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Chase didn’t dismiss it so easily. “Get back in the truck and go home, old man, before you have a heart attack.”
“Another one, you mean.” Max didn’t look at all sorry for spilling the beans on that.
Shelby heard about the heart attack two weeks after Chase had gone to rehab. Of course, none of them told Chase. She’d kept it to herself, knowing Mr. Wilde had recovered well enough to go home with medication, and Chase needed to focus on his own health and well-being.
Chase looked at both his brothers, pain and anger in his eyes. “I guess I didn’t need to know about that.”
They all looked defiant, making Chase shake his head. “Just go. Apparently I own this place, and I don’t want you here.”
Mr. Wilde spoke directly to Chase for the first time in probably the last seven years. “We aren’t leaving until she finally tells you the truth.”
Chase looked at her, then met his father’s gaze with rage in his eyes. “She always tells me the truth.”
Shelby fell back a step at the absolute vehemence in his voice.
Hunt took a step toward her and planted his hands on his hips. “Do the DNA test. Give him legal partial custodyifhe’s the father.”
Shelby held Chase’s stunned gaze. He had no idea this wasn’t the first time Hunt asked for a paternity test.
Chase took two long strides toward Hunt, his hands fisted.
Shelby couldn’t let Chase fight her battles and rushedto him just as he was about to throw a punch. She ducked between Chase and Hunt and pushed with her feet, her chest to Chase’s, and held him back the best she could.
The second her cheek pressed to his neck, he went still.
“Stop,” she pleaded. “He wants you to go after him so he’ll have another excuse to lock you up and force you to do what he wants.”
Chase’s hands went to her arms. He rather gently set her aside, then took a step closer to Hunt and got in his face. “This is bullshit, Hunt, and you know it.”
Mr. Wilde hooked his hand on Chase’s shoulder and made him turn toward him. “Can’t you see she played you? You’re just a payday for her.”
“You’re the one who got paid, old man. I seem to remember leaving here empty-handed while your account was flush. You have a roof over your head and all that land because of the promise I made toMom. The ranch is thriving because of the plansIput together for it.”
“I did the work,” he shot back.
“Really? You? Or Max leading the crew and Hunt taking up the slack?”
She couldn’t believe he’d give his brothers credit. Judging by their faces, they couldn’t believe it either.
“The ranch was built on my blood.” Chase all of a sudden tore his T-shirt off over his head. “I’ve got the scars to prove it.”
While they got a look at Chase’s front, Shelby gasped at the sight of his back. Two large round scars, one high on his left shoulder, the other an inch in from his right side on his lower back. She’d seen the one on his forearm, where he had a small scar on the front and a big one on the back where the bullet went through. Therewas another long line that stretched from his back and wound around his side just under his ribs. She wondered how far around his front it went.
Hunt and Max stood staring, transfixed.
Mr. Wilde put a hand to his mouth. “I didn’t want this for you.”
“You threw me out. I had nowhere to go. The ranch needed an influx of cash, and a loan would only sink us faster. So I did what had to be done. Just like always. You got to keep your ranch, but you should know what it took to keep it. Four bullet wounds. A piece of shrapnel the size of a Frisbee in my side. A collapsed lung on two occasions. Eight total broken bones. And a lifetime of nightmares. I went to hell and back. I fought to come home tomylittle girl, and all you want to do is call the woman who saved me a liar. Are you fucking kidding me?” Chase rubbed his hands, T-shirt and all, over his face. “I am so fucking tired of this bullshit.” Chase turned and looked at her with such sorrow and remorse, but he spoke to his family. “She gave me the greatest gift, and then she kept on giving. She had the nurse video call me during the birth. I got to see my little girl come into this world while I was halfway around the globe, surrounded by death. She set up a webcam in the nursery so I could log in anytime I wanted to see Eliza. I spent so much time just watching my little girl sleep. And every time I did, everything else faded away.”
“That doesn’t make it true. And how dare she give that baby your mother’s name.” Mr. Wilde’s angry words sent one of the tears swimming in Chase’s eyes down his cheek.
His family couldn’t see it. Only she could see his pain.
Chase dragged his T-shirt back on over his head, at the same time wiping away those tears and his pain, so that when he faced them, all they got was his anger. “She did that for me because she knew how much I love Mom. How much I miss her. Because the night we were together, all I talked about was Mom, becauseshewas willing to listen.”
Chase turned to Hunt. “But you weren’t willing to listen to Shelby. She asked you for months to get in touch with me to tell me about the baby. But did you? No. She had to steal your phone to get my number. How could you?”
“I’ll apologize for all of it as soon you get a DNA test to prove that baby is yours.”
