Page 30 of Billionaire Lumberjack's Bride

He has to leave. I knew it was coming. But I am not prepared to be left alone with Lyla…mywife…yet.

“Prepare yourself for a battle at the board meeting.”

“How the fuck do I do that?”

He gives me a stern look. “You were always a strong-willed kid, Silas. Don’t let anything that happened to you change that. You’re going to have to face him, and you’re going to have to lay down some pretty horrific accusations if you want any chance for the board to turn against him and support you.”

I can feel Lyla watching me, her inquisitive gaze locked on me as she listens to a conversation she can’t possibly understand.

Ronald grabs the paper Jon just gave me. “I’m going to have these photos and the marriage certificate ready as evidence to support your claim for the trust. But it’s still going to be a battle, and it’s only round one. The morning of the board meeting, I’m going to deliver the envelope to the FBI.”

I release a heavy breath and rub my beard. “You really think any of this is going to work?”

He peeks at Lyla and turns back to me. “It has to if we have any hope of stopping him.”

“That’s theonlyreason I’m doing any of this.”

“You’re doing the right thing, kid. I’ll see you at the board meeting?”

The last thing I want to do is drive five hours into the city to step foot in that room with those people again, but I suppose I’ve made my bed and now I have to lie in it.

I glance at Lyla, who still looks so lost, shifting restlessly in her sandals, scanning the surrounding street. “Should I bring her with me?”

The corner of Ronald’s lips turns up. “She is your wife, isn’t she?”

“She is, but it doesn’t mean I want her privy to any of the family’s deepest, darkest secrets. Any ofmine. If I have to stay married to this woman, potentially indefinitely, she’s going to have to learn that some things are private and better left that way. If she needs to be there, she can wait in one of the offices during the board meeting.”

Ronald holds up his hands. “Whatever you’re most comfortable with.” He climbs into the car. “Hey, and Silas…”

“What?”

He opens his glove box and holds out a prepaid cell phone still in the package. “Take this. I need to be able to get in touch with you without driving up here.”

I shake my head. “There’s a reason I don’t have one. Even if they worked on the mountain, which they don’t, I don’t want anyone to find me again.”

Lyla’s mouth hangs open. “You mean there’s no phone? What if there’s an emergency or—”

Turning toward her, I level her with a hard glare. “Or you want to leave?”

She swallows thickly and takes a little half-step back from me.

Good.

It would be best for both of us if she’s afraid of me. Keeping her distance.

“If you want to leave, then…youwalkinto town.”

She gulps, undoubtedly imagining thelongclimb up the mountain she made yesterday and the steep way down this morning.

Ronald points to the phone. “Come into town and call me as often as is feasible so we can touch base. I’ll see you in a week and a half. If anything happens to me in the meantime, if you can’t get in touch…assume the worst.”

The worst.

He mutters the last part under his breath, but the way Lyla stiffens, she must have heard him.

He peels away from the curb and down Main Street toward the two-lane highway that will eventually take him back to the city. And now, I’m left alone again with my wife.

My wife.

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