Page 1 of Moonlit Thorns

Chapter

One

ANABELLE

Irip down the paper pinned to the front door of my family estate. The paper shakes in my hands as my eyes scan the printed words. At first, I’m confused, but then it registers, and my stomach pitches, my heart stutters, and my knees wobble.

NOTICE TO QUIT FOR NON-PAYMENT

I keep reading, glancing over the words for the pertinent details.

…we have not received your payment…

…your account is in arrears…

…you are hereby given ten days to vacate the property…

What the hell? This must be a mistake. Oak Haven Estate has been in my family for over a century. There’s no mortgage on the property and no bank to make payments to, so how could we possibly be in arrears?

My assumption is that when all the paperwork to settle my father’s estate was being done months ago, something got messed up, and this has been sent here in error.

The thought of my beloved father sends a pang through my chest, and I look at the column on my left, my favorite place to hide behind when I was young, and we’d play hide and seek. He’d pretend he couldn’t find me as I circled around it, trying to avoid detection.

I cut off those memories. There’s no time to wallow in grief right now. I’ve had no time to grieve since I got the phone call that he’d been found dead, attacked by some animal on an adjoining estate.

Swallowing hard at the image that haunts me, I scan the remainder of the notice, which is filled with legal bullshit, until I reach the end and see who it’s signed by. A chill rushes over me, causing the hair on my neck to prickle. My mother always said that means someone is walking over your grave, but a quick glance at the family plot off in the distance tells me no one is over there.

I try to shake off the ominous feeling, but when I look at the name printed in the deepest black ink against the starkest of white paper, the feeling washes over me a second time.

Asher Voss, CEO of Voss Enterprises

Feeling less certain now that this is a mistake, I push open the door and head inside, panic taking hold. Don’t freak out, this may still be a mistake.

Even though I’m sure the Voss family rarely makes mistakes.

My fist squeezes so hard the paper crumples in my palm.

Everyone is situated in the dining room having breakfast as expected. Grandma Boudreaux, my father’s mother, with her perfectly curled short hair, is dressed with a minimal amount of makeup. Seated to her right at the head of the table is my mother, Frances. Her face is drawn, the same dark circles under her eyes she’s had every day since my father’s untimely death. But at least she’s out of bed today. That’s a win.

I hate to think of what this will do to her if the paper I’m holding in my hand is true. She’s been walking a tightrope between despair and sanity, and on any day, I’m unsure which side she might fall on.

It’s the only reason I’m still in my hometown of Magnolia Bend after three months and haven’t returned to Nashville, where I intern at a small publishing house. Thankfully, being an intern is the only reason they gave me such a long leave of absence. They aren’t paying me anyway. Since I graduated, I’ve been surviving on a monthly stipend I receive from my family. A stipend I’m now thinking is drained.

Luke, my younger brother by two years, sits next to my mom. Now, at only twenty years old, he has to take over running the ranch, including the cotton and soybean farming and the bourbon distillery my father started a few years ago.

My grandmother notices me in the doorway. “What were you doing out so early?”

I want to tell her that doesn’t matter, but I would never disrespect my grandmother, the matriarch of our family—especially now with my mom being so checked out. “I went for a run before breakfast.”

I went for a run first thing this morning to listen to my audiobook. My book was getting to a good part—my favorite part in any book—when the hero is about to proclaim his love for the heroine. Though I hate running, I love listening to audiobooks, and I find that pairing something I hate with something I love allows me to listen while I exercise.

I need something to help me stay sane while I’m back home. Though I grew up here, I’ve always been anxious about what lies outside the village limits. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to leave here to explore the world. College gave me the excuse I needed, and though I always want to return home to visit my family and spend time on the estate, there is still a part of me that wants to explore more of what the world has to offer.

I swallow hard before stepping into the dining room, tempering my panic, not wanting to alarm my mother if this is some big misunderstanding. However, the more I think about it, the more doubtful I am. “There was something posted on the front door when I returned.”

Luke sits taller in his seat, reading my energy.

“What is it, dear?” my grandmother asks.

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