Gratitude wells up in me for everyone in this kitchen. Where would I be without them? Alone with my grief over my dad. But I’m not alone. And since they have my back, I have theirs too.
"I'm going to help you stop Turner," I say out loud.
The words settle over the room like a vow. Luke's hand tightens on mine. Mason nods once. Lily reaches out and squeezes my free hand.
Jake stands and crosses to me. He extends his hand. "Welcome to the team, Harper."
Something shifts inside me, final and irrevocable, as I take his hand.
61
COLE
The problem with fear is that it loses value the moment people survive it.
Dead livestock should have been enough—a warning shot across Emma Hayes's bow. A reminder that the Circle H isn't isolated, no matter how much Jake Callahan wants to pretend otherwise.
Instead, all it accomplished was losing me money. Three mercs and the required equipment—three men who never checked in after the operation went sideways. Dead or captured, it hardly matters which. Either way, they're gone.
I stand in my office overlooking downtown Bozeman, a glass of bourbon in my hand that I haven't touched. The campaign posters on the wall behind my desk feel almost comical.
TURNER FOR MONTANA
Family. Freedom. Prosperity.
My cell phone vibrates. I take it out of my pocket and freeze.
Gabriel Reyes. The enforcer. Mateo Reyes's younger brother and the man who handles their problems when diplomacy fails.
I answer on the second ring.
"Gabriel." I lean back in my chair, injecting easy confidence into my voice. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
A low chuckle crackles through the speaker—cold and humorless. "My brother wants an update."
Of course he does. Mateo Reyes doesn't make social calls, and he's only interested in one thing: the pipeline. Not the one the public thinks I'm talking about when I stand behind podiums and discuss infrastructure, but the real one—the corridor running north through Montana that I've been constructing for them to move product through Texas, up through Wyoming, into Montana, and across the border, clean and untraceable.
At least, that's what I promised. It’ll be done once I have the Circle H.
"The access route is taking longer than anticipated," I tell him.
Gabriel's laugh is dangerous. "Yes, we can see that. But that's not what Mateo asked."
My grip tightens around the glass. "What did he ask?"
"Mateo askedwhenit will be finished," Gabriel says, his voice dropping lower. "Not if. When."
I have to clear my throat. "The Hayes property has become complicated."
"Complicated," Gabriel repeats. He makes the word sound like a death sentence.
"Emma Hayes refuses to sell. Callahan has turned the place into a fortress."
"So remove Callahan."
What a short-sighted solution. I have a former Delta Force operator with two equally dangerous friends and a private ranch full of cameras, sensors, and enough firepower to start a small war. But I can't say that to Gabriel.
"The situation requires finesse," I reply, getting annoyed.