Page 9 of Taken

“Yes. I’m so sorry about what happened to your church. I can’t imagine losing so many members like that.”

He pursed his lips and then nodded again. “It hasn’t been easy, but we’ve adjusted.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“Shall we go inside?” Jacob gestured to the grand front entrance of the mansion.

I followed him inside and up a sweeping staircase. He led me down a hall and into an enormous study. It contained an antique wooden desk with framed photos on one side of it, multiple chairs, stacked bookshelves, and hardwood floors. All pretty normal so far.

“Take a seat.” Jacob motioned to one of the chairs. He shook his head. “My, my… I still can’t believe you’re here. Mason Ashwood.”

“All grown up,” I said with another fake smile.

“Indeed. How are your parents doin’?”

“They’re doing well. They retired a couple of years back. I run their company with my siblings now.”

“Wonderful. I’ve often thought of your folks over the years.” Another bright creepy grin. “Nice people. It’s a shame we lost contact.”

They stopped talking to you because you appeared to be leading a fucking doomsday cult last time we saw you,I wanted to say. Instead I nodded. “Yeah. I guess they just didn’t know what to say after the attack on your church. And then you started this whole commune thing out here, so they probably figured you wanted to be left alone.”

“That’s fair. I understand completely.”

I sniffed the air. “Is that smoke I smell?”

Jacob rubbed his head. He had dark hair which stuck up in thick spikes, and it had receded quite far back on the sides, leaving him with a large widow’s peak on the top of his forehead. “It’s my hair. I really should’ve washed it when I showered this morning,” he said. “We had a bonfire out here last night,” he added by way of explanation.

“A bonfire? Sounds cool.”

“Yes. So anyway, what can I do for you, Mason?” he asked, leaning forward with his forearms on the dark polished desk. The smile was gone now, replaced with a cold, calculating expression.

“Well, you’ll probably think this is strange coming from me, because to be honest, I hated this place as a kid. Louisiana, that is. But I’ve been living in New York for a long time now, and I just…” I paused and shook my head. “Let’s just say I’ve finally started to appreciate it out here. The landscape, the culture, the people. It’s the perfect escape. You know what I mean, right?”

He nodded. “Of course. I can’t stand the big cities either. But what on God’s green earth does that have to do with me?”

I leaned back and waved my hand around the room. “I’ve always remembered this ranch. Not because I was here the day of the attack, but because of its beauty. You’re sitting on around forty thousand acres out here, right?”

“That’s right.”

“I totally understand if you’re not interested, but I was kinda hoping you’d be willing to part with some of it. Just a little patch on the very edge. A few hundred acres or so.”

The Chastain ranch sat on thousands of acres of sugarcane fields, but it also contained vast stretches of woods, marsh waters, distinctive swamps, and miles upon miles of overgrown grass. Beautiful land, but essentially useless.

I could practically see the dollar signs in Jacob’s eyes as he considered my words. Even if he sold just five hundred or so acres, that would net him several hundred thousand dollars to put into safer investments, which I assumed he wanted to do given the volatile nature of the real estate market right now.

“Could you expand on that?” he finally asked with slightly narrowed eyes. As much as he probably wanted cash infusions right now, I knew he would still be extremely careful about selling off any of the land around the commune.

I held up a palm. “I don’t want any of the fields. I’m not looking to start a farm. I was actually thinking of turning a piece of land into a nature reserve for wildlife that’s been displaced from areas farther south due to flooding and erosion. I’m really into conservation these days.”

Interest sparked in his eyes. “A nature reserve? What a wonderful idea.”

Of course he’d say that. If he sold the land to anyone else, they might want to develop it in some way, and that would obviously bring more people to the area. That was a negative for him, because he didn’t want anyone near his commune. But if I took a chunk of the land and made it clear it would never be developed, it would all swing in his favor—he’d make some cash from a few acres he didn’t even need on the edge of the property, and he’d be sure that it wouldn’t bring any new people to the area.

This plan would cost me in the beginning, but in the long run, I’d make more from Thad once I won the bet and got that million along with my lake house, which was worth over three and a half.

“I thought so too,” I replied. “As I said, I strongly believe in environmental conservation.”

“But why here?” Jacob leaned forward again, sparse brows pinching together. “What exactly made you think of me and my land?”

---