"Found him this morning. Stabbed in the fuckin’ back."
Paulie. The one who was part of Sterling Ranch the whole of Ace’s life. Was there with his father. I even remember him from years ago. He wasn’t just part of the ranch; he was part of their family.
"I'm coming home, Ace." My voice doesn't shake. I won't let it. Not right now. Not when he needs me steady. "It's done. I quit. I'm free."
There's a pause. I hear him swallow. Hear the break in his breathing that tells me he's holding on by a thread.
"Now?"
"Now and forever, Acey baby."
Silence on the line. He’s trying so hard not to break, and I just want to get home to him. Tell him it’s going to be okay.
I start the engine. Pull out of the parking garage and call Emma. Because I need to tell her I’m not coming home, for good this time. But I’ll be back up to pack up the rest of my stuff. I don’t even care about it; all I want to do is get back to Sterling Ranch.
And I think deep down, Emma will understand. I told her last night about Ace, about how we are going to make it work, and she squealed with excitement.
The LA skyline shrinks in my rearview mirror, and I don't spare it a single glance. Everything behind me is a lie. Everything ahead of me is real.
I won’t be coming back for the dinner with Hudson’s parents. He can’t make me. We are done.
I’ve sent the name to Gianna. Hopefully, she will get him, and then Hunter can end the trouble on their ranch.
I drive faster.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
Ace
The house is too quiet.
I've been sitting on the couch for three hours. Boots still on. Hat still on. The house settling around me with those small creaks and groans that you never notice until you're alone and the silence is big enough to hear them.
Hunter came. Saw Paulie. Didn't say a word for a full five minutes. Just stood there with his hands on his hips, staring at the body of a man who'd been part of this family since before any of us understood what family meant. Then he made his calls. Gave his orders. Had Paulie brought back to the ranch with more care and dignity than most people get in death.
Colten handled the logistics. Xander secured the east fence. Jett drove into town to talk to the sheriff, which is a formality more than anything, because we both know the law isn't going to solve this. We are.
And we know exactly where we’re heading… to end this war with the Greeks.
And I came home. Grabbed a pack of beers and sat down. Haven't moved since.
My phone is in my hand. Harper's location is a blue dot crawling along the interstate, getting closer. I've been watching it the way you watch a candle when the power's out. Not because it does anything. Because the light of it is the only thing keeping the dark from swallowing you whole.
Paulie is dead. The man who taught me how to check a fence line. Who showed me how to clean a rifle when I was ten, and my hands were too small to hold it properly. Who drove me to my first rodeo because Dad was sick, and Paulie didn't even think about it. Just put me in the truck and drove four hours and sat in the stands with a coffee and watched me ride a sheep in the junior division and told me afterward, completely straight-faced, that it was the finest piece of riding he'd ever seen.
I believed him. I was six. I believed everything Paulie said.
He used to eat lunch on the east fence. Alone. Every day. Said he liked the quiet. Said the view reminded him that the world was bigger than whatever problem was sitting on your chest. I used to think he was being philosophical. Now I think he just needed a place where nobody asked him for anything. Where he could sit and eat his sandwich and watch the light change and be still for twenty minutes before the ranch needed him again.
He never got married. Never had kids. When I asked him about it once, years ago, he just shrugged and said the ranch was enough.
I should have told him he was enough, too. I should have said it more than I did.
My phone buzzes. Harper.
Goldie: ten minutes out. See you soon, baby.
I type back with a thumb that doesn't feel connected to my hand.
