Notably absent was any word about Wade’s fate. But his own life didn’t concern him nearly as much as Hazel’s did right now. Hers and the men they’d corralled into the barn. None of them knew Cole, none of them had wronged him. Yet here they were, paying for what Cole perceived as Wade’s sins.
“I don’t trust you,” Wade said.
Cole didn’t answer him. Instead, he kept his eyes on Hazel and moved his hand to rest against her throat. “You know, I never wished for a sister. Or another brother, for that matter. Siblings are useless, only ever looking out for themselves.” His gaze found Wade then, the threat implied in every line of his expression and the way his hand curled around Hazel’s throat.
Fury and fear collided inside Wade. He gripped the edges of his seat. His brother had become someone unrecognizable. He never would have believed Cole to be capable of something so terrible, and yet here he was, convincing Wade that he would do precisely what he implied.
If he didn’t sign, they would all be dead.
If he signed, there was the chance that Hazel and his men would survive.
No matter what he did, one look now into Cole’s hard eyes told him that he’d meet his end no matter what.
Wade glanced at the document and then back at Cole. “Do I have your word you’ll turn her loose?”
“Wade, no.” Hazel’s eyes flew open, but Wade forced himself to remain fixed on his brother.
That smile, both handsome and ugly at the same time, reappeared. “You do.”
“And my men. I want them leaving here unharmed,” Wade said.
“I’ll even offer them work, if they’re so inclined.”
Wade nodded, though he doubted a single man would take Cole up on that offer. There were too many decent ranchers in the valley for anyone to want to work for a man like Cole. “All right.”
He had no choice but to trust Cole. With every breath, he prayed he wasn’t wrong. But as he reached over to take up the pen, Hazel spoke.
“Signing that contract won’t do any good. This land doesn’t belong to Wade.”
Chapter Twenty-two
Hazel held her breathas Wade paused in reaching for the pen. He looked at her, thankfully not showing any hint that she wasn’t telling the truth.
Cole’s hand slid from her throat, and she shuddered in relief. He stepped around the side of her chair and leaned against the table. “What do you mean?”
Hazel clasped her hands together, praying for strength as she spun the story. “The land belongs to the railroad. The Colorado and New Mexico Railway Company.” She forced herself to look into Cole’s eyes. How they could be the same as Wade’s and yet so cold and empty, she couldn’t figure out. Even when Wade was acting indifferent toward her at the beginning, he couldn’t have looked at her with such a calculating, soulless expression.
