Page 27 of The Last Dance You Saved
And maybe it was that as much as the desperation in Lauren’s face that had me making a decision I knew I might regret.
Chapter Ten
Rafe
DAMN
Performed by Jake Owen
Irrational fury burned inside me. Someof it was directed at my body’s reaction to Sadie Hatley and that damn lopsided grin she’d been giving Adam as I walked in, but the majority of the rage was directed at her, for weaseling her way into my family and their troubles. I couldn’t imagine what Puzo would want with the ranch, but I knew it had something to do with me. And Sadie likely knew what it was. It was nearly impossible for it to be a simple coincidence that she’d been dining with him and then come here.
But then again, would she really have met with him at The Fortress if they were trying to pull a con here? It made no sense. I couldn’t put the puzzle pieces together, no matter how hard I tried. And that had the anger and betrayal I felt slowly dissolving into a sea of doubts that was just as frustrating.
Was the guy Steele had caught following Sadie out of the hotel her muscle? Her backup? Was he tucked away somewhere nearby and would come running if she called? Or was Puzo trailing her for some other nefarious reason?
Was she in danger?
That thought made my lungs squeeze until I almost couldn’t breathe.
Regardless of what was true, I still had the overwhelming urge to pick Sadie up, shove her in that piece-of-shit car she’d driven here, and send her on her way before she could do more damage. The guilt I’d seen slash through her eyes when I’d called her a thief meant she had something to hide. If she stayed, there was every likelihood my family, or her, would be harmed. The Puzo family used and abused and left a trail of dead in their wake.
I needed Sadie to leave so she couldn’t wound us when that happened. So she wouldn’t be another body Puzo left behind.
But the plea Lauren had issued had landed home with Sadie. I could see it in the way her face softened while her shoulders drew back, ready for a fight. She was going to stay, and I might dislike it with an intensity that was all-consuming, but Lauren was right in that I didn’t have any say in who came and went from the ranch.
I had washed my hands of it. Or at least I thought I had until Spence had made the mistake of leaving me in charge of Fallon’s trust. According to the lawyers, he’d made the change at the time she’d been born and never updated it since. Typical Spence. He’d detested dealing with legalese as much as he’d despised dealing with numbers and money. Still, I would never be sure if it had been an oversight on his part, or if he’d done it on purpose as a way of drawing me back to my roots. One last outstretched hand offering reconciliation or simply one last dare he’d issued from the grave.
Lauren glared at me before turning back to Sadie once again. “Please, stay. I promise in the morning things will have settled down.”
Lauren couldn’t promise that. I’d never settle if Sadie was nearby. My entire being was constantly in a state of alert, fighting the attraction and hunger I felt, while my brain was screamingdanger.
Sadie tucked a strand of silky hair behind her ear before nodding. She cleared her throat and said, “I’ll see you in the morning.” Then, she whirled around on bare feet, walking out of the room with her scarred leg dragging slightly. All the crackling fire zipping through the air left with her, leaving awkwardness in her wake.
I stalked to the drink cabinet, poured myself a shot of bourbon, and downed it.
When I turned back, both Adam and Lauren were warily watching me, as if waiting for my next explosion. And that, more than anything, cooled me off because I loathed giving anyone my emotions, but especially not Lauren. She’d had enough of mine to last a lifetime.
“How do you even know Sadie?” Lauren asked.
“Funny, that’s what I was going to ask you,” I countered.
“Like Adam said, she’s part of the Eastern Dude Ranchers’ Association—or her family is,” Lauren said. “Adam’s been working on a plan to convert the ranch into a resort. Spence and I weren’t sure about it because it felt like more work, requiring an outpouring of money we didn’t have, but we already have the core facilities, and after the initial renovations, it wouldn’t take much more than what we spend now to maintain them. We’d be able to keep the place full year-round with the snow junkies coming during the winter and the hiking and lake crowd in the summer. Even Fallon has been excited about the idea, offering to put on trick riding shows for the guests.”
My teeth mashed together so tightly I thought the bone might crack. No wonder Fallon was so dead set on keeping the ranch. She lived to perform with her horses, and she was damn good at it. If Adam and Lauren had tied her love of trick riding to the success of the ranch, she’d do anything to make it happen.
“If you want me to be the bad guy, that’s fine. I’ll be the bad guy,” I said. “You’d need a miracle to turn this place around at the rate it’s losing money.”
Lauren shot a look at Adam and then back to me. “Spence and I didn’t understand how fast we were depleting our reserves. Adam tried to tell us, but…” Her throat bobbed, and she pushed the heels of her hands against her eyes again.
My nails bit into my palms. I didn’t want any of this. I didn’t want to feel bad for her and the choices she’d made. She’d loved Spence and the ranch more than she’d loved me. Stupidly, at twenty, I’d thought I could change that. I’d thought I could come first, until Spence had shown back up and proved me wrong.
“Even if you could find a way to turn this around, Lauren, I wouldn’t trust anything Sadie said. She’s tangled with Lorenzo Puzo somehow. I saw them together in Vegas.”
Adam smirked. “Ah. The truth comes out. You wanted her, and she ditched you in favor of him? Jealousy was always your downfall.”
I fought my immediate reaction to wipe the smirk off his face with my fists, instead demanding, “How the hell do you know Puzo?”
“He owns property in town and has been participating in the Better Business Bureau meetings.”
