Page 1 of Brutal Heir

Chapter 1

Sage

I slide into the 4x4 and check the time as I shut the door. Seven o’clock. I suck in a quick breath and press the button to dial in to the morning conference call.

My phone signals an incoming call then Elena Santos’s name flashes on the screen. I wince. She’s probably checking to see why I’m running late. Everyone’s waiting on me.

Biting my lip, I decline her call.Come on. The call connects to the meeting, leaving me a fraction of a second to take a calming breath before I announce myself.

“This is Sage Donohue, reporting in from Alpha section atLa Escuadra Ranch.” A feeling of dread drops into my stomach. Something’s wrong. I just know it.

“Go ahead, Sage,” Elena says, sounding distracted. “Bill’s on the phone.”

And there it is.I should have answered. My heart races. Thefact he’d take a call while he should be in the morning meeting sets an alarm blaring in the back of my mind.

In the oil and gas industry, there is no such thing as a typical day. Moving a drilling rig from one area to another can cause problems at the best of times. The weather had us at touch and go, but we got the green light to move ahead.

“All the security checks for the rig move are done, with no problems to report.”

“No issues with the rain we had earlier in the week?” she asks.

“Not as far as I can tell.” Somehow, I managed to keep my voice from shaking when I said that. “I drove the route we’ll be taking, and the road is stable.”

The one thing in our favor is that the roads at this ranch are well-maintained at the owner’s insistence. Apparently there was an incident that caused problems for the family in the past, so Mr. de Marco included a clause about the maintenance in the contract.

“Any issues from the safety department?”

“None. They’ve signed off on the pre-trip inspection, confirming we’ve taken all the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of the crew and equipment.”

The crews had spent hours loading millions of dollars’ worth of drilling equipment on flatbed trailers using cranes and forklifts. Every piece, from the derrick to the port-a-potties, is held in place by either a strap or a chain, to keep them securely in place for the journey across the ranch.

I glance in the rearview mirror. “I currently have a line of trucks behind me. We’re waiting for the sun to come up in orderto pull out.”

“Thank you, Sage. I’ll hand it over to Bill. He’s walking into the conference room.”

I swallow hard, trying to keep my anxiety at bay, but I’m impatient, wanting to hear what happened.

“It’d be too much to expect for the move to go off without a hitch,” Bill states, sounding weary. As the interim area manager, he’s responsible for everything that goes on in the Eagle Ford Shale until Kelly Oil & Gas sells the construction division.

Oh hell. “What happened?” I glance around at the mesquite and brush going on for miles in every direction. Nothing looks out of the ordinary. Every minute the group is on hold costs the company thousands of dollars in equipment cost and headcount.

“A crew from Bagley Services got lost in the dark. They wandered onto the restricted area in Alpha section.”

I let my eyelids drift closed, waiting for the bombshell about to drop.

“They ended up hitting a cow on their way out.”

The groans of disappointment and annoyance around the table make it through the speakers to surround me.

Damn, I almost would have preferred to have the porta potties fall over.

“Okay, so that didn’t cause a problem with the move. Do we start out?” I already know what he’s going to say, but I’m hoping beyond hope I’m wrong.

“Being that you’re closer,” he says with a note of resignation, “I’ll need you to head out there.” Although he’s confirming what I already expected, the words virtually echo in the truck cab,smothering me. “You’ll need to meet with the crew.”

Please stop there. I drop my forehead onto the truck steering wheel.Please don’t say—

“And the ranch manager,” he concludes, making my stomach twist up like a dirt devil on a windy day. “I just got off the phone with Ezequiel. He’s already on the way, and he’s going to get there well before I can. I’d rather you run interference between him and the driver.”

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