Colt looked up from papers on his desk. A framed photo of Molly and Clarabel was proudly displayed by his phone.
“Sure.” He eyed us both. He was a skeptical fucker, but it went with the job. I didn’t show up at the station often, but I was a lawyer and dealt with some of his cases so it happened.
Just never with Cassidy in tow.
I closed the door, which made him raise an eyebrow.
“We just came from the bank,” I began.
“Okay.”
“Turns out, Cassidy here is the sole legal owner of Two Rivers Ranch.”
His eyes widened, then narrowed. “What?”
She licked her lips, nodded. “My grandparents left it to me.”
“Your grandparents left youTwo Rivers Ranch?” Colt asked.
Like me, he didn’t raise his voice often. But we’d definitely surprised him.
“Yes. Plus… money.”
“A lot of money,” I added.
“Congratulations?” he said, not sure if he was supposed to be happy or not. Maybe it was because we weren’t all that happy. More like shocked.
Me? I was also angry as fuck. Because I had a pretty good idea what the fuck was going on.
“She just found out, but she became the sole owner when she was ten, when her mother died.”
Colt stared at me, then Cassidy, then set his forearms on his desk and leaned toward us. “Sit the fuck down.”
We’d definitely surprised him. I grinned, letCassidy settle into one of the uncomfortable visitors’ chairs. I settled next to her.
“You’ve been the owner of the Two Rivers Ranch for the past eight years and you didn’t know?”
“No.”
Awareness lit Colt’s eyes and he sat back. “Let me guess who the trustee is. Conrad Trout.”
Cassidy nodded.
Colt grinned now. “He’s been living off your money on your property without you knowing while you went to boarding school in Vermont, which you started immediately after you inherited.”
Cassidy nodded. “Yes, that’s right.”
“He went to Aruba last year,” Colt told her. “Did you approve that expenditure?”
Cassidy blinked. “You mean that’s what I was supposed to do?”
I nodded. “You have to approve anything he spendsyourmoney on.”
“A trip to the Caribbean sure as hell isn’t part of the trustee stipend,” Colt said.
“He’s been spendingmymoney?” Cassidy asked. “What about my brothers? Was the Land Rover Rocky bought with my money?”
“Does he have a job to pay for it on his own?” Colt asked.
