Page 66 of For Cowgirls and Kings (The Trauma Bonded #2)

FIFTY

MATEO

I drum my fingers against the wheel, nerves and irritation warring through me like two angry blades. I feel flayed open from the last few months, and now that the end seems so close, I can’t help but worry. What if she doesn’t want this, want me? What if everything I’ve done isn’t enough?

The familiar red Mercedes slowly pulls around the manicured drive, inching ever closer as if she’s unsure of what exactly is going on. Which is fair—she’s about to get the surprise of her life and I just hope that she doesn’t kill me over it.

Then I’ll definitely never win Dale over.

With a final sigh, I open the door to my truck and jump out with a thud.

V’s car comes to a halt, and I feel the scorching blaze of her eyes before I can see them.

I’m not scared of my sister per-say, but there are very few people in this world who can make my toes curl, and both of them happen to be sitting in the front seat of the red car, boring holes into my flesh with their eyes.

It’s done, I remind myself. No matter what happens next, there’s no going back. I knew when I started down this path, I would eventually have to face the fire. Well, here’s the fire, and the gasoline, ready to burn the life we’ve grown up knowing to ash.

I lean against the hood of my truck, staring back at them. Even if my heart is at a full gallop, I can pretend it’s not. I’m a grown ass man after all.

Valentina continues to stare at me, her eyebrows pinched so tightly together, I just know she’s ruining her botox. She’ll be lucky if her face doesn’t stick that way with the force she has behind that glare.

To my surprise, McCrae’s the first to open a door and climb out, his tall, muscular frame rippling as he rises to his full height.

He looks out of place here, next to a car that costs more than most people’s houses, in his ripped jeans and dusty black T-shirt.

But even though he looks like he should look out of place, something about him…

just fits. Like a puzzle piece that doesn’t look like it’ll fit the remaining hole, but then clicks in, surprising you completely.

He’s rough and angsty and so very dark—completely opposite to the sunny sky, colorful flower gardens, and decadent home exterior. Like a reaper gliding through the gardens of life, plucking the prettiest blooms at their peak, ready to return them to the ground with a single touch— a balancer.

“Mateo,” he huffs, pulling a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket, lighting it, sucking a deep drag. I raise a brow in question, and he shrugs. “She won’t let me smoke in the car.”

I still don’t understand V and McCrae’s relationship—and I have zero interest in finding out—but I’m glad she has someone.

Even if he’s someone I despise, I’m glad she has someone who rivals her as an equal.

Valentina’s going to need someone to lean on, and after today, I know with deathly certainty, it’ll never again be me.

My eyes scan past McCrae, back to V who’s still sitting in the car, her knuckles visibly white even from here.

My heart sinks—I’d hoped to show her the place before she pieced everything together.

But she’s always been so smart— too smart —and now I know it’s going to be a knock down, drag out fight.

“Is she going to get out?” I ask McCrae, my eyes never leaving her pinched face. She shifts in the seat, almost like she’s settling into it further. Great.

“Why’d you drag us out here, Mateo?”

“I didn’t drag you out here, McCrae. My sister did. I invited her to come see my newest investment. I’d like it if she would get out and I’ll show her. If you want to tag along, that’s your own fucking choice.”

He barks a laugh, and my eyes snap to his now scowling expression, a cigarette hanging precariously off his scruff covered lip. “Looks like baby brother’s finally growing a pair of balls.” There’s a hint of something that sounds oddly like pride in his voice, and I don’t know what to do with that.

I’m careful to keep my face perfectly neutral. I know from personal experience, and watching him with Gus, he often says things to get a rise out of people, but this doesn’t feel like that. It feels far more genuine, and that alone is throwing me off balance.

Without taking my eyes off his face, I speak again.

“Valentina, you’re a big girl. Get out here and speak your own mind.

” Within seconds, the car door slams, and only when I hear the gravel crunching, do I turn my gaze to hers.

Internally I cringe, the hatred blazing like a torch in her blue eyes, burning through me like a branding iron. Outwardly though, I remain nonchalant.

She crosses her arms over her chest, the navy lace tank top bunching up above the waist-line of her black leather pants. My eyes trace down to her black, open-toed heels that look like a form of torture device, the red paint on her toes like blood. She’s gonna need a new wardrobe.

“Mateo, what the fuck’s going on?”

I suck in a deep breath, and brace myself, preparing to withstand a dragon-like blow of heated anger at my next words. They take shape in my mind, the recited words like a nail in a coffin I’ve spent weeks preparing and burying.

“I sold the casino,” I state, waiting for the words to land. They take longer to hit than I expect, her face staying stoic for several beats longer than I planned. And then she snarls, her eyes blowing wide.

“What the fuck did you just say?”

I stand straighter, squaring my shoulders.

“I sold the casino. And the ranch, since they had to go together. And I bought this place, along with a few old buildings in town. I separated our assets completely with the sale—you own this house, the five hundred acres it sits on, all of the buildings, and the large herd of purebred angus on it. I own a small plot about thirty minutes from here, the old sale barn, and a decrypt building in town that I’m going to turn around into something else.

