Page 39 of River Legacy (Powder River #5)

H olden had been sitting in his home office thinking about his upcoming wedding when he got the sheriff’s call.

“Maybe you should sit down,” Stuart had suggested.

His heart had almost stopped since his first thought was Lottie. Don’t let it be Lottie. He’d waited almost his whole life for this woman. He couldn’t bear it if anything happened to her.

“It’s Treyton,” the sheriff said. “He’s been killed.”

The words had refused to register for a moment.

“Killed?” His first thought was a car accident.

His second was suicide. Which showed how little he knew about his son.

He hadn’t seen Treyton in months. Their last conversation had been his son telling him that he was too old to run the ranch and how disappointed he was in him.

Like CJ, Treyton had just assumed as the eldest son that he would take over the ranch one day—even though he’d hated ranching, seldom worked it and resented his brother Cooper for doing so.

Holden could just imagine how Treyton had taken the news that his father had a love child with Charlotte Stafford. He’d been half afraid that Treyton might try to harm Brand when he heard.

He realized that the sheriff was still talking. “I had just seen the two of them together out there. It was obvious that they had some kind of business going on. CJ was acting... paranoid. It appears they had a shootout. They were both killed. I’m so sorry, Holden.”

At some point he must have stood up behind his desk because now he sat down heavily as if his legs had been knocked out from under him. Treyton and CJ, both dead. “Have you told Charlotte yet?”

“No, I wanted to call you first,” the sheriff said.

“Thank you, Stuart,” he said, feeling as if he was in a bad dream. He disconnected as Elaine came into the room.

“What’s happened?” she demanded at seeing his distress.

“Treyton is dead. He and CJ, both dead. Apparently they killed each other.” Shoving himself to his feet, he said, “Stuart is going to tell Lottie. She’s going to need me.”

“What about you? Are you going to be all right?” Elaine sounded upset and worried.

He gave her a weak smile. “We knew this is how it would end with both of them, didn’t we?”

“That doesn’t make it any easier.”

“No, but it’s hard to be shocked. I’m just... sad.” He shook his head. “They both had everything going for them as our oldest sons, but it was never enough.”

Elaine nodded and wiped her eyes. “It’s not your fault.”

He smiled at that. “Of course it is. That’s why I have to see Lottie.

We both blame ourselves for the way CJ and Treyton turned out.

The sheriff said he thought the two of them had some business together.

That they took each other’s lives...” He shook his head again. “I have to go. Are you all right?”

She nodded and wiped her eyes again. “It doesn’t help that we’ve been expecting this, does it?”

“No,” he said as he picked up his Stetson and headed for the door.

W hen Ryder came to, his head aching, he immediately called the sheriff, but had to leave a message.

“Claude Duvall just kidnapped Victoria Forester. I think he’s taking her to Billings to the airport.

They’ll probably take her father’s private jet.

” The dispatcher said she would give him the message.

Ryder was already disconnecting. He felt a little woozy, but not bad enough that it was going to stop him.

He had felt worse after being bucked off a wild bronco at the rodeo.

Grabbing his gun, he headed for his pickup.

He had no idea how long he’d been out. Not that long, he didn’t think. Maybe he could catch them.

Even as he thought it, he feared what he would do to Claude if he caught up with him before he reached Billings. His bigger worry was what the man might do to Vicky, he thought as he slid behind the wheel of his pickup, started the engine and hit the gas.

His phone rang and he quickly picked up, hoping it would be Victoria.

“This is Wendell Forester.” The voice on the other end of the line sounded distraught. Claude must have already called him. “Tell me my daughter is with you.”

“Claude knocked me out and took her,” he said, roaring down the road, planning to take the shortcut.

“He’s on his way to the Billings airport.

I’ve already alerted the authorities. I think he’s planning to take your jet.

I’m going after him. Give me her cell phone number. I think she has her phone with her.”

Wen rattled off the number, but then added, “You’re wasting your time. I called. It went to voice mail.”

“The difference is she’ll want to talk to me.”

Wendell swore. “I’m already headed for the airport. I can handle Claude.”

“Doesn’t seem so,” Ryder said as he drove. “Unless you put him up to this.”

