He was so torn up that my anger dissolved. Mitch was truly hurting. This wasn't about me at all. It had never been. "Compared to what, Mitch?" I took a step toward him, my voice softening. "Tell me. Please."
I needed to know. Not just about what Frank did, but about who Mitch really was beneath all that armor. I wanted to understand and help him overcome whatever burden was crushing him from the inside out.
He turned away, his hand going to the back of his neck. "You don't want to hear this."
"Yes, I do." I moved closer, resting my hand over his arm. "Mitch. Talk to me."
He just stood there, muscles rigid under my palm. It was a long moment before his shoulders sagged and he looked at me with eyes so raw it made my chest ache.
He turned his gaze to the horizon, his jaw clenched, then he dragged a hand down his face and let out a shaky breath.
"Her name was Hannah." Mitch said the name like he was spitting gravel. He took a few steps away from me as if he needed distance from me to say this.
I forced my feet to stay planted where they were.
"I met her when I was twenty-five. She was beautiful. Kind. Sweet. From a decent family in town."
He clenched his fists at his sides, and the muscles in his back rippled.
"She was the first woman who ever meant anything to me." He swallowed hard. "We dated for ten months, and she made me believe I could have a future beyond Koolaroo and cattle. Maybe even marriage. And kids." His voice cracked on that last word.
An impossible heaviness settled in my heart at the absolute sorrow in this poor man.
He turned away from me completely, and his shoulders tensed. "I thought..." He stopped and swallowed so hard I heard it. "I thought she was the woman I would spend the rest of my life with."
The silence stretched. I waited, my heart hammering as I braced myself for whatever came next, hoping like hell I'd know what to say.
"One day, I caught Frank handing her an envelope in the barn." He drove his fingers through his hair. "Hannah opened it right there and flicked through a pile of cash." He clenched and unclenched his fist.
I frowned, trying to work out the implications. "What was the money for?"
"Frank was paying her to be with me." His voice was pure steel.
I gasped. "What? Why?"
"Hannah bawled her eyes out, blubbering about how she loved me." Mitch let out a bitter laugh and kicked at the dirt. "But Frank just smirked. Smug fucking bastard."
A sadness gripped me so deep my lungs seemed to fight for air. "Why would he do that?"
His body went rigid. Then he turned back to face me, his eyes blazing with old pain and fresh rage.
"Frank said I'd been acting up, getting drunk and into bar fights, sleeping around. That I was a useless mess." His hands clenched into fists so tightly his knuckles went white. "So, he hired her to settle me down."
My stomach dropped, and I covered my mouth. "Oh my God."
"Hannah kept sobbing, saying she hadn't meant to fall in love with me, but she had. That her love was real." His voice cracked. "I thought she was the one. That she loved me. But it was all bullshit."
I could barely breathe. The cruelty of it made me sick. "What did you do?"
"I lost it." His jaw clenched so hard it shook. "I attacked Frank, and we fought hard, trying to kill each other. I broke two of his ribs."
"Good," I whispered. "He deserved it."
"I was this close to wrapping my hands around his neck and ending him." Mitch held his thumb and finger an inch apart. "This close."
I wanted to kill Frank myself. With my bare hands. "You were the better man, Mitch. You still are."
He looked at me, blinking, as if trying to process what I'd said. Like maybe no one had ever told him that before.