That’s it. They’re completely separate, from here on out. ”

Valentina doesn’t speak, but I see her emotions clearly. First hatred and anger, which quickly melts into panic, and finally ends on pure devastation—which is so much fucking worse than anything I could have prepared for.

Maybe I should feel guilt, or at the very least, pity.

But I don’t. I feel nothing where V’s concerned.

Not for the woman she is anymore at least—the one who hurt those I love more than life itself without remorse, the one who destroys others lives, just to get what she wants.

I’d never want ill to happen to my sister. But I’m also done trying to help her.

This—the upheaval of her entire existence—is my last act as her brother, as her family. What comes next is up to her.

It’s McCrae who breaks the tense silence. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

I sigh, my body numb from the overflow of adrenaline. My lips tingle as I mumble, “The Reyes estates are gone, no more, over, dead . Just like the men before us who created it.”

“How could you?” V’s voice is frail, and the tiniest pang of sadness hits me. I hate that it came to this, but something had to be done. Valentina had to be stopped.

“I’m protecting you. I’m protecting Dale, and my friends, and myself,” I say honestly.

“Protecting me?” Her voice begins to rise. “You fucking stole everything from me!”

I shake my head. I was afraid this is how she would feel.

“It was all mine, even if I didn’t agree with it.

And because of that, I was able to make this decision without you.

It’s done. But now you’re the owner—this place is entirely yours to create, or destroy”—my eyes meet hers—“whatever you decide. But this is all that’s left. This is your only chance.”

She steps toward me, her lips quivering, the Texas breeze sweeping her auburn curls across her face. “I’ll just sell this place and buy back the casino, you can’t stop me now.”

I stand straighter, my eyes softening. I’d hoped to show her around, maybe even share my dream for her here. But I know that won’t be happening, not now—probably not ever.

“You won’t. There’s a contract on this place that states you must live and operate this ranch for a minimum of three years before it can be sold.

” I step forward, her face going slack. “Not anyone else, V. You. If you don’t live here, if you don’t learn to run the cattle, work the ranch, the entire estate will go to a charity I chose upon its sale, three years from today.

This is what Dad and Grandad wanted for us—the casino was about income to run the ranch, to run the family legacy, not the legacy. I’m sorry it had to come to this but?—”

“Don’t you fucking dare leave me here.” Her voice quivers with a venom I’ve never heard from her. It races down my spine, leaving a wave of goose flesh in its wake.

I remain silent. I won’t say I’m sorry, because I’m not.

She brought this on herself. And even if it doesn’t seem like it, I’m giving her everything, minus the small slice I kept for myself.

This ranch is grander than anything I would have wanted for myself—no it’s not as luxurious as our old one, but she didn’t even like that one.

This one, although enormous, feels like a home, a place to start a life.

That’s what she deserves, even if she doesn’t know it yet.

She breaks the silence once more, taking a single step toward me, pleading replacing the anger. “Why are you doing this to me?”

I look out over the expanse of land, and everything it could be if Valentina would give it the time of day. I think about our childhood, and everything my mom told me, about V being the one to raise me. I think about everything I owe her, and how I’ve never loved someone more than her.

And then I think about what Dale went through, and how, despite everything, I love her more, with every fiber of my being.

“I know what you did, that caused Dale to be kidnapped. Everything, all of it, was your fault. Not only did Dale suffer things you can’t fathom, multiple lives were lost. Because of you and your greed, your power complex.

We aren’t the fucking mafia,” I growl, prowling toward her.

McCrae takes a single step between us, and I freeze.

“The Reyes name will not be tarnished by blood anymore, that’s not what father or grandfather would have wanted. ”

“You might have been father’s special puppet, his perfectly molded son, but you didn’t know him. Not the real him. Not the man I knew,” V hisses, her eyes glistening now. It’s enough to rattle my resolve, and I sag, the fight leaving my body.

“You killed that boy. Or you”—my eyes find McCrae’s—“killed that boy. And because of that, their mother died, which drove the other brothers to seek revenge. And then two of the others died at your hand too. What do you think the third is going to do? Just let it go? We might have gotten away with the killings, but I won’t have any more on my conscience.

I won’t have your death on my conscience. ”

“If you leave me here, I will die, Mateo,” Valentina whispers, and I sag. Instead of saying anything else, I turn on my heel, walking back to my truck, reaching for the door handle.

“Mateo,” McCrae hisses, clearly at a loss for what to do.

I shoot him a sad smile over my shoulder.

“I don’t owe you anything McCrae. Stay, go, I don’t give a fuck.

But this is the fate my sister has if she doesn’t want to be homeless, broke, and lose every last piece of our family ties.

Saddle yourself to her, or don’t, but know this”—I yank the door open, ready to climb inside and get the hell out of here—“What you’ve done is wrong, but this isn’t a punishment.

This is a little brother, trying to save the sister he’s spent his entire life looking up to from a life she won’t be able to escape.

This is a chance at a life, and I hope, someday, I’ll get to be a part of it again. ”

I climb inside and fire up the engine, rolling the window down. Both Valentina and McCrae just stare at me, their faces a mix of rage and devastation. “Three years V.” And then I drive off, feeling both lighter, and more full of grief than I’ve ever felt in my life.

Everything is done. Now I just have to get the girl.