“You have such a low opinion of me.”

Ryder swore. “Do you blame me?”

“It was just business.”

“Really? Destroying people’s lives is just business for you? When we get to the airport, Claude’s mine. Don’t get in my way or you’re going down with him.” He disconnected and called Vicky. The phone was answered on the second ring—but not by her.

“Ryder? I thought you were dead,” Claude said into the phone. “You must have a very hard head.” In the background, he could hear Vicky saying she wanted to talk to him.

“If you hurt her—”

“You’re in no position to make threats, cowboy,” Claude snapped. “She’s going with me back to Dallas. After that, I really don’t care.” He ended the call.

Ryder swore again and concentrated on his driving. He’d driven these backroads since he was a boy. He knew them by heart. Still, he feared he wouldn’t get there in time.

U nable to sit, Charlotte was pacing the hotel suite when her phone rang.

It startled her, even though she’d been expecting the call.

She saw at once that it was the sheriff calling, yet she didn’t pick up.

Her heart had already told her that it was going to be bad news.

She’d thought she’d been ready, but realized she would never be ready to hear that one of her children was dead.

“Stuart?” she said after the fourth ring, knowing she couldn’t put it off any longer. The silence in answer made her fear that she’d waited too long to answer. But then she heard his sigh. That was when the tears rushed to her eyes, hot and blinding.

“It’s CJ,” the sheriff said. She heard nothing after that. She’d known because she’d done this as surely as she’d pulled the trigger. She used her son’s insecurities against him, poisoned him with his own mistrust, and now he was dead.

“Treyton too,” Stuart said as she regained focus. “It appears they shot each other. I already called Holden.” He’d called Holden first.

She could hear the anger in his voice. He knew that she was responsible for this, but he didn’t know how.

He also didn’t think that Holden had anything to do with it, and he was right.

Charlotte made a swipe at her eyes and straightened her back.

“Thank you for letting me know. I’m on my way out to see Holden at the ranch now,” she said before he hung up.

She didn’t know how she was going to tell Holden. While she’d had months to accept who her son CJ was, he’d still surprised her at how much hatred he had for her and his siblings. Not to mention what lengths he would go to and how many people he would hurt to get what he wanted.

Pocketing her phone, she picked up her purse and headed for the McKenna Ranch, worried about Holden. He hadn’t been ready for this. He’d known that Treyton and CJ had been working together and that Treyton was behind the recent supposed accidents with Brand and Oakley.

The man knew her so well. Would he know what she’d done? How could he not suspect the moment he saw her face? She’d killed them both.

T hey met in the middle of the county road.

Charlotte saw Holden coming down the road first. Her heart lifted at the sight of his pickup coming toward her.

She’d known he would come to her. He’d be worried about her.

That was the man she loved. Holden had always been the generous one, the loving one, the forgiving one.

She hated to think of the person she’d been.

The one she still was. Did he have any idea of the kind of woman he had asked to marry him?

That was just it. He did. He knew her—yet he still loved her.

She would always be grateful for that. Still, she worried that if he knew what she’d done that he would finally give up on her.

He pulled alongside her SUV and put his window down. She’d already had hers down, letting the summer breeze blow in with its familiar smells as if they could give her strength.

“Lottie,” he said the moment their gazes met. She saw the heartbreak in his handsome face and felt it soul deep. He didn’t ask. He didn’t have to.

She nodded and burst into tears. The next thing she knew he was out of his pickup, opening her door and dragging her into his arms. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.” She couldn’t seem to quit saying it.

He brushed away her tears, kissing her to make her stop.

As he pulled back, he looked at her. “It’s going to be all right.

Everything is going to be all right now.

” His strong arms drew her in, and she knew it was true.

This land, this life, their love had punished them for years, but it had also made them stronger.

They would get through this, just as they’d gotten through everything else.

C laude drove through the largest city in Montana, fighting the traffic to climb the road up onto the rock rims to the airport.

Victoria hadn’t said anything since Ryder’s call to her phone, but he’d seen her relief that the cowboy was alive.

Now she seemed to be biding her time as if she thought somehow she would be reunited with her lover.