“And?” I asked, leaning forward.
“The Kings let them walk away from it. You know family and the Kings—it’s everything.” JD shrugged and sat back down. JD’s gaze sharpened. “But apparently our business partner didn’t let them go.”
“Who was your business partner?” Rowan asked, her voice barely a whisper.
“A cartel out of Mexico,” JD said, his words landing like a grenade.
Rowan choked out her words, “You’re saying that my mom and dad worked for the Mexican cartel?”
His eyes met mine before flicking to Rowan. “Yes, and now your parents are dead we think they’re coming to collect—fromyou.”
My pulse pounded in my ears. I wasn’t sure what this meant for the club or for Rowan and her ranch, but it sure as shit wasn’t going to be anything good.
“But they must know she doesn’t have anything to do with this?” I said, pissed off at her parents for not only deceiving our club for so many years but also for putting Rowan in danger all these years. Why hadn’t they put a contingency in place?
JD gave a grim smile. “Well, this cartel just had a change of hands, brother.”
I thought back to the meeting I’d been to across the state. The new cartel kingpin Mateo Vargas was there, discussing future plans with the Kings. His father had recently had a sudden heart attack, and he was all but a vegetable, and so his son had taken over the family business. It had been a quick takeover—it had to be before anyone else could try to take the business. But the son had kept on most of the original security and staff his own father had used.
A heavy silence settled in the room.
Then another thought hit me.
“So we set up a meeting with the son. Let them know that Rowan knew nothin’ of the previous arrangement and that she wants out.”
“If only it was that easy, Tex.” JD’s expression hardened further, but his gaze swung back to Rowan. “Your dad died suddenly, right?”
She nodded, “Yes, a heart attack. My mom found him by the old well in the north field.”
“And your mom?—”
“She had a heart attack a week later.” She took a deep, shaky breath before continuing. “In pretty much the same spot. We think she was going to leave flowers there, and then her heart just gave out. He was the love of her life—she died of a broken heart.”
I thought back to the cartel’s eldest son taking over the family business, his father suddenly dying from a heart attack, and the pieces began to fit together. I didn’t believe in coincidences, and this was too many heart attacks to be normal.
“Have you come across paperwork for the ranch since their passing?” JD sat back down.
“Yeah, it’s everywhere. I’ve been trying to go through it for months, but my parents were hoarders. They kept everything. Every receipt, every document, every deed. I’ve even thought about burning it all because it will take years to get through.”
I glanced behind her, hating how close Gods and Swampy were to her. Like she was a bomb that might go off at any moment and they were ready to defuse her if necessary. And going by the guns shoved in the back of their jeans, her answers might not end up being what everyone wanted to hear.
Rowan dragged a hand down her face, and I knew she was ready to cry. There was only so much one person could take. Even a woman as strong as her could only hold it together for so long.
Her voice was barely a whisper when she looked back up. “I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know what my father did or didn’t do, I don’t know anything about drug routes or cartels.” I watched as a single tear loosened from one of her eyes and trailed down her pale cheek.
My anger was simmering just below the surface, the urge to protect her to strong to ignore. These were my brothers, my family, but I wouldn’t sit by while they interrogated Rowan like she was in this life. Like she had any clue what had been going on when clearly she didn’t.
“Can we all stop talking in riddles?” I glared at JD. “Spit it the fuck out. Whatever it is.”
“Mateo’s takeover,” JD said, “we think he had your parents killed, making it look like they’d had heart attacks, thinking hecould just buy up the land once it was all done. They had no idea about you.”
Rowan’s hand shot to her mouth as she gasped. “But the land went back to me when they died and I came home.”
“Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!”Swampy said.
“Exactly. You’ve been gone a long time, kitten, and they knew nothing about you until you turned up.” JD shrugged.
“So they were expecting the land to go up for sale intending on buying it up and then they’d have their perfect route running and be able to cut out the middleman. But then Rowan comes back home to take care of everything and decides not to sell and instead run the ranch herself, messing up all of their plans.” It was my turn to light a cigarette now, and I sucked down the nicotine like it was oxygen.
