Cole growls behind me. “Don’t come near her.”
Toby laughs, waltzing closer. “Relax, big man. You two have bigger problems than us getting handsy.”
He taps the vest on my chest with his flashlight. I flinch.
Calista crouches down, her face inches from mine. “Hi, Ella.” Her voice drips with mock sympathy. “I have to say, I’m impressed. You really threw yourself into his life, didn’t you? Like a little barnacle.”
“Get away from her,” Cole warns, voice low and shaking with rage.
She ignores him, flicking her eyes toward him like he’s nothing. “Funny, isn’t it? I offered him everything. Marriage. A family. Stability. And he chose a cowgirl with a horse girl complex and a tragic past.” She twirls a strand of her hair. “Men are stupid.”
“You cheated on him,” I snap before I can stop myself.
Her smile twists. “He pushed me to it.”
“No,” Cole snarls. “You pushed yourself.”
Toby kicks his boot lightly, tauntingly. “Aww, look at him. Still so high and mighty. Even tied up like a pig before slaughter.”
My stomach turns. Cole tries to shift again, but the vest’s wiring digs into him. “Why are you doing this?”
Toby’s jaw ticks. “Because you don’t get to win, Dawson. You don’t get to walk away with your company, your kid, your shiny new life, and your perfect ranch girlfriend—“
Calista cuts in sharply. “You should have listened to me, Cole. If you’d just signed over the business, if you’d let me and Toby handle the sale, we’d all be rich by now.”
“You were going to sell the company behind my back,” Cole spits. “You were going to leave me with nothing.”
“You deserved nothing!” Calista screams, the sound cracking off the steel beams around us. “You made me keep that baby!”
My blood runs cold.
“She is your daughter!” Cole growls.
“She ruined my life!”
Something in me snaps. “You ruined your own life. Aria isn’t—“
Calista lunges and backhands me so fast I barely see it coming. Her hand slaps like a clap. Hard. My cheek blossoms hot, and the world tilts for half a second. Cole roars behind me, wild and animalistic. I feel his ribs tremble as he jerks with the force of a man who tries to break free of rope.
“Touch her again,” he snarls, “and I swear—“
Toby crouches again and lands a loose, ugly punch to Cole’s jaw while he’s still bound. Blood sprays; it hits my shoulder and the rough fabric of his shirt. He doesn’t collapse entirely—he’s stubborn like that—but his breath comes in ragged, painful pulls. They stand over us like gods you don’t want to anger.
My eyes sting with tears. “Stop it! Just stop!”
Toby steps back, wiping his knuckles like he’s proud.
Calista tosses her hair, breath coming fast. “You always thought you were better than me, Cole. Morally superior. Stronger. Smarter.” Her voice rises. “But you’re nothing. You’re trash. And after tonight? You won’t even be that.”
Toby gestures around. “Everything you built? Gone. The Morgans won’t save you now. The explosion will take out the buildings and the east pasture. Insurance will screw you.” He smirks. “You lose everything.”
Calista straightens and stalks around us like she’s inspecting a prize. “They’ll rule it as arson, an accident, whatever story fits. But the look on Hank Morgan’s face when he realizes his beloved daughter is gone? Because of you? Priceless.” She smiles like she is tasting victory. “You’ll take the fall, Cole. Or we’ll make sure the world thinks you were always a danger.”
Toby presses the button on the small detonator panel strapped to his wrist. Not to blow us up, no. Just to start the countdown faster.
The timer jumps.
00:19:00
