Page 112 of Burn the Wild

She elbows me and looks at Bosko. “Don’t listen to him. Tell me. Steal it?”

“He stole it first.” Bosko shrugs. “How’s he going to argue that in court?”

“Okay.” Reese grins. “Let’s do it.”

“If you’re privy to a password he would use, that would speed up the process.”

“I don’t know. I don’t think…” Her nose scrunches, then her eyes light up. “Wait. Try ‘shiny little shooting star.’ It’s what he calls me.”

Making a note in his notepad, Bosko nods, then places a hand over the contract. “You signed this when you were sixteen. Under duress. We can fight that in court, but that’s court, and it takes time. But luckily, you don’t need time.”

Reese swallows. “What do you mean?”

“You’re twenty-six now?”

Reese tilts her head in confusion. “I’ll be twenty-seven on August 30th.”

“That’s the key. This contract is for ten years. It expires on your twenty-seventh birthday.”

“Really?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely.”

Reese sits shell-shocked. “That’s why he’s trying to get me back,” she whispers. “Because he wants me to sign it again.”

I try to avoid thinking about what I’d do to Gavin if I saw him again, because it would only end in a jail cell and an orange jumpsuit.

“It’s also why he hasn’t sued your ass for breach of contract,” Bosko says. “Because he’d openhimselfup to scrutiny. He doesn’t want you to know time’s almost up.” Bosko nods. “Once it expires, he’ll no longer be your guardian. He’ll no longer control any aspect of your money, your career, your—”

A shuddering gasp escapes her lips. “My life.”

“You’ll be free,” Bosko says.

A tear slips down her face. “Free.”

“My advice is stay here. Do anything you can to put him off. Whatever commitments he’s made for you, can be ironed out after your birthday.” To me, Bosko says, “Is the ranch secure?”

The grim worry in his eyes pinches hard in my gut.

“What aren’t you telling us?” I ask.

“I’ve dealt with men like this my entire life. When you take things away that they want, they get it back. Whatever way possible.”

Declan Valiante. The mental image of Aiden King with his arm around Dakota, a knife to her belly. I picture it happening to Reese. Gone. Hurt. Scared. I squeeze my eyes shut, willing it away.

“Ford?” Reese’s worried voice cuts through the fog in my head.

When I open my eyes, they land on Reese. “He won’t get near you,” I tell her. “Not with me around.”

With those words, we stand and shake hands with Bosko.

She turns to me and sighs. “I don’t believe it. I’ll be free.”

I wrap her in my arms. “You deserve it.”

Tears fill her eyes, and her small hand lands on my cheek. “I’ve never had anyone do anything like this for me. Thank you. Grady knew what he was doing sending me your way.”

What he did for me. Sending me a goddamn angel.

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