Page 54 of The Contractor & the Entrepreneur

“Rh … Dad?” She shook her head and backed up a step, clinging to the door. “I’m not going to bend,” she said, thoughher voice quavered and betrayed her anxiety at having him here. Rhett was gone. She had to stand up to him on her own. Could she do that?

Please help me be brave, she prayed.Give me Your strength and the right tools to fight him.

“I think you will.” He shoved past her and into her apartment.

“Dad. You are not welcome here.” Her entire body trembled, and her stomach turned over and over again. She fought the fears away. She wasn’t a little girl any longer. She could stand up to him, and she would. Rhett’s faith in her would strengthen her as well as her faith in her Heavenly Father.

Another body, a larger and smellier body, pushed at her side.

“Hey.” She looked up to see … “Uncle Ron?”

He shut the door behind him and gave her an insincere smile. Lifting a black pistol, he gestured to the couch. “Go sit by your dad. We have a lot to talk about.”

Her stomach flipped over. A gun? She remembered how scared she was of Rhett’s gun initially, but he’d only used it to protect. Her uncle didn’t have the same values.

“Go,” he growled at her. “You got my boys arrested, so I had to do all the work to buy off your contractors’ security company and create the mudslide by myself.”

Sloan stared at him. “You bought off the security and created that mudslide?”

“Did I not just say that?” He rolled his eyes. “Now I’m done with your nonsense. Go and sit and sign the papers Eric has ready for you and nobody will get hurt.”

She walked toward her dad, simply to get farther away from that gun waving in her face. “Dad,” she whispered as she sat next to him at the table. He’d never been a loving father, but he wouldn’t let Uncle Ron shoot her. “What’s happening?”

Could she call for Rhett or call 911? Her phone was in her purse. She put her hand next to her purse on the table, hoping she could edge the phone out.

Uncle Ron stood between her and the door, staring her down.

“What’s happening dear is you’re going to sign the papers to transfer the property to your Uncle Ron and me. We will pay off your loans and give you a nice stipend and you will move back to Scottsdale and work for me like you always should have.”

He said all of this as if she’d nod and agree and sign away. She would never move back to Arizona or work for him. Yet her body betrayed her and she trembled with fear simply being this close to him. What would he do if she said no? She felt weak and cold.

“How did you create the mudslide?” She looked from her dad to Uncle Ron. She wanted to know the answer but she also wanted to stall them from shooting her.

“Didn’t know I was in the Army, did you, girl? An EOD, Explosive Ordinance Disposal technician. I knew exactly where to place the charges to make it look and feel like an act of nature.” He smiled. “Now you’ve got your questions answered. Sign the papers.”

“You two are working together?” She looked from her dad to Uncle Ron and back. “I thought you hated each other.”

“We did, until I realized—” Ron began.

“We both deserve half of the property,” her dad cut in. “Your grandfather should never have changed his will.”

They were hiding something. Rhett had guessed as much. What was it? It had to be huge to have her dad and Ron working together, to have her dad resort to Ron threatening her with a gun instead of manipulating her into what he wanted.

“Well …” Her palms were clammy, and she had to grip her hands together to keep them from shaking. She was as afraid ofher dad as that gun in Ron’s hand. She reverted to a child, beaten down emotionally, always in trouble, isolated.

She pushed all the negative thoughts out on an exhale, drew in a deep breath, straightened her shoulders, stuck out her chin and said, “Grandpa did change his will. It’s my property. And nothing you two say will make me sign those papers.”

“If I shoot you dead, you’ll wish you’d signed them,” her uncle roared, moving closer with the gun pointed straight at her.

Sloan’s gut twisted, but she sat straight and tall. “It won’t matter if I’m dead,” she said in a somewhat even tone, not looking at her dad.

“The land will be mine. Alive or dead, it doesn’t matter.” Uncle Ron tightened his grip on the gun, his eyes wild.

Sloan’s heart raced out of control. “I have a will, and my friend Kathy is my benefactor.”

“Pardon me?” Her dad glared at her. “Everything should go to me.”

“Why would I give anything to you?” She forced herself to look at him and not quake as she had her entire life. She was an adult. He couldn’t manipulate her like he’d done when she was a child.

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