Page 49

“Brought your backup again, I see. I remember you from the diner. I know a hard man when I see one. Looks like you have some tough friends, Mr. Garrett.” He nodded to Trent. “If you want to make some real money, how about you come work for me, my friend.”

Trent squared his shoulders and glared back at the man. “Let’s get this shit over with, shall we?”

“Fair enough. Cole, you said you have my money? My first payment?”

I opened the back door of the truck and lifted the seat to reveal the secret compartment. The heavy canvas sack the bank had given me was right where I’d left it. Tugging it out, I turned and walked toward him.

“Here,” I said, and tossed the bag toward him.

It thudded in the dust at his feet. Kyle looked down at it quizzically. “Looks a bit heavy for twenty-five thousand.” He grinned a shark-like smile at me. “You don’t have a grenade or something in there? Trying to blow me to smithereens to get me off your back?”

“Look in the fucking bag,” I growled.

Kyle knelt and unzipped the bank bag, revealing stacks of hundred-dollar bills. The whole one hundred thousand dollars. I’d used the money from the sale, as well as more of my savings, to get this over with. Screw dragging this out for a month.

What felt like an eternity passed as Kyle counted every damn bill to ensure we hadn’t shorted him. When he was done, he zipped up the bag.

“Impressive.” Kyle stood, hoisting the bag. “You came up with this fast.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Our business is done now.”

“It is,” he said, smiling and nodding. “Except…”

My stomach dropped. There was more to this than money. I’d known it all along.

“We aren’t quite done yet. We have one more piece of business.”

Beside me, Trent stiffened, his hand inching toward the gun hidden at his waistband.

“Your father owed me more than money,” Kyle said.

“What the fuck does that mean?” I demanded.

“Harbor Mills is what I mean.”

Trent and I exchanged a look of confusion.

“You know, Cole, you and your father are a lot alike. I can see that now. Mostly because of the guilt you two carry. Guilt can do a lot of things to a person, you know. It can cause you to drive your son away. It can cause you to turn your other son out. But you know what else guilt can do? It can make you do stupid shit to redeem yourself.”

Kyle snapped his fingers. The back door of the sedan opened, and Dallas was shoved out into the gravel. My brother looked unharmed, but he looked terrified. My own fear percolated inside my chest. This was not going how I’d imagined it would, and it felt like danger was right around the corner.

“I’m sure you’ve done some investigating,” Kyle said. “You’ve seen the missing money, right?”

“Yeah.” My tongue was heavy and dry in my mouth.

Kyle nodded. “It didn’t vanish. Sure, your dear old dad did have a gambling problem, but it wasn’t so bad as that.

No, the money didn’t go toward that. It went to something else.

” He scratched idly at his chin. “You see, I guess your old man held out hope you’d come home with your tail between your legs at some point.

The old fucker went years thinking you would, yet you didn’t.

” Kyle shook his head and gave me his best imitation of a sad frown.

“When he finally came to terms with that, he came looking for poor Dallas here. I guess his guilt got the better of him, and he wanted to make amends of sorts. He needed an heir, and Dallas was his best bet.”

“I’m sorry, Cole!” Dallas cried miserably. He was on his knees in the gravel, on the verge of tears. “He made me do it. I swear.”

“Made you do what, Dallas?” I asked.

“I’m still talking!” Kyle snarled.

The man had kept his calm and professional demeanor whenever we interacted. Even when he could have been angry, he was jovial and tranquil. In an instant, that mask slipped away, showing the beast underneath. Trent tensed even more, ready for anything.

Kyle smoothed his suit and visibly brought himself back under control.

“As I was saying, your father—the wino, the drunk, the gambling philanderer—came looking for Dallas. It was easy to give the old man what he wanted. He was already drinking his mind away, and with Dallas with him, it was simple to feed him even more liquor. Dallas here, at my order, cozied up to the old man. Got him to sign some papers.”

“Holy fuck,” I whispered, seeing where this was going.

“You see, the old man did sign over the pack’s money to me, but the main thing he signed away was the pack itself.

The pack and the town. Since your family is the alpha family, you own the deeds to many of the businesses and homes within the city limits.

For all intents and purposes, you own the whole town.

Which now belongs to me, thanks to that drunkard that fathered you. ”

Trent and I growled in unison, snarling out our rage and shock. This couldn’t be happening. There was no way.

“The old man did come to his senses a little toward the end. He never realized we’d played him.

He thought he was signing the pack over to Dallas.

” Kyle gestured toward my brother, who was now openly sobbing on the ground.

“One day, at my instruction, Dallas vanished, leaving the old man to think his bastard son ran off with everything. With no money to run the pack, he came begging to me again. This time, instead of asking for his son, he asked for a loan. We made it look like it was for his gambling debts in case anyone came snooping.”

Kyle chuckled and hefted the money bag. “The old fucker never knew. This?” He shook the bag. “It was his money all along. I loaned the asshole his pack’s own money. Dumb prick.”

The chuckle, the way he seemed to relish the way he’d played my father… it sent me into a frenzy. My wolf was begging to come out, to rip this fucker’s throat out, and I was real close to letting it have its way. On a snarl, my canines extended.

