Page 80 of Ironwood Ranch Cowboys

Ice-cold fear moves into place behind my ribs. “Missing from here? And she’s sure she hasn’t lost it?”

Nothing happens here without me knowing about it. Or so I thought…

Duke holds my gaze. “She’s convinced it was taken.”

“And you decided not to tell me?”

His jaw works once. “She was already freaked out, Silas. She thought you’d come down on her for bringing trouble into the house before she’d even finished proving herself.”

“She thought I’d what?”

“Fire her. Judge her. Decide she was too much risk. I don’t know. She’s having a hard time with it all.”

I lean back in the chair, because if I stand right now I’ll start breaking this conversation into pieces with my bare hands.

“Where is she?” I ask.

“In her room, last I checked.”

I stand.

Duke doesn’t move out of the way. “Silas.”

“What?”

“Don’t go in there treating her like she’s the problem.”

I look at my brother long enough that most men would’ve stepped aside . Duke doesn’t. He knows me too well for that.

“She should’ve told me,” I say.

“Yeah.”

“She kept this to herself while someone got closer.”

“Yeah.”

“And now I have to decide whether I’m angrier at whoever’s doing it or at the fact that she thought she had to handle it alone.”

Duke’s face shifts. “Start with the first one.”

I brush past him.

The hallway upstairs is peaceful. Pipes settling, a floorboard clicking somewhere near the back stairs, the smell of dinner coming up faint from the kitchen.

I know this house well enough to tell who’s where by sound alone most days, but right now all of it feels irrelevant. The only thing I’m aware of is the end of the hall.

Third door on the right.

Her door is shut.

I knock once and open it once she answers.

Annie’s sitting on the edge of her bed with her laptop open beside her and her camera in her hands, turning it over as if it might help her think. She looks up fast when I come in, surprise crossing her face before she reads mine and goes still.

“You look furious.”

“I am.”