Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 78227 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78227 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
I get it. Whatever Jesse knows, it’s not his story to tell. But damn… I just went way out of my comfort zone today to let him in on a little bit of the Steel story.
That’s different, of course. I’m involved with Brock, so Jesse is concerned.
No one I know is involved with Dragon, so there’s no need for me to be concerned.
“I’m sure Jesse has told you to stay away from our sister.”
“Yeah, he hasn’t minced any words on that.”
“She’s young. Impressionable. Only twenty-one.”
“I know. Your brother has made that clear. She’s hot, though.”
“She’s my sister, Dragon.”
“Hell, you’re all hot. You, Callie, and Maddie. But you…” He licks his lips.
“Sorry. Taken.”
“My loss.” He shoves his hands in his pockets. “I’m going to join the guys.”
“Okay.”
He ambles off, and I can’t help a glance at his ass. It looks pretty darn good in his jeans. He’s built, for sure. Tattoos cover both his arms. I have no idea of any of their meaning. Long jet-black hair seems contrary to his hazel eyes. Does he color his hair? Somehow I can’t see Dragon doing that. His eyes are the kind that seem golden amber sometimes and nearly emerald green at other times. They’re almost mystical.
There is definitely something about Dragon Locke. Something dark and sexy and powerful.
And I almost fell for it.
If not for that drunken phone call from Brock…
I shudder to think of it. I’m so glad I didn’t stray. I’m so glad I remained true to Brock, even though, at that time, we had no commitment between us.
“Hey!” Jesse yells. “Let’s unpack and get ready to rehearse.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
BROCK
Brittany is silent.
Doc is silent.
Dad is silent.
Does this mean I’ve stumbled onto something?
My mind continues to whirl. “I’m also thinking that whoever is behind all of this—whoever hired your father, Brittany—figured out that you were trying to communicate with us. I’d be willing to bet that’s why they planted those red fingernails—which I’m pretty sure will have your fingerprints on them—at the site in Colorado.”
“No.” Brittany shakes her head.
“You need to remember something.” I gesture to the safe. “Something you obviously didn’t give any thought to. People who can pay small-town veterinarians in jewels are not your run-of-the-mill average people. Everything they do is meticulously planned. They’re intelligent people. They may not be ethical people. Hell, they may be absolute psychopaths. But they’re not stupid, Brittany.”
“Are you saying my daughter is stupid?” Doc asks.
“Shut up.” Dad keeps a steady hold on his gun.
I roll my eyes. Brittany’s not stupid, but I won’t give her the satisfaction of saying that aloud. But these psychos are smarter than she is. “I’m just saying these people know what they’re doing. They’ve thought through every contingency.”
“Daddy…”
“Not a word, Doc.” From Dad.
“You think he can save you? If you’d stayed out of it, maybe. Maybe they would’ve considered you an innocent bystander. But you didn’t stay out of it, Brittany. You decided you could take on criminally unhinged human traffickers. People who pay your father in priceless gemstones. People who have the kind of money to make you disappear.”
“My son is right,” Dad says to Brittany. “You’re damned lucky they didn’t take you.”
“But I…” she chokes out.
“You really have no idea what you’re dealing with, do you?” I say. “Did you know what was going on in those barns? Did you know what these people were doing? What your father has been helping them with?”
She shakes her head vehemently. “No… I just thought maybe they were robbing people. Stealing.”
“And using our property to do it?” I ask.
“Well…yeah.”
“To implicate us?”
She nods. “That’s what I thought.”
“And do you really think any law enforcement officer in the world would believe that we—the Steels—are thieves?”
She stays silent.
“We have enough money to support our family for generations to come if none of us lifts another finger. And you think law enforcement would believe that we are engaging in common theft?”
“Yes. Maybe. I don’t know. Maybe I wasn’t thinking. But I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t. Human trafficking? Who does that?”
“You’re right on one point,” Dad says. “You weren’t thinking.”
“If you were that concerned,” I say, “why not just come to one of us?”
No reply.
Not that I expected one. I already know the answer. She wasn’t trying to help us. She was trying to help Pat.
“I think we’re done here,” Dad says. He finally puts his gun down.
A huge sigh whooshes out of Doc Sheraton.
Brittany crumples to the ground.
“We can’t just leave them here,” I say. “They’ll do… I don’t know what they’ll do, but it won’t be good.”
“We don’t have a choice, son,” Dad says. “We can’t stay here any longer. We need to stop what they put in motion, and we can’t do it here in bumfuck Wyoming.”
My father is, of course, right. He usually is.
Except when he pulls out guns and holds them to people’s heads.