Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 91937 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91937 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
“Okay, baby,” he agrees, bending and kissing my lips. I walk out of the room before I change my mind and follow him into the bathroom.
Going downstairs to the kitchen, I start a fresh pot of coffee for him at the same time I call Ryleigh. “Hey,” she answers after one ring, “called the sheriff’s department.” I can hear her rushing around on her end. “They want you in their office to answer questions.” All the happiness I felt not five minutes ago is gone. “Told them you weren’t saying a word without me there, so they pushed it to tomorrow.”
“Oh my God.” I put my hand on my stomach. “How are you going to get here?” I close my eyes, wondering how much it’s going to cost her and then what it’s going to cost me in terms of travel fees.
“I was going to fly out tonight, but,” she says, “my husband’s uncle is a bit of a control freak, and he found out, and now he wants to come with me.”
“What?” I ask, confused.
“Yeah, and also Casey Barnes is apparently meeting us,” she says and the air rushes out of me.
“Casey Barnes.” I repeat his name, wondering if maybe I heard wrong.
“Charlie is his grandson,” she explains. “Between my husband’s family of a million, and then the Barnes family is just as big as my husband’s, it’s hard to keep track of all of them. But we’ll be there tomorrow morning at nine o’clock.” I put my head back. “The sheriff is expecting us at ten.”
“Okay.” I walk over to a stool to sit down.
“Then I would like to sit with you to discuss a couple of things,” she tells me, “and see what you have.”
“I’m free until three, and then I have to get Wyatt,” I inform her, “then I work.”
“We’ll make sure that we get everything done before. I also have to come home to the kids,” she says, and I can feel the smile in her voice. “They are perfectly okay with Daddy leaving to go to work, but Mom, heaven forbid.”
“Sounds like you have your hands full,” I state, listening to the footsteps from upstairs.
“Then some.” She laughs. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t say a word about anything if they show up. Tell them you want your lawyer.”
“Will do,” I confirm. “Thank you, Ryleigh.”
“No,” she snaps, “thank you. This is the most action I’ve gotten in a while, and I have to say it gets the blood going.” I shake my head. “See you tomorrow.” She hangs up at the same time that Brady walks into the kitchen.
His hair is wet from his shower. “Everything okay?”
“They want to question me,” I reply, and I was expecting for me to freak out, but I’m actually really fucking calm.
“Wasting everyone’s fucking time because the Cartwrights have the sheriff’s balls in their pocket,” he hisses.
“Ryleigh is coming down with Charlie’s grandfather,” I inform him, and unlike me, he’s not surprised by this at all.
He just smiles. “Casey has been waiting, chomping at the bit to take on the Cartwrights. But I think he’s been playing it cool for Autumn. Ever since Casey found out that the Cartwrights almost bankrupted us, he’s been looking at any way to get back at them.”
“He doesn’t even know me,” I say, flabbergasted.
“I don’t think that matters. He just knows they are full of shit and wants to fuck with them.” Brady shrugs.
“Brady,” I say his name, “I know what they did to your family.” I swallow down the bile that threatens to come up. “You guys have overcome so much. Is it worth having it all taken away?”
I don’t know what I’m expecting him to say. But I will say that what he says doesn’t only shock me, it leaves me speechless. “If it means you and Wyatt are free from them, then yes.”
CHAPTER 25
Brady
The phone rings as soon as I sit in the truck. “Hey,” I answer, picking it up when I see it’s Autumn.
“I’m with Dad, and we are at his house,” she informs me. “We’re going to have coffee together and chat.”
“Is that my cue to get my ass there?” I ask the phone and look at the clock to see it’s a little past ten. “Is no one working today?”
“There are no tours today and no deliveries, so I think I can go into the office late,” she snaps. “Now, I expect you here in five minutes, or else I’ll tell Dad everything I know.”
“Your husband has a big mouth,” I mumble as I take off. I think about going back and asking Harmony if she wants to come with me, but she needs to fucking sleep. She’s running on fumes, even if she says she isn’t.
“Four minutes,” she sings out before she hangs up.
My phone pings and I look down to see another text from Taylor.