Page 68 of Some Cowboys Fight for Love

Pacing the living room, Daniel attempted to make sense of everything he knew. Aria wasn’t happy. So why was she insisting on staying with that creep? He had a vague memory of one of her exes being controlling and manipulative. That described Cayden perfectly. What was he missing?

He stopped in the middle of the darkened room. She was scared. That had been new. It was as if she’d expected Cayden to pop out of nowhere and do something to her.

No, that wasn’t quite right.

She was scared for Daniel.

But why? What could Cayden possibly be holding over her head?

None of it made any sense. The longer he went over the problem, the more frustrated he became. If she’d talk to him, if she’d ask him for help—maybe they could figure this out. She was too stubborn for her own good.

A loud banging erupted against the wooden door a few feet from where he’d ended up in his pacing. He jumped, having a hard time trying to reconcile what he’d heard with what it meant.

He pulled out his phone to check the time. It was nearly midnight. Had he fallen asleep?

Another loud banging had him lurching for the door to prevent whoever it was from waking the whole house. He didn’t dare hope that Aria had come here. She wouldn’t have knocked that loud. It could be Cayden, and if it was, he’d be in for a rude awakening.

Anger ripped through Daniel as he reached the door and yanked it open, fully prepared to tear into the man who might be on the other side, but then he came up short.

Mateo stood in front of him, chest heaving and fury in his gaze. Beside him was a worried but equally upset Sophia. The former yanked a hand through his hair, then jutted his chin toward the house. “We need to talk.” Without waiting for a response, Mateo pushed himself into the house.

Sophia offered him an apologetic smile and followed suit.

Daniel had only just shut the door when Mateo spun to face him, his voice low and brimming with ire. “I only came here because I felt I owed it to you. I was fully prepared to handle this on my own, but Sophia insisted that you were more involved than I gave you credit for.”

Daniel folded his arms, straightening. While he appreciated that something was finally happening, he didn’t like the thought that Mateo had brushed off his feelings for Aria in the first place. “I’m listening.”

Mateo’s hand dug through his hair again, mussing it out of control. “Turns out you were right.” He muttered expletives in place of Cayden’s name and shook his head. “…he’s manipulating her.”

“That’s not news,” Daniel shot back. “I told you as much.”

“It goes deeper than you might think.” Mateo glanced at Sophia, who nodded as if to give him encouragement. Were they concerned about how Daniel was going to take this new information? That must have meant it was really bad. “He threatened you.”

Confusion hit him first. Why would the man threaten him? They didn’t know each other. Then understanding ripped right through it. Because she cared. Because Aria wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt him. Ice-cold rage coiled in Daniel’s chest. No wonder she was so scared for him when he’d stopped by unannounced.

His hands balled into fists. “What exactly?” he hissed.

Mateo rubbed the back of his neck. “Apparently, he’s on some board or some nonsense at that fancy university where you’re taking classes. He threatened to get you kicked out.”

“I don’t care about that!” His words started out in a holler, but when Sophia flinched, he lowered his voice to a growl. “I couldn’t care less about that degree.” His eyes turned to Sophia. “You told her that, right? She doesn’t have to make herself miserable just because I’m toying with being an architect.”

She lifted a shoulder. “Of course I did. But what would you expect? She’s stubborn. She’s not going to be the reason you lose it.”

He released another growl and yanked at his own hair. “Well, screw it. I’m going over there right now and she?—”

“It’s not only you, Daniel.” Mateo’s voice was quieter, more reserved. It was such a change that Daniel gave him a double take. “Cayden threatened to destroy my business and what your brothers have going here.”

And that was what it really boiled down to. The man had cornered Aria, found her weaknesses, and exploited them. He was a particularly evil kind of monster.

Daniel didn’t realize what he must have looked like until he caught a glimpse of fear in Sophia’s eyes. It wasn’t necessarily that she was scared of him, but rather for him—as if he was going to combust at any moment.

He sucked in a deep breath, then forced himself to exhale. “What are we going to do about it?” he whispered. “You didn’t come all this way just to tell me what fools we’ve all been. I assume you have a plan.”

Mateo glanced over at Sophia, then back to Daniel. “I have a couple ideas, but I’m not sure they’re going to work.”

“Don’t say that,” Sophia said. “I think you hit the nail on the head when you said you wanted to play against the guy’s need for control.”

Daniel cocked his head. That sounded promising. As much as he knew the old Daniel would have gone into this situation with fists raised and brute strength, that wasn’t going to work. The man they were after wasn’t going to bow out with merely a show of aggression. He played a different kind of game of warfare.

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