Page 101 of Dark Horse

“Are you fucking hearing this?” My uncle looks to me to diffuse the situation.

“He’s right. It’s mutually assured destruction. We don’t have trust anymore. Not after you tried to kill us. All we know is that you value her life over ours. So all we can trust is that you’ll do whatever you can to protect her, exactly like you said.”

“What happened to common ground?”

“The common ground is that you don’t want anything tohappen to us, and neither do we. We both need to slow your boss down to make sure of it.” I explain the facts like I see them. They’re not pretty but they’re all we’ve got.

“He’s not my boss. I’m as much a victim in this as any of you. He would have killed me if he didn’t think there was something I could do for him. He might still when he finds out I don’t have a backup plan to deal with you.”

“And yet we didn’t try to set off bombs to kill you and everyone you love.” Levi’s tone is cutting.

“Just tell him there was something faulty with the bombs. The first one went off early, right? I assume the one at Seven Sins was meant to go off at the same time as the rest?” I offer a solution.

“It was, and it wasn’t meant to be at the bar at all. I didn’t realize you were going to move some of the champagne.” Regret clouds his face.

My stomach churns. In trying to do something thoughtful for Dakota, I’d nearly killed her. But I couldn’t think about that now.

“So tell him the triggers were faulty. Or the wires. One went off early, and the rest didn’t.”

“And then what? He might buy that. He’ll be furious, but at least it’s the truth. Then he’ll want to know what my plan is.” Jay looks between us for answers.

“You just tell him you need time and that the bomb at the bar put us on high alert, so it’ll be difficult for you to get to us for a while. He’ll have to have patience. He’s waited all these years; you’d think he could wait a few more months.”

“He didn’t have the relic before. He has it now. The only thing he was worried about was killing you before he knew where it was.”

“Then do what’s necessary to convince him. This is yourproblem. Not ours. You want your daughter alive; you’ll figure out a solution to deal with him,” Levi says bluntly.

“And talk to him soon. I don’t want him sending backup down here to make more problems for us.” I add.

“I’ll do my best. But I’m one person.” I don’t like the doubt I see on Jay’s face.

“One fucking person who runs law enforcement for this whole fucking county. I think you can come up with some temporary solutions,” Levi snaps.

My uncle starts to wind up to say something more, but I cut him off before he can speak.

“He’s right. You can do this. You’ve been out of the game for a while, but you know the rules; you know the strategy. Make it happen. Our dad would have counted on you, and I’m hoping we can, even if you’ve made a few mistakes along the way.”

“I’ll do whatever I can.” He looks remorseful enough in the moment, and I hope he holds true to his word.

I agree with my brother’s assessment. We’ve got to put our energy into moving forward. That means finding out what these relics are for and how we find the one he doesn’t have his hands on yet. Because if all he needs are three, our time might be running out faster than we hoped.

FORTY-FOUR

DAKOTA

“All right.I can’t stand seeing you mope around here anymore,” Charlotte announces as she finds me in her breakfast room, hunched over with my coffee, doom scrolling the morning away with Vendetta in my lap. I look up from the latest dumpster fire on social media to see her looming over the table like a force to be reckoned with. I’m not sure Charlotte owns jeans or old T-shirts. Everything she wears looks freshly pressed and perfectly tailored, and every day, she puts on a new pair of unique heels. Today’s are four-inch stilettos with pointed toes and jeweled snakes that wrap around her ankles. I need to figure out how to take her style and meld it with my lazy cowgirl aesthetic because just looking at her is intimidating, and those are the vibes I need for the fresh future I’ve been planning. When I’m not worrying about Grant that is.

“It’s not moping. Just worrying.”

“If you’re going to stay with him, you’ll spend every day of the rest of your life worrying like this. You’ve got to learn to compartmentalize and remind yourself that he’s where he is for a reason. He didn’t amass all that power and all that wealth because he didn’t know what he was doing.” Charlotte lectures me, and it’s a fair point. “Besides, we’ve got our own work to do—I got word we need to figure something out for them.”

“Somehow, I doubt I was included in the dream team.” I laugh because otherwise, I’ll cry. I feel so useless when everyone else here seems to have a purpose. Mine was the bar and my staff, creating a place for locals to come and have community, but now I’ve got nothing, and it’s hitting me hard.

“I’m including you on the team. It’ll get your mind off things, and I could use a fresh perspective.”

“What do we need fresh perspective on?” Hazel’s in from a run on the trail on Charlotte’s property. Her hair is tied up, and her face is sweaty and red from the exertion. She’d decided to stay here with me, in part to keep me company and in part because of Ramsey’s own feelings about her being alone at home. Beatrix, Hazel’s friend who was in Colorado for all the wedding festivities and subsequent mess, has been keeping us both company and trying to cheer us up since we got here. Hazel pours them each a giant glass from a pitcher of fruit-infused water.

“Me too.” Finn, one of Charlotte’s men, has suddenly appeared from his own workout, and he pushes another glass in front of Hazel.

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