Page 149 of The Moments You Were Mine

It burned inside me, knowing he’d be out before too long. But I’d have a nice little chat with him to ensure he knew if he ever came near my wife or her family again, no one would ever find his body.

The sheriff smacked his notepad shut and looked around at all the faces in the room. “I think that closes up everything.”

But it didn’t. An elephant still existed in the room that no one had mentioned today, even though his absence had been felt.

“You’re forgetting Teddy,” I said, purposefully keeping my voice calm and steady, even though every time I’d thought of him, his betrayal infuriated me. “What role did he have in any of this?”

Fallon’s eyes snapped to Lauren’s face. Her mom looked pale and shaky.

“If it’s okay”—Wylee stood, making his way to the door—“I’d like him to be able to explain it for himself. He’s waiting outside.”

I wanted to say no. I wanted Teddy far away from Fallon, Theo, and Lauren, where he couldn’t hurt them emotionally or physically. But Fallon squeezed my hand and said softly, “He deserves a chance to defend himself.”

The sheriff left, patting Teddy on the shoulder as he passed him in the doorway. Fallon’s body stiffened and tension returned to the room that had drifted away throughout most of the day.

Teddy’s shoulders were sloped, and he spun his hat around in his hands while taking everyone in with eyes so sad I wondered if I’d jumped to the wrong conclusion. Maybe Lorenzo Puzo had thrown us in the wrong direction simply because he liked pulling strings and watching people jump. Or maybe he’d wanted time to ferret out the bad seeds in his nest before the cops started looking too closely at his organization.

When Teddy’s gaze settled on Lauren, the look in his eyes was pure love. Adoration. Not a hint of animosity or anger existed. He was the same friendly man I’d always known, who Fallon had grown up caring about.

“I appreciate you all seeing me tonight,” he said. “I realizeI’ve got some explaining to do.”

“Damn straight you do,” Rafe said, stepping toward the man. Sadie grabbed his hand and held him back in much the way Fallon held me.

Teddy shifted, ran a hand through his hair, and then looked again at Lauren. “You didn’t know what you would do when Fallon came home from college. You didn’t want to crowd her—not at the resort and not here.” He waved his hand around the house. “You said it was time for you to step back, but you didn’t know where to go or what you’d do next.”

Lauren blinked rapidly as she nodded, and Fallon’s fingers tightened around my hand.

“Then, you got hurt…” Teddy’s voice cracked. “And I knew, even with your prosthetic, there’d be days you’d be in a wheelchair. You needed a home with accommodations. A place with a ramp and bathrooms that would be safe for you to maneuver in.”

Fallon looked from her mom to her dad and then back to Teddy. Her voice was choked with emotions when she said, “We didn’t… God, we didn’t think. Mom?”

Lauren shook her head as if to shake off the apology that coated her daughter’s words. But she directed her response toward the farmhand nervously twirling a hat by the door. “Oh, Teddy. What did you do?”

“You’d talked about restoring the old Hurly place. No one has taken care of it since Adam went to jail, but it was yours. Your family’s. It needed work to be habitable again and even more to accommodate your needs. I talked to a few banks, but no one would loan me the money, seeing as the house wasn’t mine.”

“So, Lorenzo gave you one,” Rafe said, frustration in his tone. “How the hell did he find out?”

Teddy shrugged. “I’m not sure. You know he still has ties here in Rivers. I’m assuming one of the loan officers told him something. All I know is he offered to loan me the money. No exorbitant interest rate or anything.”

“But there was still a price?” Rafe’s voice was gruff.

“He just wanted to be kept abreast of how things were going here, said he felt responsible after what his kin had done to y’all. He said he just wanted to help if you ever needed it.”

“You told him about the attacks on Fallon and the ranch.” It wasn’t a question when I said it, but he nodded anyway.

“I’d been sending him weekly reports since April, but once things started happening, he asked me to report to him daily.”

It suddenly hit me. Lorenzo had sent someone to help. “The man who was wearing our security uniform and saved that guest at the beach. He was working for Lorenzo.”

“Puzo said it was a safety measure, that someone here had to have been helping whoever was attacking Fallon, and that his guy could protect her,” Teddy acknowledged.

Lorenzo Puzo was an unsolved riddle, threatening on one hand and protecting on the other. He enjoyed having all the power and holding all the cards, and information gave him that control. Maybe it was nothing more than that. Maybe Puzo simply wanted to prove he could find out anything he wanted and insert himself in whenever and wherever necessary.

Maybe he really did care about what happened to Fallon and her family.

When no one responded, Teddy shifted uncomfortably and looked up at me. “Anyway, that’s why some of the cameras were off around the old Hurly residence and along the fire road leading to it. I didn’t want anyone to see the work crews I had coming in and out of there.”

“You’ve already started the renovation?” Lauren asked breathlessly.