Page 98 of Bull Rush

“Yes. But whether it’s the people who asked Dad to find it for them in the first place as payment, or the people who stole everything from us assuming it would be there… We don’t know.” Levi leans back in his chair. “We’ve always assumed it was the people he didn’t pay back, pissed off enough that they wanted to make a point to everyone else in the community.”

“How much of a community is it when you’re all killing each other all the time?” I run a hand over my face, trying to scrub the frustration and confusion away and failing. “You were involved in the business, and you didn’t know any of this?”

“Dad and Uncle Jay were only just letting us in on things. We were a stopgap measure when they didn’t have another choice. Dad didn’t like to provide details.” Levi explains.

Uncle Jay was the youngest of my dad’s two brothers. We’d only seen him a handful of times growing up, and after Uncle Creighton died leaving the casino to dad, the visits had grown even more scarce as bitterness permeated the dispersal of family assets.

“So ask Uncle Jay now.” I demand, hoping they’re still able to get in touch with him. It’s the only way we get answers.

“He won’t discuss it.” Grant shakes his head.

“What do you mean he won’t discuss it?” I press.

“Exactly what I said.”

“So how do you know he wasn’t involved?” I look between the two of them.

“We don’t,” Levi answers, his eyes drifting down to the floor again, like he’s as disappointed to tell me as I am to hear it.

“Holy fuck…” I pace back and forth. “You never thought to tell me any of this?”

“What good would that have done?” Levi gives me a perplexed expression.

“I begged you to stay here and help us redress Mom and Dad’s deaths. And you ran off to play ball. It would’ve only made you a liability if you weren’t going to help. Possibly atarget.” Grant’s eyes darken, and I grind my teeth to keep from lashing out at him.

“I might have stayed if you weren’t keeping secrets from me. If I’d known Haze was still going to be in danger because they thought we still had something. Fuck! I thought I was keeping her safe by leaving, not painting a fucking target on her back.”

“Nothing happened for years. We thought it was safe. It was only when you drew our attention to Curtis, and we started looking at his badge logs and some of his behavior that we realized something was off about him,” Levi explains.

“That’s a big fucking miss,” I mutter.

“Yes, well… it seems to be a family trait.” Grant’s eyes sweep over me and then meet mine.

“We should focus on what’s next.” Levi tries to corral the argument.

“What’s next? I hope you’re pursuing this. Did you find out who the intruders were? The arsonists? One in the same?” I look between them.

“They used fake IDs, and they charged to the card I provided them for a free stay. It was a dead end.” Levi shakes his head, and I can tell he’s as frustrated as I am.

“So they could still be around.” I click my tongue and shake my head. I only felt safe coming here because Bo and Anson were taking turns staying on the ranch alongside Cade and his friend. Knowing she’s under constant watch is the only thing keeping me sane right now.

“We have to be cautious until we make the next steps.” Grant’s not sweating anything, probably because he lives in this tower surrounded by security.

“Cautious? That’s easy for you when you live in a fortress.”

“I told you to move in here.” Grant shoots me a derisive look.

“And abandon everyone at the ranch to some unknown fate?”

Grant opens his mouth to say something but thinks better of it and turns his back to me again. He paces toward the window and then finally speaks.

“Close temporarily. She wanted to do renovations, right?”

“I’m not even going to approach that subject with her. It’s a nonstarter. So tell me what the plan is. I think I deserve to be part of this family-bonding activity, considering I’ve already been helping clean up the mess.”

“We have someone coming to pick up the reliquary. She’s going to put it up for auction, and we’re hoping it’s going to draw out the people looking for it,” Lev explains.

“If it’s stolen, how’s that possible?” I frown at the implications.

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