I ignored him, throwing my stuff in the back seat.
“Iris, please,” he said, closing the driver’s door as I opened it. “I’m sorry. I should have told you. I came to Sterling Ridge to tell you what I needed to and just leave, but we?—”
“I want a divorce,” I interrupted him.
“No.” He forced me to look at him. “Sit down and talk with me. If after I tell you everything and you still want to get divorce, I will sign the papers.”
His blue eyes held me captive. I searched for the truth that I didn’t even know was there.
“I will tell you everything, but don’t sign the land away until you hear everything,” he said, handing me back the deed.
“Nash, what the fuck are you doing?” Brooks growled, coming out of the house. “She signed it. Give us back the deed.”
“Petal, go back to Sterling Ridge and we will speak there,” Nash said, pushing the deed into my hand and pushing me into the truck like he was protecting me.
“Nash, I will cut you off once and for all, and if you think that DWI was a nightmare, then this will look like child's play.” Mr. Yarbrough came out of the house, furious.
Nash’s hand on my waist tensed as he went completely still. Beau came out of the house, the door slamming shut as he glared at Mr. Yarbrough.
“Beau, take Iris home,” Nash said, with a deadly edge to his voice.
“Nash,” I said, grabbing a hold of him, afraid to leave him with the threat his father had just given him.
Something wasn’t right and while I was still livid, I wasn’t going to leave him to fight this alone, I loved Nash. I was mad at him for not telling me the truth, but I was fucking pissed at his father for selling my farm and being an asshole to his child. I wanted to leave, something told me to stay and fight with Nash, even if it was the last thing we did together.
26
nash
My fleshand blood only wanted to tear me down and keep me there. I didn’t know if I should be angry or cry, but I knew this was the last straw. My father would never hold control over me or my wife again.
“Nash.” Iris’s soft voice pulled me from my internal struggle.
I looked at her beautiful eyes, hating the distrust I saw in them, put there by me. If I had only gotten my head out of my ass sooner, we could have skipped all of this and maybe she would have trusted me to do this with her.
“I’m not leaving you,” she said firmly.
“Iris, give me the deed, darling.” My father walked towards us.
“She will not be giving you the deed,” I said, standing in front of her. “You need to pay her the price of that land because that land was never included with the farm.”
“That is a part of the land, we have documentation that says those acres belong to the land,” Brooks said, stepping towards us. “The entire farm should be almost five hundred acres, and it’s not because we don’t have the deed for the ninety-nine acres she has.”
“That’s funny because I just had a surveyor measure Iris’ land and I had it appraised. That land is a hundred percent Iris’s, left to her by her Uncle Archie,” I said.
“How do you know that?” Iris grabbed my arm.
“I spoke with a few people regarding the estate,” I said to her. “Apparently when your grandparents died, they left half of the farm to each of the boys, but Archie sold some of the farm back to your?—”
“Seriously, Nash?” Brooks laughed. “You expect us to believe that?”
“Yeah, I hoped my brother would believe me,” I said, attempting to keep my voice even, but even I heard the hurt in my voice. “But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, you never really cared about anything except making your life easier.”
“Fuck you, Nash. You don’t know the shit I have had to put up with,” he snapped, stepping closer to me. “I made your life and everyone else’s easier, while I had to work hard.”
“Keep telling yourself that, Brooks, if it helps you sleep at night,” I said, stepping forward when I felt a small hand around my forearm hold me back. “I don’t need you tobelieve me, I have proof that land is Iris’s.”
“Bullshit,” Brooks growled. “This sounds like one of your many attempts at trying to sabotage Father.”
