Page 16 of A Rebel's Shot

“You’ve been gone for years, Merritt. Things have changed. I’ve been the one here, making sure this mine gets up and running. It’s not my fault if you can’t keep up.”

Merritt bit back the sharp retort as she stopped, placed a hand on Silas’ arm, and prayed he’d get over himself enough to help her out.

“I know I’ve been away, but I’m here now.” She softened her voice, hoping he couldn’t hear the hurt she couldn’t push down. “We used to be a team, Silas. Can’t we work together on this? For Dad’s sake?”

“For Dad’s sake?” Silas scoffed, his resentment and bitterness clear. “That’s rich, coming from you. You think you can just waltz back in and take over, no questions asked? I’ve been the one living up to Dad’s impossible standards while you were off playing hero.”

Merritt bristled.

“You think this is easy for me?” She took a breath so she wouldn’t yell. “I’m doing the best I can, Silas. I didn’task for this, but I’m here now. I need your support, not your attitude.”

“This isn’t exactly what I had in mind,” Silas muttered under his breath as he charged ahead of her.

“Do you think it’s what I want to be doing? You haven’t had to uproot your life. I have. Me. So a little understanding and patience from you would be appreciated.”

“Patience?” Silas paced away, then spun back.

“Do you know how many years I’ve worked under Dad, bending to his will, learning how he expects the business to run to have all that ripped from me and given to you? Do you know what it was like feeling like everything I did fell short of his expectations when you could do nothing wrong?”

“Silas, I didn’t?—”

“So excuse me if my patience is thin for the one person who wanted nothing to do with the family legacy that gave her the ability to do whatever she wanted.”

For a second, Silas’ face fell before he stiffened and stomped off with a quick, jerky step without a look back at her. She stared after him. Was there any way she could repair their relationship? Could she trust him enough to?

“You okay?” Tiikâan’s soft question startled her.

“Yeah.” She forced her shoulders back and nodded toward the office. “Let’s get you that tour.”

And get her heart rate settled. If all her days started out with bears and growly brothers, she wasn’t sure she’d survive long enough to find out the truth about her father.

EIGHT

Tiikâan held in his sigh of relief as Barrow came into view. The day had been an absolute bore. He’d finished the latest Bristol North audiobook but had quickly realized that normally when he listened to books, he had something else to keep himself busy.

He’d sketched, paced, and scanned the surrounding area for animals—there were none.

Even the creatures of the wild ran from the mine site.

He wouldn’t have minded taking a hike and exploring, but apparently, he wasn’t allowed.

His hands tightened around the yoke as he circled to line up with the runway. He’d have to talk to Merritt about the latter. There was no way he’d make it through the summer if he couldn’t stretch his legs.

But first she’d have to get her cute nose out of her computer.

He glanced over at Merritt.

She scanned an Excel sheet, shook her head, and muttered under her breath, then toggled over to anotherdocument and ran her finger along the screen. Her lips moved as she silently read. She let out a little growl and toggled back to the spreadsheet.

He smashed his lips together to keep his chuckle in and turned his attention back to the approach. She reminded him a lot of his sister Astryde––determined, stubborn, and relentless as the day was long.

And the days were never-ending this far north.

It was clear that Merritt was in way over her head. But she hadn’t once let it slow her down. In fact, her stepbrother’s little tantrum seemed to fuel her to prove she could do the whole CEO thing.

During the tour, she hadn’t known much of anything about what was going on. But she had this amazing way of snagging a worker by calling out their name and building them up until they were an expert in whatever it was they were looking at.

No one seemed to catch on that she was clueless. And if they did, her billowing them full of accolades made them more than happy to explain what some piece of machinery did.

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