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So why had Spence trusted him? My brother didn’t like numbers or legalese, but he’d never been stupid. He had good intuition and natural common sense that should have seen through any sleight of hand Adam was trying to pull. But then again, maybe he’d been so entrenched in keeping the ranch afloat he hadn’t had time to see the bigger picture.

“I want a full accounting of every dollar that’s been earned and spent since I left,” I told him. “Access to every account, every invoice, and every bill.”

Something flickered through his expression I couldn’t catch, but his shrug was casual. “I’ll send you all of Spencer’s logins and passwords.”

The idea of following in my brother’s footsteps caused my collar to grow tight, and I had a feeling Adam had done it on purpose to rattle me. And it had worked because suddenly the vaulted room with its floor-to-ceiling shelves felt too small, as if they were closing in. I needed air. I needed out. I needed to find some peace before I became so tight and brittle I broke in half at a mere touch.

Before I gave them more of my emotions than they’d ever earned.

I turned on a heel and headed for the back door.

The heat had faded with the sun, but it hadn’t cooled enough to be chilly yet. The crickets were loud, frogs croaked down by the river, and an owl hooted somewhere in the dark. The path my feet found was worn smooth from years of shoes traveling along it rather than any formal attempt to carve one out. It wound through the fields dotted with bluebells and yarrow that waved in a small breeze, shifting the grass like a ghost running through it. The moon was bright and full, shining down and turning the meadow into waves of silver.

I wasn’t dressed for hiking through the hills, and the dress shoes that had been perfect for my meetings in Vegas slid on the hard-packed dirt before I caught myself with a grunt of displeasure. This was a lawsuit waiting to happen if Lauren had her clients using this same path to travel back and forth from the falls in dress shoes and heels.

As I walked, I imagined Dad’s reaction to the idea of inviting people onto his land for weddings and even more if they turned the place into a resort. He would have cut off an arm rather than have allowed it. He’d kept the world at bay as much as he could, concentrating on the cattle and the hay the farm was known for once the granite and diamonds had turned to dust.

This close to the house, none of the sequoias grew. They were gathered at the back of the property, higher up where the hills turned into mountains, but brush and oaks and small firs took over as the ground began to slope upward. The air smelled of coniferous trees, the heady scent of sap and wood that smelled like the freedom I’d once found here.

Memories slammed into me that were almost as painful as the knife that had once sliced my chest open. This was why I’d never allowed myself to come back. To remember. To regret.

No. Not regret.Never that. I’d made the right choice for me and for my family.

The sound of the waterfall reached my ears, but it took several more minutes of walking before it came into view. In the moonlight, it glimmered like the diamonds that had once been found nearby. The river crashed from above onto large boulders, roaring into deep eddies. Mist rose from the dark pools before rushing downstream toward the lake just out of view.

My breath caught at the sight of the thundering display. My soul took flight, winging over the white foam, dancing in the moonlight, and soaring into a sky littered with so many stars it was as if a glitter bomb had gone off. It had been too long since I’d been here. Too long since I’d been reminded of the importance of keeping the property whole and free from developers who’d cut it up into pieces and stick tract homes along the shores of the lake and rivers.

The memory of the last time I’d been at the waterfall haunted me, flickering as if I was watching an old film reel in black and white. Lauren and I had argued. She’d said getting married just because she was pregnant wasn’t the right thing to do, and it had torn through me with the ease of a scythe through hay.

We’re getting married because we love each other and the baby, I’d said.

She’d looked down at her feet, and I’d known the truth. I’d finally let myself really understand it. She’d loved me…but not as much as she’d loved Spence. I liked to believe she hadn’t realized it, that she hadn’t used me as a placeholder, until he’d shown up at the ranch after hearing about the engagement and the baby. The hurt and confusion in his eyes had stabbed at me more than the punch he’d planted in my gut.

I hadn’t swung back with my fists, but my words had been vicious. I’d reminded him he’d been the one to break up with Lauren, the one to shove his college girlfriend in her face by bringing her here the previous Christmas, and he’d blanched. I’d simply stepped up to fix what he’d broken.

You knew it was wrong, he’d told me, sounding very much like the devil who enjoyed laughing at me these days.

The worst of it was, Ihadknown it was wrong.

But I’d also been raised to want what Spencer had. I’d been raised to compete with him for everything, and I’d swung in to take what I’d thought I deserved.

Movement down by the base of the falls drew my gaze, and a tiny hint of apprehension scattered over me. Bears and mountain lions were common here, especially at night. But as my eyesight adjusted, landing on a huge boulder near the water’s edge, I realized it wasn’t a predator—or at least not the wild-animal kind.

Sadie sat in the mist and the moonlight, looking every bit the siren I’d thought her from the beginning. An imp. A waif. A spellbinding witch. Her skin glowed in the moon rays the same color as the foam from the falls, and her black hair blended in with the shadows. Light and dark. Sweet and sin.

I’d seen many women here over the years. I’d been popular with the girls in high school, as much due to my family’s name as to the confidence I’d exuded, and this had been a favorite nighttime spot when bringing them to the ranch. Add a blanket and a six-pack, and the setting was the perfect spot for romance. For hookups. For losing yourself in the scent of a woman.

But in all the years I’d brought other people here, I’d never seen someone who looked like they belonged the way Sadie did. She looked as if she’d sprouted from the water, taking form only to lure unsuspecting humans.

And she did just that. She lured me.

My feet, sliding along the slope in my inappropriate dress shoes, found their way through the boulders and the damp grass to where she sat. She’d seen me before I’d seen her, so her eyes were turned toward mine as I approached.

Wary and nervous, but somehow defiant all at the same time, her pointed chin was lifted, shoulders back, ready for a fight.

I wasn’t sure what I’d do to her once I reached her. Would I kiss her until she forgot Puzo existed? Or strangle her until she gave up her secrets? Either way, I needed to keep her here on the ranch until I discovered the truth. Until I could ensure my family was safe.

I took a seat on the boulder next to hers, all the while convincing myself I wouldn’t touch her. Wouldn’t pull her to me just to see if she still tasted like honey and bourbon. She wasn’t mine to taste. She was likely the enemy. But something inside me screamed in objection at that idea.