Page 59 of The Wrong Ride Home (Wildflower Canyon #1)

My mother and my girlfriend both seemed to have zero qualms about killing me, actually murdering me in cold blood.

Had I been this obsessed with money? Had greed ridden me so hard that I never saw them because I was so much like them?

Had I changed, or…was I just reverting back to the person who loved Elena, a sweet, honest woman who wouldn’t know how to manipulate someone to save her life?

I never used to indulge in self-analysis—yeah, I thought it was an indulgence.

Better to focus on goals, on action, rather than digging into whatever the hell was inside me.

But maybe I should have. Because watching Fiona talk business with that razor-sharp ruthlessness I’d once found attractive felt like looking into a mirror.

I wouldn’t go as far as murder, but blackmail?

I wouldn’t have called it that—no, I’d have dressed it up as strategic leverage or subtle coercion.

But that was just semantics, wasn’t it? Even now, wasn’t I manipulating Fiona?

Sure, I told myself it was for the right reasons, but how many times in the past had I justified my actions, convinced I was doing what needed to be done?

Maybe wait until you’re not in a life-and-death situation with a murderous bitch before diving headfirst into an existential crisis, yeah?

I forced myself to pull it together—because I actually fucking needed to. Me. The guy who never lost focus, who always had a plan, who prided himself on control. And yet, here I was, floundering because what I was learning about myself disgusted me.

“But that’s not it,” I continued wearily. “Then we had a fire.”

“That’s unfortunate,” she murmured, not meeting my eyes.

“Look, I know how Piper Novak works. I know she’s behind it, trying to put pressure on me to sell.”

Fiona’s eyes widened.

I shrugged. “I get it. I’d do the same thing.” To my shame, I knew I would, maybe not cross the line to illegal, but I’d straddle it. “So, I need your help in getting Piper off my back and making us a hell of a lot of money in the process.”

Fiona picked up her glass of wine in a toast. “Welcome back, Duke Wilder. For a while there, I thought I’d lost you to fucking ranch country.”

I clinked my glass with hers. She drank some more, and I didn’t, but I made sure her glass was always full. When her eyes were just this side of glassy, I knew her tongue would now be loose. However, I had to be careful, and that meant I needed to sound careless.

“Was I the shooter's target or Elena?” I asked, my tone nonchalant, as I refilled her wine glass. “’Cause that was not cool. I was right there. I could’ve been hurt, doll.”

Fiona put her hand on mine. “I found out after the fact. I was furious with Piper,” Fiona revealed. “I’d never hurt you, you know that. Don’t you?”

Just the love of my life, then?

She drank some more wine; I stuck to water.

Fiona smiled uneasily. “Look, I’m going to tell you the way this will play out, and you need to know this because you’re going to have to help it play out.”

“I am?”

Fiona sighed. “Now is not the time to be all alpha male. Listen to me. Piper has set it up so that Gloria will be implicated.”

I raised both my eyebrows. I didn’t have to pretend this time. I was surprised as fuck.

Fiona looked around as if worried someone might overhear us.

No fear there, darlin’, the wire I’m wearing is state-of-the-art .

She dropped her voice. “Gloria reached out to Piper when she found out you weren’t going to sell and …look, Duke, I know you love your mama, but she’s…it was her idea and Piper said....” She suddenly looked around concerned. “I don’t know if we should talk about this here.”

I shrugged. “Why? We’ve had meetings in places like this that were far more incendiary ,” I joked.

She slapped my hand flirtatiously. “My Duke is back.”

“Sure is, doll.”

“Piper only gave Gloria a contact, but she was the one who…you know, had to do the rest.” Fiona shook her he ad. “I couldn’t believe it when Piper told me. Just couldn’t.”

I think that would be an accessory before and after the fact. I was sure Kaz and his fed buddies were doing a happy dance right about now.

“Well, it’s all moot now, isn’t it?” I finished my coffee. “I want out of that ranch. The fire…was a wake-up call. The place doesn’t make a lot of money, not like Ironwood does, so…best to unload it.”

This was how I’d typically do business—get rid of what wasn’t profitable and move the fuck on. But never before had I owned my legacy, one that I would pass on to Elena and my children.