“Say the word, Cole,” Trent muttered. “I put one between his eyes and blow those brains he thinks are so smart out the back of his head.”

Kyle’s smile vanished, and he eyed Trent. “Was that a threat? Because I can do threats, too.”

He snapped his fingers again, and a man emerged from the sedan, pressing the barrel of a gun to Dallas’s head.

“What’s the play, Garrett?” Kyle asked. “Do I have my associate spray the ground with your baby brother’s brains? Is that what we’re doing here?”

Trent and I looked over at Dallas. My brother was no longer sobbing. Now, he was staring at the gun in frozen horror. I had no doubt that Kyle would command his man to kill him.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Kyle said, regaining his calm, cocky composure.

“Your father did ensure that Dallas took over as the next pack alpha.

The paperwork is ironclad. You and your hard-case friend here will leave Harbor Mills.

Once Dallas is fully recognized as alpha, he will sign it over to me and I will take control.

“If you doubt I’m telling the truth, I have proof,” Kyle added. “Jadaveon? Can you bring the will?”

A massive mountain of a man stepped out of the car. He didn’t even bother hiding his gun. He held it in his left hand, and in his right was a thick stack of papers folded in half.

He strode over and slapped the papers into my hand. With furtive and desperate fingers, I unfolded it and read, hoping beyond hope that Kyle was lying. The pages weren’t original, but copies. He’d been smart enough to keep the real will hidden somewhere.

My heart sank. He was telling the truth. My father had willed the pack to Dallas in the event of his death and also officially recognized him as his son. Kyle was going to take over Harbor Mills.

“Dallas,” I said. “I don’t know how, but I’m going to get you out of this. I promise.”

“You know,” Kyle mused, running his hand along his chin. “I have another demand. When you leave, you leave that pretty little lady of yours. Avery. I think she’ll like things better here when I take control.”

Her name coming from his mouth sent me into a blind rage.

A threatening growl erupted from my throat, and I took a heavy step toward Kyle.

The other man’s composure slipped for a moment, and I enjoyed the brief look of terror on his face as he took a quick step back.

His two men turned their guns on me, aiming the barrels at my chest.

“Cole, stand down,” Trent warned. “We’re outgunned here.”

I clenched my fists so hard, the bones in my hands ached. I pictured myself ripping and tearing him apart, but I held my ground. I couldn’t help Dallas if I had a dozen bullet holes in my chest.

“You leave Avery here, or I kill Dallas,” Kyle said.

“In fact, I’ll kill anyone I want. That pretty sister of yours.

Farrah? Your handsome boy Ashton? Maybe even your buddy here, who has more brains than you do,” he said, pointing at Trent.

“I’ll lay waste to anyone and everyone I need to.

That’s what power does, Cole.” Kyle narrowed his eyes and grinned mirthlessly.

“Power means I get what I want. If I want to ride that little cunt until she screams my name, then I will. If I want to kill the pack elders and install my own, then I will . All these dead bodies that could pile up are on you if you don’t do what I say.

Has any of this gotten through that thick alpha head of yours? ”

“You keep my son’s name out of your goddamn mouth,” I snarled, shaking with nearly uncontrollable rage. “You don’t speak his name. And if you touch one hair on his or Avery’s head, I’ll?—”

“You’ll what ?” Kyle’s lip curled in disgust. “You’ll do what I fucking say or—” He snapped his fingers.

The man holding the gun to Dallas’s head fired a shot into the ground a bare inch from my brother’s foot. I jumped, flinching in surprise and terror. Dallas screamed and clutched the uninjured foot.

“See, Cole?” Kyle said. “I have the power. Not you.”

“What the fuck did I ever do to you? Why are you doing this?” I demanded as hopelessness began to sink in.

“I do what I want, when I want. You haven’t wronged me in any way, but you’re an obstacle that must be removed.

If you want to be a door, you can swing open and allow me through.

If you want to be a wall, I will take a sledgehammer to you and break you down into a pile of shit.

Either way, I get what I want, but there’s only one way you and the people you care about get out whole. Understand?”

“Avery will leave,” I said.

Kyle waved that away. “Many will, but that’s not my problem.

I’ll still have the town, and people will come.

As for Avery? Yeah, she doesn’t strike me as the type who’d go for what I like to do in bed.

She might run, but if she stays for even a day, I’ll have her—kicking and screaming if I need to—then send her and the brat on their way.

It’ll be enough to know that I got under your skin good and hard.

If you and her stay together, you’ll always know my dick was in her.

Might even film it and send it to you so you can see how a real man fucks. ”

Had Trent not been there to grab me, I would have jumped him, guns be damned. I didn’t give a shit if I died. I couldn’t let the asshole talk about Avery like that. Trent dragged me away, putting distance between ourselves and the guns.

Kyle tucked the money bag under his arm and strolled to the car. The big man followed as the other man dragged and shoved Dallas into the backseat. Kyle opened the passenger door. He made to get in, then turned back to us and held up a single finger.

“You have one week to put your affairs in order and get the fuck out of my town. If you don’t leave by then, I’ll put a bullet in your brother and mail you his severed cock as proof.” Kyle smiled sweetly again. “Have a great day.”