I walk up to the storage room and lock it. I hear Landon’s footsteps behind me.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothin’.” I slip the key into my pocket. I need to destroy that feed, throw it out…or maybe save it, in case we find out who did this. “What are you doin’ here, Landon?”
“Look, I just had a meeting with Senator?—”
I raise my hand to silence him. “If you’re gonna say Jessup, you can stop right there.”
“Cade, come on, you’re breaking your back for pennies when you could be cashing in. Jessup’s ready to deal. Offers like this don’t last forever.”
“No,” I grind out, heat building behind my teeth. “This ranch isn’t for sale. Not to Jessup. Not to anyone. You want easy money, find it somewhere else.”
His jaw ticks, that politician allure dropping like a mask slipping. “You’re a fool. Evie’s future isn’t in cows and dirt. It’s in capital. Power. Influence. The kind of life I’m building for this family.”
I take a step closer. “That life you’re building is foryou. It doesn’t touch me. Doesn’t touch this land.”
I brush past him, wanting to get the fuck away from him before….
And just like that, a thought enters my mind. It sinks into me like a stone.
Why would someone want Blue Rock to fail? ‘Causeif Thunder died, it would hurt me financially, as it would my future. It would be a while before I’d be able to save up to buy an Angus like Thunder.
I whirl around to face my brother. “Someone poisoned my cattle. Tried to kill Thunder.”
He narrows his eyes, and then something flares in them. “It’s that bitch.”
I get close to him and look him in the eye. “Did you rape my girlfriend, Landon?”
I realized then that Ineverasked him this question. Not once.
“Of course not.” His nostrils flare, and his eyes dart around.
And right there, I know…for sure.
“You did, didn’t you?”
“You’re out of your mind, Cade.”
I have my hands around his neck. “You son of a bitch.”
“Congressman,” I hear a voice from behind me.
Landon doesn’t travel with a security detail, though his driver—a former military guy—doubles as a de facto bodyguard. I need to get my hands off him before I do something I’ll regret.
I shove Landon away.
He stumbles and then straightens. “What’s gotten into you? Are you fucking her again? Is that?—”
“Remember when we were kids and you put a scratch on Dad’s brand-new truck.”
His face crumples in confusion.
“He asked you if you did it, and you said, ‘Of coursenot.’ You had this same look on your face. I know you better than anyone else….” My words evaporate into ether as the world comes crashing around me.
“That girl is a liar, Cade.”
I press my lips together and shake my head. Everything I held true has vanished.
