Page 231 of Ironwood Ranch Cowboys

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

Annie

The thing about powerful women is that they never arrive looking panicked.

They arrive moisturized.

Vivian Harlan steps into Ironwood’s study wearing winter white cashmere and pearls piercing enough to qualify as weaponry.

Rainwater glitters along the shoulders of her coat. Her silver hair sits perfectly smooth despite the storm outside.

She looks like civilization.

Which is funny considering she walked in carrying the emotional equivalent of a flamethrower.

The room goes still the second she enters.

Silas stands near the fireplace with his arms folded tightly across his chest.

Cody sits at the desk, laptop open beside him, expression stoic in that terrifyingly quiet way he gets when he’s already six steps past homicide.

Duke leans against the bookshelf near the doorway, jaw tight, fingers drumming once against his thigh before going still.

I’m on the couch between all of them wearing one of Silas’s sweaters, drowning in enough residual adrenaline to legally qualify as a controlled substance.

Vivian’s eyes land on me.

Then her attention moves to the brothers.

“Tell me,” she says calmly, “that Sheriff Miller has not involved County investigators yet.”

Silas doesn’t answer.

Vivian exhales slowly through her nose. “This situation requires discretion.”

Cody finally speaks. “Jake Dorsey attempted corporate sabotage and coordinated criminal fraud.”

“And Benji assaulted Annie,” Duke adds coldly.

Vivian’s expression doesn’t change. “We will handle this privately,” she says. “Quietly.”

My stomach twists. Women like Vivian don’t fear wrongdoing nearly as much as they fear exposure.

“No sheriff,” Vivian continues. “No public filings until legal counsel reviews everything. Ironwood cannot survive scandal of this magnitude.”

There it is.

The family name.

The precious goddamn legacy.

Silas unfolds his arms slowly. “That’s not happening.”

Vivian’s gaze snaps toward him. “You’re not thinking clearly.”

“I’m thinking perfectly clearly.”

“This family has survived because I protected it.”