Chapter 36
THIRTY-SIX
Ramsey
The next day, I’m in my brother’s office in the tower of The Avarice again—the receptionist thankfully remembers me this time. As I wait, I pace around the office looking for any signs my brothers might be involved in this, like somehow there’d be some sort of tell. It’s ridiculous, I know, but I’d spent the night tossing and turning after Hazel fell asleep.
“What do you need?” Grant draws my attention as he comes into the room, ready to get to the point like I told his receptionist I would. Lev follows behind him, looking at me curiously and wondering what my summons is for.
“Curtis Reed. He works here?” I ask bluntly. No use beating around the bush.
“Yes. I believe so.” Grant looks to Lev. “Lev handles most of the staffing.”
“I recognize the name. He works here. He’s a low-level floor manager, I believe,” Lev adds.
“And?” I press because I’m suspicious about the coincidence of their employee dating my wife.
“And?” Lev shrugs, raising his brow.
“Don’t pretend like you don’t know why I’m asking.” There’s an edge to my tone.
“I’m not pretending. You’re going to have to spell it out for me.” Lev gives me the same tone in return.
“He’s engaged to Hazel,” Grant interjects, and we both look at him. “He thinks we’re involved somehow now.”
“So you are familiar.” I eye him because he’s playing coy, and that’s never a good sign.
“I knew she was dating a Curtis. It doesn’t take much to figure it out if you’re asking about one.” Grant gives a half-hearted rise of his shoulder, but the way his eyes dart to the side, I feel like there’s more than what he’s sharing.
“How did you know?” I press on.
“The town gossip makes its way up here. People talk while they’re sitting at the tables or the bar, brother. It’s not exactly a secret. I told you; it’s been the talk for a while that she met someone she likes better than you.”
“Because you planted him in her life?”
Grant smirks, gives a small click of his tongue, and then it spreads to a full smile. “Why would I do that?”
“You’ve always had your eyes on the ranch. Always been plotting expansion projects onto my land. Always trying to convince me to come work for you. That doesn’t work, so you go after Haze. She’s as stubborn as me, so you move on to options you have more control over.” I’d come up with a million scenarios in the middle of the night last night.
“Well, as much as I wish I’d thought of that. He’s not ours.” Grant stands from his desk and walks around to the front of it.
“He came in through the normal channels. He’s been here a little over a year,” Lev speaks up again, and I look over to see him scrolling through information on his phone, presumably employee records.
“What’s made you suspicious of him?” Grant studies my face, like somehow he can tell more from it than my answers.
“I have my reasons.”
“He’s on a leave of absence for a few months,” Lev says and then sets his phone down on the shelf.
“A leave of absence?” My brow furrows. “He’s not at a training in Vegas?”
“Training in Vegas?” Grant repeats like I’m speaking a foreign language.
“You didn’t send some of your staff off for training in Vegas?” I clarify.
“No,” Lev answers. “Why would we do that? We could just bring someone out here.”
“I don’t know fuck all about casinos or how you run them,” I grumble at my brother, but my stomach is sinking at a rapid rate.
“I’m not after your goddamn ranch, Ramsey. I don’t need that backwater anymore. We make ten times what the ranch brings in here and then some with the projects we have on the side. I have plans to expand, most of them I told you about, so you know I don’t need your land.” Grant’s charm has lapsed, and he sounds more like our father now. “So you don’t have anything to fear from me, but it looks like you might have other concerns. I suggest sharing them with people who can help you do something about them.”
“We’re brothers first, yeah?” Lev’s face softens as he sees the panic in mine.
I might not always trust my brothers when it comes to money, but when it comes to my life, that’s a different story.
“I don’t think Curtis is who he says he is. I don’t know more than that right now. I’m still trying to piece together what I’ve got. Some guys turned up at the ranch last night—I think they might be the same ones from the bar the other day. Did they end up coming here?”
Grant looks thoughtfully at his desk. “I’m not sure. I never followed up. I can check though. The card I gave them would have been run if they did.”
“Check,” I say, and he nods to Lev, who starts typing something into his phone again.
“While we wait… What did the guys want at the ranch?” Grant raises a brow.
“I don’t know. They were in the pole barn. All that’s in there is Mom and Dad’s stuff and some of mine from when I moved out. Hazel usually keeps it locked, but I’ve been in and out since I got here. It was like they were looking for something.”
Grant straightens from his lean against his desk, and there’s something in his eyes I can’t read. “Like what?”
“I don’t fucking know, but I’m going to assume antique dealers don’t raid private property with guns at night.”
Grant and Lev exchange looks, and I don’t like the way it makes me feel like I’m not read in on something.
“What?” I ask impatiently.
“Nothing,” Grant answers. “I’m just trying to think of what they could be after. Or how anyone would even know what’s there.”
“Do you know something about Curtis? If you do, you better fucking tell me now. Because if I find out that you let him around my wife and then you lied to me about it, too, I’ll fucking kill you.”
“No. I don’t know anything about Curtis. I’m as curious as you are.”
“There were a couple of guys who stayed after they ran the discount card you gave them. They checked out this morning,” Lev offers.
“Run the names. Get any information you can on them,” Grant instructs Lev.
“I’ll need to get one of the security team on it.” Lev pauses as he heads for the door to look back at us. His eyes meet mine. “If there’s something going on, we’ll get to the bottom of it.”
“All I care about is Hazel and everyone at the ranch being safe.”
“We’ve got it. We’ll keep you posted on what we hear, and you let us know if anything else happens, okay?”
“As soon as you know.” I narrow my eyes at Grant, and he nods.
“Of course,” he assures me.
As I drive the long way around back to the ranch, using the time to try to get my head back on straight with this information, my stomach turns with anxiety. Now I have to figure out how to tell Hazel about all of this. Bo’s warning rings in my head as I try to think of ways to tell her that don’t end with her telling me I’m jealous or making shit up.
But there’s no way Curtis is innocent in this—Bo saw him in that pole barn, saw him searching the property, saw him arguing with a person no one knows, and now, these guys show up when he disappears and lies about where he’s going. It’s too many coincidences, and where there’s smoke there’s usually fire.
A sentiment that becomes all too real when I notice smoke rising above the tree line on the road. It’s coming from the direction of the ranch. I hit the gas and tear down the road as fast as I can back home.