What?
“I’d hate for your ranch to fall into probate. Could take years to claim the rights.” Alden’s tone turned businesslike, as if they were discussing weather instead of murder. “You’re going to sign over your ranch to me, along with all mineral rights and water access. Upon your death, of course.”
“Upon my—” What? And then, “You won’t get away with this, Alden. You can’t just…” Her voice dropped. “I have a son.”
“I know.” He folded his arms. “That’s the problem. That was always the problem. Sean Wallace had a son. And I thought maybe I’d taken care of that by making him run from Renegade—especially when he was killed overseas. Never thought he’d come back from the dead.”
She tried to unravel his words—“Wait. The land. It doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to Rowan. As Sean Wallace’s son. You stole it from him?—”
“Rowan was gone when his mom died,” he said. “And Mack wasn’t old enough to inherit.”
“Rowan doesn’t know the land is his.”
Jenkins raised a shoulder.
“And now that…” She looked at Huck. “The land belongs to Huck.”
“It’s a big spread, once you combine the Blackwood place,” he said quietly. Then he nodded at the men behind her.
But she kept her gaze on him. “This is about land?”
“Oh, honey. It’s much more than land.” He got up. “I’m going to need you to sign these documents.”
Sierra’s heart hammered against her ribs. “And if I refuse?”
Alden nodded to Billy, who pulled a knife from his belt. The blade whispered against Huck’s throat, drawing a thin line of blood.
“Then your son dies. Slowly. While you watch.”
“Stop!” Sierra lunged forward, but Tank’s hand on her shoulder slammed her back into the chair. “He’s just a child!”
“He’s his father’s son.” Alden’s voice carried no emotion. “And you’re going to sign those papers, or he’s going to learn…well, like father, like son.”
And she saw it then, Rowan, hiding his bruises, Rowan, scared, angry, vowing to fight back someday. Rowan, driven from his legacy because of what this man had done to him and made him do.
“Rowan will kill you.”
He smiled. “I’m counting on him trying.”
Jenkins would kill him. Or maybe Rowan would win—and end up in prison for the rest of his life.
The threat hung in the air like poison gas. Sierra stared at the documents. Sign, and they died anyway. Refuse, and Huck suffered before they died.
“The pen is right there.” Alden gestured to a ballpoint pen lying beside the folder. “Sign, and I promise his death will be quick. Painless.”
“Mom, don’t.” Huck’s voice came out smaller than she’d ever heard it. “Don’t do what he says.”
“Brave boy.” Alden’s approval made Sierra’s stomach turn. “Just like his father at that age. Right before I broke him.”
Sierra exploded toward him, everything inside her on fire. “You touch one hair on his head, and I swear?—”
Tank caught her around the waist and threw her back into the chair.
Slapped her.
The world spun and Huck screamed.
“That’s enough,” Alden said. He stepped up to her, even as she blinked past the blinding pain.
