Page 110 of Power

But that created another problem: Marcus had explicitly threatened to expose Jace’s past if I went public. The accident. The cover-up. Everything Jace had just trusted me with could become headline news if Marcus made good on his threat.

I had to choose: protect Jace’s secret or protect Jace from himself?

55

SCARLETT

“You took her for a ride.” Maggie, the barn manager, smiled as I put Buttercup back into her stall for the night.

“I did.” The grin that spread across my face wasn’t forced, not like the ones I’d been wearing at work all week. “It was exactly what my soul needed.”

I locked eyes with Jace. His confession had surprised me, but so far, on the ride back to the barn at least, it hadn’t launched my knee-jerk reaction to push him away, like I would have done in the past.

“I’m glad,” Maggie said, but her tone made me pause.

“Is everything okay?”

Maggie leaned against the stable door. “Well, I’m keeping an eye on her. She’s eating less and seems lethargic. Nothing serious yet, but something’s off.”

Suddenly, all my complications—Jace, Marcus, my father—seemed irrelevant.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was planning to on Saturday.” She hesitated. “I think she’s depressed since her stable mate left. Horses form strong bonds.”

My eyes burned. Buttercup was suffering, trapped in a situationshe couldn’t understand or escape. Just like I had been with my father, just like I was now with Marcus.

“And the horse bullies?” I asked.

“I’m trying to keep them away, but she’s alone out there now.”

“She has a fresh bite,” I noticed.

“Didn’t need stitches.”

But she was being hurt. Just like me, only I had the power to make her pain stop.

“I think maybe I should sell her,” I said. The words felt like bullets in my heart.

“Scarlett …” Maggie’s voice softened.

“She’s with her stable mates twenty-four hours a day. She only sees me once or twice a week.” I forced out words that were breaking my heart. “If we could replace one person in her life to give her the best quality of life, it would be me.”

“You love this horse.”

“Exactly.” I rubbed Buttercup’s neck, looking into her eyes. “And I have a responsibility to do what’s best for her. Can you start making some calls?”

“Maybe you should think about it,” Maggie suggested.

“Just make the calls. I want an owner who can afford to move her to Valley Creek Stables, where her friend is. I’ll only sell to someone who contractually commits to it.”

“Scarlett, I’m sure in time?—”

“Make the calls,” I interrupted, my voice breaking. I touched Buttercup’s velvety nose. “I won’t wait for her to get hurt badly by those horses.”

I knew what it was like to feel trapped. I wouldn’t let her suffer that fate, even if it meant breaking my own heart to set her free.

And now, with what I was about to do, Buttercup might not be the only one I’d risk losing …