Fiona smirked. She recognized the man I was pretending to be—and so did I. He was an unethical, immoral son of a bitch, and I would’ve kept on being him if I hadn’t gone home to Wildflower Canyon. And truth was, it was a close call that I even did.

The thought of not being with Elena after the weeks we’d had together nearly brought me to my knees. I would’ve lost her. And I never would’ve found myself.

“And the fire? Was that necessary?” I demanded.

Fiona rolled her eyes. “You needed a little motivation. No person was supposed to get hurt…just the horses.”

Ben almost died, bitch. Elena, too.

“Now I have a shit ton of property damage,” I blustered.

“That’s the thing about a little property damage—it doesn’t hurt the price. If anything, it makes the teardown easier,” Fiona tittered. “At least, that was Piper and my thoughts when we…well….”

I nodded, pretending to be impressed. “I never thought of it that way.”

“You never had to,” she said with satisfaction. “That was my job.”

She reached across the table, resting her hand lightly on mine, her nails cool against my skin. “You’re a smart man, Duke. But you’re better when you listen to me.”

I forced myself to look at her, to let my gaze soften like she was pulling me back into her orbit. I let a pause stretch between us, then said softly, almost hesitant, “I know, doll. I know now. Can you forgive me?”

She smiled. Slow. Smug. “I’ve been waiting for you to come back, Duke.” Her eyes were full of love , the kind that was not directed at me but at herself. She was like Mama, I realized. She’d be just as much in love if I were a fifty-million-dollar land development project or a Bulgari necklace.

“What happens now?” I asked, my stance lazy, relaxed when I felt no such thing.

I felt dirty, unclean.

I wanted Elena. I wanted to hold her. I wanted the ranch. I wanted to ride under the endless sky. I wanted to cleanse myself from the man I had been becoming and be the man who deserved the land and the woman.

“Now, you leave everything to me, and I’ll get things moving,” she said triumphantly.

I paid for lunch, and we slipped back into our old ways, talking about work, a deal, and the market .

“The Florida market is saturated.” Fiona looked at herself in her compact mirror and adjusted her lipstick. “It’s the insurance costs…they’re sky high.”

The server brought my suit jacket. I rose and slipped it on.

“Yeah, but Texas is heating up.”

Fiona snapped the mirror shut. “Maybe. But the margins are tighter…and with climate change and all that flooding…. It’s become a choose your natural disaster game.”

“You know, since you are working for Piper now, maybe Novak Enterprises and Ironwood could partner?”

“I love the way you think and so will Piper. This was her hope when she hired me.” She slid out of the booth, smoothing down her dress. She smiled, slow and indulgent. “Welcome back to the winning team.”

I stood when she did, and when she moved her face close to mine, I dropped a quick kiss on her lips. Kaz better edit that shit out if he was ever showing this to Elena.

I held my hand out, indicating that I would follow her. “I’ll walk you to your car. And I’ll see you soon.”

“Oh, count on it.” I stayed a step behind her in the guise of having my hand on the small of her back.

I counted slowly in my head.

One .

Two .

We stepped out of the restaurant, and I dropped my hand and stepped away from her.

Three .

She was about to say something when?—

There were sounds of footsteps. Men in ill-fitting black suits, their badges flashing.

Four .

“Fiona Turner?” a voice barked.

She froze. I saw it—the split second where she considered running.

Five .

The tallest agent stepped forward, hand hovering near his holster. “FBI. You’re under arrest….”

Fiona turned to me, her eyes wide. She was a smart woman; she knew what happened even before I patted my chest, pulling out the microphone of the wire so she knew who had fucked her over.

“Well,” she spat, “you’re way dumber than you look if you think this will take.”

The FBI agent continued, speaking over her, “…for attempted murder, attempted arson, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, and obstruction of justice.”

Wire fraud ? I raised an eyebrow at the agent I’d been working with, who stood behind the one cuffing Fiona. He only shrugged.

Well, they did say they’d throw the book at her—looks like they found a whole damn library.

The cuffs clicked shut.

Six .

Game over!