Page 56 of My Three Rivals

“Of course we’re worried about you. You don’t know what these guys are capable of!” Wyatt exclaimed.

“Do you?” Tegan answered evenly. “Have you even tried to stand up to Lou before?”

I thought about the moment that the middle-aged gangster had approached me, a day after we had officially claimed all of the vineyard, not in Tegan’s name.

The memory of his shiny, black pistol hanging conspicuously over the front of his perfectly fitting suit was ingrained in my head. I’d seen guns before, but not attached to such a well-known name.

It was a dangerous dance we did, lingering on the outskirts of the underworld, controlling our own destinies. It was only a matter of time before the bigger organizations got onto us.

It was amazing we’d lasted as long as we had. We’d started funding our business through less-than-virtuous means. The money laundering had given us the capital we needed, and then once business took off, we committed to ethical business practices. Still, I harbored some guilt about our early illegal activities.

How had we let it come to this?

“Why don’t we just have a nice dinner?” I suggested, eager to shift the subject away from the inevitable problem we had coming for us.

“And sweep this under the rug?” Tegan challenged in her usual, heated manner.

“And have a decent night amongst us tonight,” I countered, flashing her my smile. “Tomorrow, we can worry about conquering the world.”

“Together?” Tegan pressed, unwilling to leave the matter.

“Together,” I conceded, ambling around the counter to cup her chin. I kissed her gently, then said, “We’re all in it now, aren’t we?”

She nodded and lowered her eyes submissively, but something told me that I hadn’t heard the last of it from her.

Or from Lou.

CHAPTER25

Tegan

My instincts were to withdraw.

That’s what I always did when things got to be too much around me. Curl up and block it all out.

But I couldn’t do that in this case because the problem surrounded me everywhere I looked. And there was no way the guys were going to let me.

I thought of the skinny, terrified girl from the hardware store, the mention of the winery sending her totally over the edge.

Was Teresa here? In this house? Was she one of Emerson’s victims?

I called Bizzy the following day, unsure of how much to tell her.

“What did you know about Emerson’s dealings at the vineyard?” I asked when she answered.

“Oh, oh! Look who’s finally out of hiding! I’ve been texting you, you know?”

Guilt shot through me as I realized she had been neglected in all that was going on with the house renovations and the vineyard.

“It’s production season,” I told her lamely, lying, but Bizzy saw through me.

“More like you’re plotting your vengeance against the boys of Suncrop,” my cousin corrected me. “What’s going on over there? I saw a bunch of renovations happening, and when you didn’t answer my messages…”

I paled. “What did you do, Bizzy?”

“Nothing. I just started looking into the business. Turns out you won’t have to kill them, after all. These boys were mixed up in some mighty fine shit all on their own. Although it was in the past, they used to launder money for some shady people. All I have to do is make a call to the FBI, and all your problems will be solved.”

I gasped aloud. “Did you do that?” I demanded. “Tell me you didn’t call anyone!”

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