“My family was in the house.” Sounding dangerous, barely audible over the wind Nash’s hands curled into fists at his sides, knuckles bleaching white. “My entire world. If they had—” He cut himself off, turning away sharply.
I placed a hand on his shoulder, feeling the tremor running through him. My gaze drifted to the ranch house in the distance, and a cold, sick dread pooled in my gut as reality crashed down. This wasn’t just about Ariel or the stables. We could have lost everything. Everyone.
“The sheriff is coming by tomorrow morning,” Wilder continued. “They’re treating it as a serious crime, not just property damage but animal cruelty.”
“Do they have any suspects,” Cassidy asked.
Nash and Wilder exchanged a look that sent a shiver through me and my stomach rolling. She’d been asleep in my bed that night. She’d been out here helping with the horses. What if she’d been hurt or worse.
As a breeze ruffled the papers in my hand, I turned to Wilder. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Nate sighed. “Sheriff thinks it might be connected to the development dispute. Some kind of intimidation tactic.”
“J-Jenkins?” The name felt like acid on my tongue.
“No way of knowing,” Wilder bit out. “Could be someone working for the development company, could be someone with a personal grudge against us.”
I looked over at the foundations being dug for the new stables. What should have been a moment of hope, rebuilding from tragedy, was now tainted by the knowledge that someone had deliberately done this to us. To me.
“I want the security upgraded,” I said, my voice sounding distant to my own ears. “Cameras, motion sensors, the works. And I want someone watching the horses at all times until we figure this out.”
Nash nodded. “Already on it. I’ve got Ray setting up a rotation with the hands.”
Cassidy’s arm slid around my waist, her warmth anchoring me when I felt like I might fly apart with rage. “We’ll find out who did this,” she promised quietly.
“And when we do?” Wilder’s question hung in the air.
I folded the report and slid it into my back pocket, my mind made up. “When we do, they’ll learn exactly what it means to mess with the Millers.”
A breeze kicked up, carrying away the last traces of smoke and bringing with it the scent of freshly turned earth from the construction site. Whatever came next, whatever battles we would have to fight, one thing was certain was that we would rebuild. We would rise from this stronger than before.
Whoever had tried to burn us down would regret the day they struck that match.
Turning to my brothers, my blood boiled with anger and determination. “Just promise me one thing?”
“What’s that?” Nash asked.
“When we found out who did it, let me be the one to kill the bastard.”
Chapter 48
Fight Song – Rachel Platten
Cassidy
Sheriff Jackson’s cruiser rolled down the driveway, away from the house, his hand out of the window tapping a rhythm on the door like he didn’t have a care in the world. Like he didn’t have an arsonist to catch. From the porch I watched as the brothers stared after him. Three, tall, broad, uptight cowboys, stiff as boards.
“Do you think he had any idea who did it?” Lily asked, coming to stand beside me, Billy balanced on her hip. He was spinning the wheels of a plastic car, totally oblivious of the gravity of the situation.
“I’ve no idea,” I sighed, wrapping my arms around myself despite the warm morning. “But somebody deliberately killed Ariel and nearly killed Nash and Gunner too.”
The thought made my blood run cold all over again. I could have lost him that night. Lost everything before we’d even had a chance to truly begin.
“I can’t stand the idea of what might have happened,” Lily whispered. “If I’d have lost him…again.”
I linked my arm with hers and pulled her closer. She was my best friend but in the last few months we’d become more than that. Sisters almost with our mutual love of one of the Miller brothers.
Bertie appeared in the doorway behind us. “Momma is Daddy talking to the police about the bad person who hurt Ariel?”
