I looked down at my phone in my hand. The bank’s number still sat on the screen like a dare.
What now?
A version of me wanted to chase her immediately. Drive hard. Show up at her door. Demand explanations. Demand she look at me and tell me to my face she was walking away.
That version of me was angry and hurt and selfish.
The version of me that mattered, the one that had promised Ray, the one that held her when she broke, knew what I actually had to do.
I had to fix the problem she thought she was solving by making this decision. If nothing else, I would make sure she didn’t lose her land because she was terrified.
I had to accept the sale and erase the debt without taking what wasn’t mine. And I had to do it in a way that left no room for ambiguity, no loopholes, no bank clawing it back later, no developer circling with paper and smiles.
My throat tightened again, but my voice steadied. “Now I go to the credit union.”
Holt’s brows rose. “You’re going to sign today.”
“I’m going to control the terms,” I said.
Holt stared at me. “You’re going to buy her ranch.”
“I’m going to pay off Ray’s debt,” I corrected, each word deliberate. “I’m going to make sure the land doesn’t change hands out from under her.”
Holt’s expression shifted. Surprise, then understanding. “How?”
I swallowed, feeling the burn in my throat. “With lawyers.With conditions. With paperwork that keeps her name on title while I take care of the debt.”
Holt let out a low breath. “She’s going to lose her mind.” Holt’s gaze sharpened. “And you think she’ll let you do this.”
“No,” I admitted. “She won’t, but she can’t do anything once it’s done.”
Holt’s mouth twitched, humourless. “So you’re not asking.”
I met his eyes. “No. I’m not.”
The statement sat heavily. It tasted like the kind of control I hated. The kind Colin used.
But there was a difference, and I needed Holt to understand it, and maybe I needed myself to hear it out loud too.
“This isn’t me taking her choice,” I said, forcing the logic into the open so it couldn’t rot in the dark. “She chose to sell because she thinks it’s the only way to survive. She’s choosing survival. I’m just changing what it’s going to cost her.”
Holt’s face tightened. “You’re playing a dangerous game.”
“I’m not playing,” I said quietly. “I’m finishing what Ray couldn’t.”
Ray had been drowning and never told her. He’d been drowning and still writing to-do lists, still trying to give her something worth coming back for.
He failed at some of it.
I wasn’t going to.
I grabbed my keys off the bar and shoved my phone in my pocket. My hands didn’t shake. That was the part that scared me. The calm that came after impact, the calm that meant I locked onto a target, and nothing else mattered.
Holt watched me. “You want me with you.”
“Yes,” I said. “And then after, you’re driving back out to the Callahan place. I want eyes on it. If she comes back, if anyone shows up, you call me immediately.”
Holt nodded. “What about Maddy?”
