50. Indie
Chapter 50
Indie
T he first man that steps out of the car is a stranger, but the second one is not. It’s been almost a year since I’ve seen my dad, not since I had to sit in a courtroom and look him in the eyes while testifying that I did not know anything about the gang activities he’d participated in. It was brutal then, and it brings all of those feelings rushing back to me now.
He doesn’t respond to me, not right away. Instead, he looks to the first man, the one clearly in charge.
Dad looks more haggard, but better in shape, as if prison was both good and rough for him. I don’t understand how he’s here, how he got out, when he’d been sentenced to fifteen years. He shouldn’t have gotten out so early.
“What the fuck is happening here?” I ask, staring from my dad to the man in charge to the other three goons who step out of the other two cars.
The leader rolls his shoulders and glances from me to Tripp where he stands beside me. The big house is only a hundred feet away, so I can see when Darla steps out on the porch of it with round eyes, fear there. Clearly, even if I don’t recognize these other men, she does. She slowly walks across the yard toward us, her gait stiff.
“You don’t know me, Tripp Savage, but I very much know you,” the man begins, his eyes hard. This is a man who can murder without any hesitation. I’ve seen his like before. I’ve interviewed them.
“Yeah?” Tripp replies. “And who exactly are you?”
The man grins. “You can call me Lennox.” He gestures to the other men and my dad. “And these are my crows.”
Tripp, Ram, and Beau tense at the same time. Hell, even I tense. I know enough about The Crows now that I’d learned my dad had gotten involved with them, but to be face-to-face with them here, with the man in charge, makes me uneasy.
“And what business have you got with me?” Tripp asks, his voice hard despite the men we’re looking at.
Lennox grins, but it doesn’t put me at ease. If anything, it makes me more on guard. “I hear you rejected my offer.”
Tripp tips up his chin and glances over at Darla where she comes to a stop beside him with wide eyes. “Fairview Acres was never for sale. It was a misunderstanding.”
Darla’s arms wrap around her middle, as if she can somehow hold herself together if she holds tight enough.
Lennox follows Tripp’s line of sight to Darla where she stands, so he turns to address her, his face tightening. “I don’t like deals I make to be broken, Darla Savage. I’m sure you know well enough what I do to people who fuck me over.”
“I didn’t know—” Darla starts, but Tripp steps forward.
“You ain’t got no business with her,” he grunts. “I declined the deal when I found out about it. This place is in my name, therefore, it ain’t for sale. Sorry to disappoint, Crow.”
“What the hell do you even want a bull farm for?” Ram asks, frowning.
“That’s my business,” Lennox says, his eyes taking in all four of us standing here. His gaze lands on me, but I don’t really care about anything he has to say. My eyes are solely on those of my father’s.
“ Bá ba ?” I say again, trying to figure out what the hell is going on. “When. . . when did you get out?”
“I got him out,” Lennox says, catching my attention. “He’s too valuable to leave in prison to rot, especially now that his daughter is knee deep in shit in this neck of the woods.” He smiles at me, and it makes my skin crawl, and weirdly at the same time, he’s attractive. It’s a weird juxtaposition that I really don’t appreciate. “It seems you may be just what I need, Indie Chen.”
A look of shame crosses my dad’s face as he glances from Lennox and finally back to me. “I told him you could help,” he finally says.
Those are his first words in over a year. That’s what he tells me.
My face hardens and I look at Lennox head on. My dad isn’t here for me. Silly me for thinking anything different. “He lied,” I say, my voice as hard as my expression.
Anger flickers in Lennox’s eyes. He pulls a roll of papers from the dashboard of the car. “Sign the papers, Savage. A deal was made. I don’t care by who. Fairview Acres belongs to me.”
Tripp stares at him. “No,” he replies, not moving an inch.
Lennox pulls a gun from his hip and points it at Darla. I gasp, my hand tightening in Ram’s. Darla screams.
Tripp? He doesn’t move a muscle.
“Sigh the fucking papers!” Lennox growls again.
Tripp shakes his head. “No,” he repeats, unmoving.
Darla is crying now. But Lennox isn’t even paying attention to her. Instead, his eyes focus on me, on where I hold Ram’s hand. Too late I realize my mistake. I release Ram’s hand, but what’s done is done.
We’ve already shown the evidence.
“No?” Lennox repeats. He swings the gun to me and Tripp stiffens. “How about now, Savage?”
“He won’t shoot me,” I say confidently. “I’m an asset. It would be stupid to shoot me.”
Lennox grins. “You think I won’t?”
Beau inches closer, barely moving, the movements so slow, I wouldn’t have noticed if not for my awareness of his body heat. I can feel him grow closer with almost imperceivable movements.
“Sir?” Dad says, talking to Lennox. “You promised she wouldn’t be hurt.”
Lennox bares his teeth. “That was before she decided to stand in my way.”
He pulls the trigger, and the sound of the gunshot rings out across the snow-covered mountains. It echoes, and echoes, and echoes. . .