Tanner raced back to the bakery, legs burning, chest tight. When he burst through the door, Junie was in Poppy’s arms, crying softly. Poppy looked up at him, still stroking Junie’s back.
“Thank you,” Tanner said to her, doing his best to keep his voice quiet and gentle.
He took Junie from Poppy’s arms and pulled her against his chest, holding her tight. She melted into him immediately, faceburied in his shirt, her small hands fisting in the fabric like she was afraid he might disappear. Her composure broke into violent sobs.
He held her trembling body until the shaking eased and his own heartbeat slowed. When his phone rang, he took the call.
“We need you at the ranch,” Boone said without preamble. “Now. Bring Junie. The girls are all there.”
Junie still clung to him, but she’d overheard enough to understand. “I can’t close the shop,” she whispered. “I have orders and?—”
Poppy spoke up from behind the counter. “I’m working on the orders. It’s just pickup day. I can handle it. Most people won’t pick these up until they get off work. You don’t need to be here if he might come back.”
Tanner nodded. “Thanks, Poppy. I’ll call Sam. Mitch can stay with you until we’re back.”
He got Junie into his truck, buckled her in, and drove straight to the ranch. He dropped her off at the main house where the other girls were waiting, then headed to the Wild River Security building.
The team was already gathered when he walked in. Boone, Chance, Trace, Griff, Dutch, and the rest of the Wild Men sat around the long table. The footage was already queued up on the big screen.
Tanner watched in silence as Preston entered the bakery, the way he smiled at Junie like she belonged to him, the way his mask slipped when she rejected him. When Preston grabbed her and forced a kiss on her, Tanner’s hands clenched into fists so tight his knuckles turned white.
“I want him dead,” he said, voice low and deadly. “I tried to be nice. I tried to be legal. None of it worked. I’m done playing by the rules.”
Boone and Trace exchanged a long look. Boone leaned forward. “At least hear us out first. We’ve been digging since the last meeting. You need to know exactly what you’re dealing with.”
Griff started, sliding a tablet across the table.
Tanner looked down at a list of transactions. “What the hell am I looking at?”
“Financials are a mess if you don’t know where to look,” Griff said. “Harlan Lassiter’s firm has been involved in at least four aggressive land deals in the last three years. Small ranchers suddenly selling at below-market value after ‘financial pressure’. Two of them mentioned anonymous calls threatening to call in loans that had been purchased from the bank.”
Jude cut in, arms crossed. “I talked to one of those ranchers yesterday. Old man Whitaker. Said some slick-talking kid from Wilder Wealth Management showed up with the loan papers in hand. Whitaker never even knew his loan could be transferred. Next thing he knows, he’s got thirty days to vacate or come up with the cash on the spot. His lawyer told him it was completely legal, though unethical as hell.”
Chance frowned. “That sounds more like extortion with the government’s blessing.”
“Exactly,” Griff said. “And Preston’s name is on three of the four deals as the closer. Kid’s learning fast from Daddy.”
Ryker spoke up from the far end of the table, his voice low. “Kai and I dug into some of his East Coast connections. Graymore Academy wasn’t kind to him.”
“That was after he went to Wilder Community School with Junie?” Tanner asked.
“Right. He only went to school here for a couple of semesters. It was during that time that he met Junie. That was their ninth grade year. After that, his mother insisted he be sent back to Graymore Academy, the boarding school in Connecticut, to finish his high school. We got a former classmate on the phone who was willing to talk to us. The way he tells it, Preston was an entitled little shit who thought the rules didn’t apply to him. He got accused of sexual assault more than once. Nothing that stuck officially, but there were three separate complaints about him cornering girls, making threats,and sending obsessive notes. This guy said it was an open secret that the girls’ families were paid off, and a generous donation to the school always followed. Classic rich-kid cover-up.”
Kai nodded, adding, “The parents weren’t any better. We talked to three people who knew the family when they first moved to Wilder. One woman who worked at the country club said Carolyn Lassiter was, and I quote, ‘a stuck up bitch who only cared about appearances’ unquote. Preston was the golden heir. She put insane pressure on him to be perfect. He had to have the best grades, the best connections, and the best wife. Harlan was worse. Told him a real man takes what he wants. Kid grew up thinking the world owed him everything, especially the female half of the world.”
“Everybody knows Harlan isn’t exactly a faithful family man, whatever front they put on,” Boone said.
Tanner’s jaw tightened. “So Junie was kind to him in ninth grade and only knew him that one year, and that’s all it took?”
“Evidently,” Chance said. “What I’m hearing is Preston has been messed up all his life.”
Dutch leaned forward. “That tracks with what I found in the sealed reports from college. Two incidents of girls who filed complaints about him showing up uninvited, leaving gifts, then getting aggressive when they said no. Both reports mysteriously disappeared. One girl transferred schools. The other dropped the complaint after her family suddenly was awarded a generous ‘scholarship’ from an anonymous donor.”
Boone rubbed his jaw, eyes hard. “So, we’re dealing with a rich, entitled psychopath who was raised to believe he could have whoever he wants with no consequences when he acts out.”
“And now he’s fixated on Junie.” Tanner shoved his chair back from the table. “If I’d known all this, Junie would never have been alone.”
Grant spoke up from the other side of the table. “On the security side, I’ve got good news. The ranch perimeter is solid now. We upgraded the electric fence, added motion sensors to the back forty,and put up four new night-vision cameras. It’s a good thing we put in the bakery’s system at the same time. Junie got the latest, greatest equipment. The footage we pulled from today is crystal clear. We’ve got audio and video of Preston violating the order and putting his hands on her. It’s ironclad.”
