Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 160042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 800(@200wpm)___ 640(@250wpm)___ 533(@300wpm)
“I’m aware.” I tip my hat back and settle in the chair. “Good move by the way, sendin’ my parole officer to the ranch.”
His jaw clenches. “I could call him right now and have you sent back to where you belong.”
“You could,” I agree. “But then how will you ever get what you need?”
“And what do you think it is that I need?”
“Money.”
His jaw clenches again. “What do you know about it?”
“I know you don’t got it.”
He watches me for a few seconds before breathing out. “If this is another bid to get a piece of our land, I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed. We don’t need your money.”
“I know. You already have someone lined up who’s going to drill on your land and bring you all the money that you need.”
“So then I don’t understand the purpose of your visit.”
“The purpose of my visit,” I say, continuing to look him in the eyes, “is to tell you that the land you’re gonna drill on belongs to me. Or at least half of it.”
“What?”
I throw the file I brought with me on the table. It skids across and makes it all the way to him where he slaps a palm on it to keep it from falling to the floor. He glances down at it for a second before looking up. “What is this?”
“Readin’ material.”
His jaw moves back and forth before he once again glances down and opens the file. What he reads in there makes his body go even more rigid, his fingers fisting the edge of the page. Then he slowly breathes out, lets go of the file, and reaches for the phone. Looking up at me, he presses a button on it and says, “Yeah, Beth. Can you send my father’s nurse in? He needs to go home.”
Another keening-like sound from Hank Turner that makes Brecken clench his teeth. He doesn’t look away, though, and neither do I. Not even when the door to the conference room opens and those sounds become louder as the nurse wheels him out as she murmurs soothing words.
Then, Brecken asks, “Is this some kind of a joke?”
“Depends.” I shift in my seat. “Are you laughin’?”
His chest moves with a large breath. “You’re married to my sister.”
“You could ask her yourself.”
His breaths are getting faster, harsher as he once again reaches for the phone and dials a number. This time, though, he puts it on speaker and the room is filled with a loud ring. That a second later gets cut off by a shrill voice: “Breck?”
“Peyton?”
“Oh my God, Breck,” Peyton goes. “Thank God, you called. Thank God; I was so scared. I was so—”
“Where are you? What—”
“God, Breck,” Peyton cuts him off. “These Graysons are crazy. They’ve k-kidnapped me. They’re holding me against my will and he”—a sob echoes in the room—“f-forced me to marry him. Gosh, I’m married to a Grayson, Breck. He said if I didn’t sign the papers, he’d kill me. He said he’d make it hurt. Like really hurt, Breck. He said if I didn’t listen to him, he’d cut my body into pieces and hide it all over his ranch so they’d never find me. And to prove his point, he killed a bear in front of me. He took off its head and chopped it into pieces. Pieces, Breck.”
I have to clench my fists in order to suppress a sigh. I glance over at Rad, and I notice his jaw is ticking. I don’t blame him. If he’s really into her, he’s in for a very rough ride. That girl is something else, a fucking hurricane. There’s acting and then there’s overacting.
“I’m so scared,” she keeps going in her fake sobbing voice. “I’m so fucking scared. You—”
“Tell me where you are, Peyton. Where—”
“You have to save me. You have to get me out of here. Just please do whatever they tell you to do. Just—”
Someone on the line—Axton—cuts her off and commands, “Enough.”
And the line goes dead. The silence that follows is filled with Brecken’s heavy breaths and his anger. I can feel it. I can even relate to it. That’s what I feel every time I think of a Turner. He slowly puts the phone down as he asks, in a voice that’s gone really quiet, “What do you want?”
My jaw clenches. “You know what I want. I want your land.”
“Apparently, you already have half of it,” he says, his body almost vibrating.
“Yeah, but I want all of it. I want your share of the land too.”
“Is that right?”
“You sign your half over to me, your sister goes free and that oil company you’re meetin’ up with in a few weeks gets to drill.”
“And if I don’t?”
“I take it all away. I fuck it all up. Your meeting, your business.” I force myself to add, “Your sister.”