Page 41 of Wrecked for Love (Buffaloberry Hill #1)

ELIA

I headed out to pick Claire up from Paul’s, feeling completely knackered. Maybe I’d overdone it with the boxing this afternoon, but there was no room for complacency. Whether the note was calling for a meeting, an old-fashioned duel, or something else entirely, I had to be prepared.

Instinct had to take over. Fight-or-flight wouldn’t cut it with the Vosses. This wasn’t some Buffaloberry Rumble sideshow. It was real, and I wasn’t about to step in unprepared. I wasn’t a pro, but every punch and every bruise was sharpening me for what was coming.

As I turned off The Lazy Moose gate toward town, my phone buzzed. Logan.

I put him on speaker. “What’s up, Log?”

“You got a minute?”

I frowned. That wasn’t his usual opener. “Since when do you ask?”

He exhaled. “Look, I’m not supposed to tell you this, but—” He trailed off.

“Log, just spit it out.”

“Your brother.”

I sat up straighter. “Noah? What happened?”

“Nothing. He called me last night.”

I nearly swerved off the road. “And you’re just telling me this now?”

“I wasn’t supposed to say anything.”

I sighed. Why? I knew Noah had been close to Logan. Back when we were kids, my best friend had a habit of ratting me out to Noah anytime I tried to keep a secret from him.

But still. I was his brother. Why not call me?

And the timing? It couldn’t be a coincidence. Years of silence. Then I had dialed that so-called wrong number, and now he reached out?

“Don’t hold it against him, El,” Logan said, reading my silence. “He wasn’t ready.”

“I get it,” I muttered. “Doesn’t mean it doesn’t sting.”

“Yeah, well…give him time.”

Anticipation coiled tight in my chest. “What did he say?”

“Not much. The call lasted a few seconds. He just asked about you.”

“You didn’t tell him about Claire, did you?”

“Of course not. Didn’t wanna burst your love bubble.”

I huffed a quiet laugh. “Think he’s considering coming back? Did he give you any hint?”

“No clue.”

I drummed my fingers against the wheel. “You have his number?”

“Yeah.”

“Send it.”

Logan sighed, taking his time to reply. “All right, all right. I’ll text it.”

I exhaled. Maybe calling Noah would be easier with Claire by my side, introducing her to him, bridging the gap. But first, I had to warn him. Buffaloberry Hill wasn’t a place he should return to. Not yet.

As I pulled up at the hardware store, I spotted Paul locking up.

“Hey, Paul, is Claire still here?” I gestured toward the back, thinking she might still be in the stockroom.

“Nah, she left a while ago,” he said. “Hey, is she okay?”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Annette mentioned she hasn’t been feeling great lately.”

That stopped me in my tracks. It wasn’t like Claire to keep something like that from me. Sure, she’d been low on energy, but I hadn’t thought much of it.

Paul double-checked the lock, then added, “One of your guys came to pick her up.”

“What? Who?”

“The new one.”

“Fritzy?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. I met him before—Hank brought him by the other day. Between you and me, your foreman wasn’t too impressed with the kid. Said he had a bit of an arrogant streak.”

I told myself there had to be a simple explanation. That by the end of the day, it’d all turn out to be a prank from the boys or some surprise I didn’t see coming. But my gut said otherwise. “Did you see where they went?”

Paul caught my nerves. “Uh…no, sorry, man. I left them in the stockroom after she said she was heading home.”

I climbed back into my truck, keeping it all to myself.

Thoughts started pounding in my head, one after another, like hail beating down on the earth.

Fritzy. That saddle issue last week—it hadn’t felt like an accident.

And Diesel’s gate…was that him too? He hadn’t even worked for me then.

I’d turned him down the first time. Could he have been holding a grudge?

“Fuck!” I yelled, slamming my hand against the steering wheel.

This was the price I paid for letting my guard down. He’d come to me like a man in need—kind and with good intentions, or so I thought. I couldn’t forgive myself now. I should’ve chosen mistrust over mercy!

I drove back to The Lazy Moose like a man possessed, barely keeping the truck on the road as I headed straight for Hank.

“Hank…where’s Fritzy?” I demanded as I stormed up to him.

Hank scratched his head, frowning. “He was…shit, I can’t remember the last time I saw him. He was around this afternoon, though.”

“I saw him driving away at about three,” one of my ranch hands chimed in, looking uneasy.

And I was far from being uneasy. I was unsettled to my core. Fritzy might’ve been a disgruntled employee, but it didn’t quite add up. He’d been earning good money here for weeks. Then, it hit me like a ton of bricks. There was only one explanation. Fritzy was working for Voss. He was Voss’s man!

Without a second thought, I slammed my truck into gear and shot down the drive toward the mailbox. A current of nerves passed through me as I skidded to a stop, threw the door open, and rushed to the box.

There it was—another note.

Just between you and me. And your precious little bird.

The Cove. 11 p.m. tonight.

One second late—you already know what happens next.

One call to the cops, and she’ll suffer the same fate.

The Cove? Where the hell was that? Buffaloberry Hill was inland. There wasn’t a cove in sight.

No, wait.

It was the name of a place. Tessa used to meet Armand at a riverside restaurant called The Cove.

I’d even been there once for a fancy family dinner.

It shut down years ago, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t still being used as a meeting spot.

If they were dragging me back there, there was no telling what I’d be walking into.