Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 119746 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119746 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
I frown. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just that Jensen…he’s got good instincts. Reads people well.” Eli leans back in his chair, studying me. “If he’s keeping you at arm’s length, there’s probably a reason.”
I can’t help but tense up.
“You think I’m hiding something.”
“No. But he thinks you’re desperate. And desperate people do unpredictable things.”
“Wouldn’t you be desperate too, if it was your sister who went missing and no one bothered to keep looking?”
He gives me a soft smile. “I reckon I would. Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be dangerous.”
My eyes widen. “You think I’m dangerous?”
He stands, gathering the empty bowls. “I’m gonna clean up. Best you get some rest, Ms. Wells.”
I want to argue, to demand he explain himself. But something in his expression stops me. Something sad and knowing and a little bit afraid.
So instead I just nod, murmur a thanks for cleaning up, and head back to the cottage with more questions than answers buzzing in my head.
The winds have picked up by the time I step outside, clouds gathering above the mountains. The first stars peek through the twilight sky, but they bring me no comfort. Not with the secrets hanging heavy in the air, theirs and mine.
In the cottage, I bolt the door and pour myself a generous finger of whiskey that I got from Tahoe. The alcohol burns going down, but it does little to chase away the chill that’s settled in my bones.
I should call Diana. Let her know where I really am just in case things go south. But something stops me. The same something that’s been whispering in the back of my mind since I first set foot on this ranch.
There are pieces here that don’t fit. A puzzle I can’t quite see the shape of. And at the center of it all is Jensen, with his guarded eyes and his scarred knuckles and his secrets wrapped tight around him like barbed wire.
I need to get closer. Need to find a crack in that tough exterior. Because the answers I seek aren’t just about Lainey anymore. They’re tangled up with this place, these mountains, and these men.
And I know myself. I know what I’m like when I’m presented with a puzzle. I won’t stop until I unravel every last thread, no matter the cost.
With that thought, I toss back the rest of my whiskey, get into my pajamas, and crawl into bed. Outside, the wind howls like a lost child, rattling the windows. In the distance, an answer—hollow and forlorn, more wolf than coyote.
I burrow deeper into the quilt, trying to shake the certainty that settles in my gut with cold, leaden weight.
The storm is here but it’s only a precursor for things to come.
8
JENSEN
The screen door slams behind me, the sound echoing off the mountains like a gunshot. I take a deep breath, trying to settle the restlessness that’s been buzzing under my skin since Aubrey walked into my kitchen.
Since she walked onto my ranch, if I’m being honest, bringing with her both redemption and futility.
I set off toward the back pasture, boots crunching on the hard ground as I stare ahead at the trees that sway in the building storm. The familiar woods feel different somehow. Charged with a waiting energy, like the whole mountain is holding its breath.
Or maybe that’s just me.
I know what’s she’s asking me to do. I know what she’s paying me to do.
But she doesn’t.
Neither does Cole, Red, or Hank, though I’m sure they suspect something is wrong since I’m insisting on their company. Only Eli knows the truth about what happened. Only he knows what’s truly at stake.
It’s not too late, I tell myself. Not too late to tell her you can’t do it. You don’t owe her an explanation. Just decline her funds and send her packing.
And yet I won’t do that. I’m putting myself, my crew, and her into harm’s way because I’m too damn desperate and a stubborn son of a bitch.
Who knows, maybe it won’t be like last time.
Maybe we’ll be spared.
I can only hope that we won’t find any sign of her sister.
I shake my head, trying to clear it. It’s been a long time since someone got under my skin like this. Aubrey with her watchful eyes and her frank smiles and her goddamn questions. Her determination to find Lainey is admirable, but there’s something else there, something I can’t figure out.
She’s too clever by half. Too observant. Too close to the truth about the ranch, about, well, everything. Folks around here know better than to ask about things that don’t concern them. Especially when it comes to my family. But Aubrey’s curiosity is getting dangerous.
I think of my mother, wasting away in her bed. The bitterness of it all rises in my throat like bile. The unfairness that she’s reduced to this, after everything she’s gone through.