole runaway Dad has the means to help me get a head start. He seemed like a sure deal, only he’s a hard ass. Even worse than mother described him.”
Stunned that his best friend’s family had been part of the gang that killed his loved ones, Seth stood there reeling from the shock. What did he do now?
“Yes, I see how much he helped you get ahead. Who put you up to robbing the bank?”
The man sighed. “It was a test job. A chance to show him I was serious about doing everything I could to help him.”
“Help him? By confiscating the people’s money so they were beholding to him for everything.”
“That’s not true,” Calvin said.
Will shook his head. “Or a chance for you to get caught and hauled off to loiter in prison where you are out of his sight. He doesn’t want the sons he left behind. He’s got Matt.”
In the darkness, something rattled the bushes. Some insect or critter scurrying away from the glow of the fire.
Calvin started laughing. “Matt is weak and crazy. You and I, we’re strong. You should join us, Will. You and I working for Pops, we would have him owning this county in no time.”
Anger rippled like an earthquake through Seth. Over his dead body would the two of them join up with Jim White. No way would he accept his best friend joining with his ruthless father. And Calvin would hang for the crimes committed against Seth’s family.
Even in the darkness, Seth could see Will’s hands shook with rage. Maybe his friend was not being swayed to the dark side. Maybe their friendship still had hope.
“No, it’s wrong. I could never respect or love that man. He left my seventeen-year-old mother pregnant and alone. He did the same to your mother. How can you forgive him? An honest man doesn’t walk out on his pregnant fiancée.”
The words were said with such venom, you would think Calvin was about to get rattlesnake bit.
The man sighed. “Maybe my mother was to blame. Why did she get involved with a man like Jim? I wouldn’t have been born if she’d keep her knickers up and her legs together. What about your own mother?”
Seth could see his friend's veins popping out on his face and feared him losing control and yet his own anger simmered below the surface, like a snake coiled and ready to strike.
“My mother believed he was going to marry her. He forced her to have sex with him before the wedding. They had chosen a date and time and then he learned she was pregnant. And he ran like the coward he is. He may have money, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a yellowed belly viper.”
Seth had never heard how his mother got pregnant. Only knew Will was the product of a wedding that didn’t happen. An illegitimate child who grew up without a father. His mother worked two and three jobs to support them.
The sound of a log popping on the fire was the only sound heard in the camp. Seth turned and gazed at Lily who stood watching, her eyes wide with fright, her face taut with tension.
Will turned and walked into the darkness, leaving their prisoner tied up lying on the ground. Right now, the man needed to fight the demons in his soul.
And Seth said a silent prayer that the man he considered a brother, his friend, would come out the winner.
Lily ran after Will into the darkness leaving Seth alone with Calvin. It was all he could do not to pull out his gun and shoot the bastard. But he had sworn an oath to protect the citizens of Texas and abide by the law.
Cold-blooded murder was not acceptable.
Calvin struggled on the ground. “Ants are crawling on me. Could someone help me sit up or at least give me my blanket.”
Though the man deserved to be riddled with fire ant bites, Seth realized as a man of the law, he had to be above his own personal feelings. He went to the man’s horse and pulled out a blanket. He tossed it to him and Calvin managed to sit up and maneuver the blanket beneath him.
“Were you ever a member of the Mercardo Gang?”
The man’s head swiveled and he glanced at Seth, his eyes narrowed. “Why you asking?”
