“Look, you need help,” he says, the amusement draining from his voice. He almost sounds concerned. “You’ve been locked away in that cabin forthree years, Cade. You won’t leave that town. I get it. You feel guilty over what happened, but that wasn’t your fault. It was a freak accident.”
A lump forms in my throat as I close my eyes. I can see it all like it was yesterday; the smoke pluming in the air after hours of trying to put the flames out, the dozen or so ambulances from out of town trying to get people out of the area because of how bad the smoke was. The burn victims being taken away in helicopters, their screams still echoing in my ears.
And all I’d been able to do was stand there while it happened.
“You still have a chance to get back out there and reclaim what’s yours. And I’ve found someone who can help you,” Tobias continues. “Her family name carries with it a hell of a lot of influence. Yeah, she’s a college grad with no actual experience. Your aunt needs that influence for some property deal and having this girl back that will change the fucking game not just for her—but for you and your position on the board.”
I make a sound in the back of my throat, eyes opening again to the view I have over Jade Mountain. For the first time in a long time, I’m glad I didn’t pick any land close to town. I can’t see any of Willow Ridge from here, just the mountain and surrounding forest.
“I don’t want anyone moving in,” I tell him, some of the anger slipping away. “I like my peace.”
“You don’t have much of a choice now. She’s already signed a contract. She’ll be there in three days.” He sighs, the leather of his sofa groaning as he sits. I remember a lot of late nights on that couch talking to him over a glass of whiskey while heworked on a particularly gruelling case—sometimes one for me. “Look, her family has alotof sway in the community. If you can get her to like you, then she could rebrand your image entirely to look good to the board.”
“What if I don’t want any of that?” I ask, crossing my arms. “I don’t care how I look topotential investors. I’m happy where I am.”
“But your aunt isn’t,” he warns, turning serious. “She’s this close to throwing you out, Abernathy. You’ll lose everything—including your cabin and peace. The family money funding you will dry up quickly.”
I stiffen, heart pounding. “Is that right?”
“Yeah.” Tobias types something, my phone buzzing a moment later. “I’ve just sent you the terms of the agreement. You either clean up, or you clear out. That’s the gist of it.”
I roll my tongue in my mouth as I consider his warning. “And if I clean up, what happens next?”
“Your aunt is happy for you to take a step back, hire someone to fill your role. But you need to be present within the company. She doesn’t want it falling into outside hands. I think she’s really hoping this’ll knock some sense into you.” I hear the groan of his couch as he shifts, the tone of his voice telling me he partially agrees.
Sighing, I put him on speaker and check the email he sent me. There’s a formality there that doesn’t really feel like my old friend. But can I blame him? When everything happened, I pushed him and the others away. Not for anything they did, because in their own ways they wanted to help.
But there was nothing they could do to help me after the fire.
As I scroll through pages of legal jargon, Tobias continues, “It’s clear to me, anyway, that she wants you back on the board. Even if only as a figure head. The investors like a strong man leading the show, she said.” He chuckles, but I can almost hearmy aunt saying those exact words to me herself. “Anyway, she gets you probably aren’t as…interested in living in a board room anymore. She’ll accept that. But she needs you working with her.”
I scrub a hand down my face, brain already hurting. I used to understand almost everything in these sorts of documents, but after nearly three years of not looking at them, it goes right over my head now.
“So, what exactly is the purpose in her moving in?” I ask darkly, switching the speaker off and bring the cell back to my ear. “I don’t see much in the contract about her actual purpose.”
Tobias coughs, the sofa shifting again—a dead giveaway to his discomfort. “Assistant is the light way of putting it,” he says, the leather groaning again. “She’s there to whip you into shape.”
“I gathered as much.” Moving to a chair on the deck that overlooks the property, I sigh as I sit. “But you hired the wrong kind of person to do that.”
The kind of person meant to whip me into shape exists, but I doubt a recent college graduate has the skills to get me prepared for a boardroom. She won’t have the experience or the ties to do the job. Tobias and I went to school with the kind of assholes built for this work.
“Her name can’t be the only reason you’ve picked her,” I add, resting my forearms on my knees. “Seriously.”
“Well, she’s cute in that cowgirl kind of way,” he mutters.
I growl under my breath. “You didn’t hire her because she’s cute.”
“No,” he says firmly, “I hired her because she’s a Sterling. The youngest child of Memphis Sterling, one of the largest landowners in all of Willow Ridge. He’s also got a hell of a lot of power in that town, and your aunt wants something there.”
My stomach sinks. “So?”
“So, you don’t say shit about her name. She’s there because she thinks she earned the job herself, not because we need her to get a good word in with her father. And also, I think she’ll soften you a bit.”
Peace has been thrown out the fucking window. This could blow up in all our faces, and I don’t know I care more about me—or the girl caught in the crossfire.
TWO
LYDIA
