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“Listen, darlin’, can you hand Breanna over to Leia for a second, I got something I need to tell ya.”
“Is it serious?” She does as he asks, handing Breanna over and allowing him to raise her onto her feet.
“Come on, not here.” He leads her into his office and I can tell by the guilty look on Wade’s face when I look up at him that it’s not good news. The office doors close and Leia gives him the same questioning look as I am.
“We got some answers outta Mom tonight.” He takes up the space Maisie has vacated on the couch and lifts off his hat.
“She admitted that she only came back to get access to some account our dad set up years ago. Apparently, her and Maisie’s mom planned the whole thing. Cora only knew about Dad because of Mom, they even planned the home invasion that killed him together.”
“What?” Leia stares at him with wild shocked eyes. “That ain’t even it, Mom admitted to killing Cora too. She thought she’d double-crossed her.”
“This is insane.” I can’t believe what I’m hearing, and when the door to Garrett's office flies open and Maisie comes out, me and Leia rush to console her. I know her relationship with hermom was rocky at the best of times, but all this is so twisted and conspiring I can’t imagine how it must be for her.
“You gonna be okay here with them just for a while?” Garrett checks with Maisie. “Me and Wade need to go say goodbye to our brother.” He looks across to Wade sadly and when Maisie nods back at him, they both place their hats back on and walk out the door with their heads down.
Iwalk with just the moon and the stars as my light. I know this ranch like the back of my hand, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what route she would have taken. She only had to find the river, and then she can follow its path all the way to town. Sure, it's one hell of a hike, and I doubt she’d have gotten very far, but it ain’t like she was left with much choice. I avoid the woods as I march through the wet grass. If something’s gonna come at ya out here, it’s far more likely to do it from somewhere it’s got cover.
When I eventually get to the river, I pull out my phone and turn on the torch, scanning the ground for any sign of her coming through. The water is oddly calm, and the noises that come from the woods on the other side of the pasture remind me that, out here, we’re all just tryin’ to survive.
“Cole.” I hear a weak voice come from up ahead and when I shine the torch toward it and squint my eyes, I can just make her out in the distance. She’s tried to find shelter against one of the giant boulders that line the river bank and she looks completely helpless.
“Cole, I knew you’d come for me.” She scurries onto her feet. I figure she must have lost her shoes somewhere along the way because she hobbles across the rough ground to get closer to me.
“Follow me,” I tell her, turning my back on her and starting to walk out into the open pasture.
“Cole? Where are we going.”
I get far enough out for her to be in the open and have a good view of Copper Ridge when she turns herself around.
“Turn around.” I stop and face her.
“What is this?” She laughs nervously.
“I said, turn around,” I repeat, somehow keeping it all together and when she does as I tell her and I’m staring at the back of her head I take a few paces closer.
“It’s pretty, ain’t it?” I tell her, admiring for myself how the moonlight from the other side of the sky shines against it and the stars form their constellations above it. “Pretty soon the sun will be rising up from behind it.”
“Cole, what’s this about?”
“Garrett and Wade, they’re different to me, you’ve always known that. You were always telling me I was the bad one.” I step closer and when she goes to turn her head I lose my cool.
“Don’t turn around, keep looking at that ridge,” I yell, taking the gun out of my holster. “I used to think you were being cruel, that you favored them over me, but as the years have gone on, I’ve realized you were right.”
“Listen, sweetheart, I know you didn’t come out here to hurt me.” Her voice trembles as I get closer.
“You should have stayed away. Coming back here, making us believe you were a victim, making us think you’d changed… It was cruel.” I feel the tears prick at my eyes and get even angrier because she doesn’t deserve ‘em. “Hell, even I started to believe you’d changed.” I shake my head at my own stupidity.
“I’m sorry. Is that what you wanna hear, Cole? Because I am. I’m truly fucking sorry.”
“You're not sorry. You're desperate.” I press the barrel of the gun against the back of her head and hear her gasp.
“Cole, this is silly. Your brothers don’t want this, they let me go. Are you really going to act against them?”
“You're wrong, my brothers do want this. They just don’t want it on their conscience,” I correct her, feeling the blood pump fast around my body.
“And what about your conscience, sweetheart?” she asks, her voice trembling with fear.
“I lost my conscience a long time ago. I can put this bullet in your head and live with it because I know it’s the right thing to do.”
