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Then he read a line that turned his blood ice cold.
If you think I don’t know what you’ve done to run our family’s ranch—and good name—into the ground, you’re wrong, Father.
Colton needed to hide this letter from Meadow. In time, he would show it to her, but not today, or this week, or even this year, more than likely. She needed time to process all that happened. She was in a vulnerable state, and he was damn well going to shield her from more heartache.
He folded the letter and stuffed it in his back pocket. Then he went outside to start the ranch chores that he told Meadow must be done.
No sooner did he reach the front porch than all hell seemed to break loose. Men started running. A loud ATV engine started up and then zoomed out across the field in front of him.
Raising a hand, Colton shielded his eyes from the glaring sun blazing down on him. As he looked on, the ranch hands were running hell-bent for the back pasture. From here, he could see no reason for their alarm, but there must be something.
He took off in a sprint for the paddock. There, he grabbed the only horse there and swung onto its unsaddled back. He’d never ridden bareback before, and he struggled to hang on, but he had powerful thighs and determination of steel.
“Yah!” He spurred the horse toward the open gate. As it ran, he slipped on its soft coat, nearly toppling off the side before he wrenched himself upright again.
The drum of hooves deafened him until he neared the spot where some of the men were standing around a black hump on the ground. Then he could hear their shouts.
Was he the only one who noticed how the fence had been broken in one part, as if somebody drove a truck through it? Or how the pasture was empty, the cattle nowhere to be seen?
As he neared the group, he saw what they were clustered around. The black hump on the ground was a dead horse.
What was a horse doing all the way out here in the cow pasture?
Fuck! It wasn’t just any horse—it was the one Meadow had been working so long and hard to train. Jewel. The one worth a goddamn fortune for its bloodline that could be carried on once they found the perfect match for it to reproduce.
He slowed his mount enough to leap off. Landing hard on his feet, he bent his knees to absorb the shock of the drop. Slowly, he approached the animal. When he saw what someone did to it, his stomach twisted into a harsh knot. Bile rushed up his throat.
Dude jerked his head to the side, face pinched with horror. “Jesus Christ. Who would do this to one of the animals? What sick fucker would do this at all?”
Zach Webb looked up at Colton. In that moment, he realized they might be enemies…but they were united on this front, on this ranch. Right now, they were fighting on the same side.
But what the fuck were they fighting?
Chapter Nineteen
Meadow really had to get off this ranch. She was losing it, obsessively checking her phone for word from Ivy. Nothing had come in since the last time she checked, thirty minutes before.
Damn her sister. Where was she? Her carefree sibling spent her entire life flitting from one thing to another. In her childhood, she loved ponies, was going to raise them to sell at auction.
Then she decided she loved dogs more and raising them was the way to go, which accounted for a litter living in the laundry room for months before their father was able to sell them off.
After that, Ivy hopped from one hobby to another—painting, volleyball, softball. The basement of the house still had closets full of the equipment their parents spoiled her with for her latest obsession.
Now Ivy was hopping from place to place enjoying herself while Meadow was left here to pick up the broken pieces. As always.
She whirled and stomped back across her room, grumbling curses under her breath. When it came to Ivy, her annoyance was at an all-time high.
Worse was the overwhelming crush, of carrying the ranch alone.
I’m not alone, she reminded herself every time the weight threatened to shove her face in the dirt.
She had the ranch workers, all very knowledgeable and skilled. And her father was still alive. She had to think positive—he just needed time to heal, and in the meantime, his mind was still sound enough to offer advice about the ranch operations.
She had Colton.
He was new to ranching—he didn’t know even a portion of what he needed to in order to keep them afloat, but he was quick.
Meadow would need to study up on the ranch operations too. She’d spent most of her time working with the horses and knew little about invoices or negotiating for better feed prices.
