Page 28 of Awakening the Wild
"He's not going to give up,” she said.
I looked down at Tonya in my arms, this brave, beautiful woman who'd become everything to me. Michael could have his legal documents and his hired thugs and his connections. None of it mattered.
"He will," I said. "if we make it too costly for him."
“What do you mean?”
The afternoon sun was setting behind the mountains, casting long shadows across my property. Somewhere out there, Michael was licking his wounds and planning his next move. Let him come. This was my territory, my family, my woman.
"Come on," I said to Tonya, finally allowing myself to relax slightly. "Let's get you inside. Your grandmother had a lot of friends. Shane, Neil, and Sam can help us figure out some next steps.”
Chapter 8
Tonya
Michael came back three days later. Only this time, he arrived alone, carrying a leather briefcase and wearing the smug expression of a man who held all the cards.
“You’ve got a lot of balls coming here,” I said.
He blinked at me. I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to him like that before.
"Get off my property," Kevin growled, looming behind me.
Michael quickly recovered. "Actually, I have some documents that require Tonya's immediate attention."
Against my better judgment, I stepped aside. Better to face whatever legal nightmare he'd cooked up than let him control the narrative from outside.
Michael settled himself at Kevin's kitchen table like he owned the place, spreading official-looking papers across the surface with theatrical aplomb.
"What is this?" I asked, hating the dread that was creeping over me.
"Liens and debt documentation. Your grandmother owed $47,000 in back taxes, and a hundred thousand in medical bills. I've been paying those debts as your financial representative—creating creditor claims against the estate. The cottage can't be transferred to you until these debts are satisfied. And since you have no independent income...” He smiled coldly. "The property reverts to creditor ownership—namely, me."
I stared at the documents. Official county seals, paperwork written in legal language that I was too panicked to fully process.
"I never signed anything giving you permission to do that."
"Of course you did, darling. You were so trusting, so eager to let me handle all the stressful details of our life together. You signed everything I put in front of you without reading it." His smile was cruel. "Very romantic, really. Such faith in my judgment."
Kevin leaned over my shoulder to examine the papers, his jaw clenched tight enough to crack teeth. "This is fraud. She didn't understand what she was signing."
"Actually, it's all perfectly legal. I made sure of that." Michael gathered the papers with satisfied efficiency. "The cottage and property will be transferred to my ownership by the end of the week. Tonya, you'll need to remove any personal belongings by Friday."
"No." The word tore from my throat like a battle cry. "That cottage is mine. We rebuilt it. I put everything into it—"
"Consider it rent for the time you've been squatting on my property."
"Your property?" I shot to my feet, fury overriding the shock. "My grandmother left that land to me. Her father homesteaded it in 1892. Four generations of my family lived on that mountain."
"And now it belongs to me." Michael's voice was silk over steel. "Unless, of course, you'd like to discuss alternative arrangements."
I stared at him, seeing the trap he'd laid with crystalline clarity. "What kind of arrangements?"
"Come home with me. Today. Honor your commitments as my fiancée, and I'll transfer the property back to you as a wedding gift. We'll call this whole episode a temporary breakdown brought on by pre-wedding stress."
The cottage. My sanctuary. The first place that had ever truly belonged to me.
"Tonya," Kevin said quietly, warning in his voice.
