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Kevin looked like the same rat he always did, except this time he was more red faced. I could tell that Toby losing the election really took it out of him.

“We’ve decided to fast-track. We’ll be making sure that land is gone by the time you take office.”

“And break the law?” I asked. “There are historical trees, remember?”

“All it takes is finding the right person to do it.”

“And all it takes to stop it is a right person reporting.” I held up my phone, which was recording this entire conversation. “I was thinking I would have to push it out of you, but you’re so easy.”

Their faces went slack. As much as it would have been fun to come here simply to mess with them, I did have a plan.

Gabe and I had talked about this. Me winning the election would mean that they would want to do everything faster. They were desperate now and willing to break the law.

My friend at the county historical office would love to hear the recording.

Kevin’s face became impossibly more red.

“Oh wow, you should get your blood pressure checked out. I hear heart attacks are common in younger people who are stressed.”

That must have been the final straw for him. Kevin stormed toward me.

Then a wall came in between us.

I let out a sigh. I told Gabe not to get involved, but I should have known he would anyway. He’d been quite worried when I came to this office by myself that something would happen to me. His worries weren’t unfounded, but the brass knuckles in my pocket would have taken care of it.

“Aw, Gabe.” I frowned. “You should’ve let him hit me. I wanted to have a chance to hit him back.”

“Not happening.” Gabe’s voice was dry.

Kevin glowered. “Of course you’re here. You’re the guard dog, as always.”

“I’ll bark,” Gabe said. “Only if she asks me to, though.”

I hummed and peered around him. “I don’t think we need to get to barking just yet. I think we have other things to discuss. Gabriel, you were interested in that land, weren’t you?”

“I was.”

“Interesting. I hear it’s only going to stay private use. There’s no chance of it becoming commercial land. Is that okay with you?”

“I have no plans to do anything commercial with it.”

“You know, you could drag this out. We could go to the courts and you could waste a lot of money. Or you can sell it to this nice man who’s willing to offer you full market value.”

“Less than full market value,” Gabe said flatly. “And I’ll keep knocking it down the more you mess with my future wife.”

I had to fight to keep from reacting to those words. We’d been discussing marriage since we were inseparable, but nothing had been set in stone.

Just a few months ago, I wouldn’t have thought this was possible.

Kevin scoffed.

“This is the con of all cons. You two are playing me.”

“Just like you played other small towns.” Gabe crossed his arms, and I knew what he was about to go for. “I could look into all of that, you know. I could check into every single transaction you’ve done. Every single thing you’ve built. I have a feeling you’ve cut corners somewhere. I can’t change what you’ve done, but I can ruin your future.”

Kevin went pale at the threat. It wasn’t empty. Gabe had already come up with many things that he could take him to court on.

He would, eventually. For now, we needed that land back.