Frosty the Farmhand (12 Days of Christmas)
Prologue
PROLOGUE
HARLAN
SIX MONTHS AGO
“ T his phase has gone on long enough,” Tobias Black says with a coldness I could barely endure. “It ends now.”
“It’s not a phase . Dante and I are in love—he agreed to marry me,” I say, glancing at Dante who is looking everywhere but at me. Tobias casts a look at his son, my fiancé shrinking under his scrutiny. “Baby, tell him,” I plead, panic rising in my chest when the room stays eerily silent.
“You’ll forfeit the ranch if it’s true,” Tobias says, earning the first reaction from Dante since this intervention began. “You know better than to get involved with the help. ”
“I won’t give up the ranch,” he states vehemently, the force of his words knocking me back a step. “The ranch is my legacy.” He pauses, then his gaze finally meets mine. “Nothing else matters.”
It’s not the words themselves but the way he says them, as if he can erase an entire year of I’ve never felt this way before, Harlan, and you’re my soulmate, Harlan, and there’s nothing that will ever come between us—I love you.
My expression must be murderous because he blanches slightly before looking back down at the floor.
“Help is temporary,” Tobias says, giving me a slow once-over, “but a legacy lasts a lifetime.”
I don’t miss the emphasis on the word help. My work clothes and boots compared to their designer style and overpriced haircuts stand out in this room—the division of power clear and intentional.
It hadn’t mattered to me.
Not while Dante was screaming my name into his bedsheets.
And not when he was promising me forever.
Not until now.
My hands fist at my sides, rage churning in my gut. I’d been here for two years before I’d even spoken to Dante—barely knew his name other than that he’d be taking over the ranch one day. He’d sought me out, with his slicked-back hair and bright green eyes, and I’d felt like I was one lucky son of a bitch for catching his attention.
Everyone on the ranch knew Dante was a bit promiscuous—seeking the company of men and women alike. If the rumors were true, Tobias had paid off more than one reporter to bury a story, but I’d never put much stock in rumors.
Maybe I should have.
Because I trusted the cowardly man before me with my heart and body and a part of my soul I’d never get back.
“This severance is beyond generous,” Tobias says, pulling an envelope from his pocket and staring pointedly. “Leave quietly and I’ll be sure to pass on a favorable recommendation.”
I want to laugh.
I want to scream and flip the chairs and shake Dante until he admits it was real—that I hadn’t imagined it.
But as I stare at the envelope, the pieces start to fall into place.
Dante had been promiscuous.
Until me.
I’d kept him out of the headlines and he’d kept me out of the spotlight, claiming that his life was always so public he just wanted to enjoy each other in private. There’d been takeout and dinners eaten in, a few trips out of town but they’d been few and far between and always somewhere secluded.
Romantic.
A lie.
Everyone on the ranch knew we were together, but they’d kept their mouths shut outside the property line to keep their jobs.
I’d fallen in love with one version of Dante Black—but it wasn’t really him and it never would be.
Snatching the envelope from Tobias, I feel my eyes widen at the weight of it.
Hush money.
Tobias smirks as I shove it into my back pocket without daring to count it.
It’s the kind of money that makes me wish I was a better man—a stronger man—one that could go toe to toe with this asshole in a suit and come out on top.
But I’m not and in this room I never will be.
“You’ll be out before sundown,” Tobias says, the finality of this conversation, my relationship with Dante, and my life for the past several years reduced to the setting sun.
But I made my bed and now I’ll lie in it, let the cold pull me under because when I leave, there’ll be no looking back.
I’ve learned my lesson because Tobias was right—the help is temporary and that’s all I’ll ever be.