23. Tucker
The Harvest Festival was in full swing, a chaotic mix of food stalls, hayrides, and the sound of kids shrieking with laughter. The sun had just started to dip below the horizon, casting an amber glow over everything. It was the kind of small-town charm you saw in movies, and if I wasn’t so on edge, I might’ve taken a moment to appreciate it.
Instead, I was standing with the Wilson brothers—and all of them this time.
I’d been at a couple of those Sunday Suppers since I’d come to town, but so far, I hadn’t gotten the full brotherly experience. There was always someone missing—Adam or Jackson on shift, Everett home with Lany and their sick baby—but now, they were all here, standing with me like some kind of wall of Southern masculinity, arms crossed, watching over the festival. It was like being in the middle of a football team’s defensive line.
And yeah, we got along right away, which was a massive relief. I’d half-expected them to treat me like I was under interrogation, sizing me up to see if I was good enough for Dakota. But after the initial awkwardness, the tension broke, and I found myself cracking jokes with them, the conversation flowing easily.
It might’ve had something to do with the way Colt was so good with people, and the fact that he’d served with Adam back in the day. It turned what could’ve been really uncomfortable into that feeling when a bunch of vets who don’t even know each other wind up at the same bar on the Marine Corps birthday, and suddenly, they’re brothers for life.
That said, the underlying challenge was still there. This wasn’t just about getting along. This was about proving that I wasn’t okay with passing through and then bailing on Dakota regardless of how she felt about it. Whether I left or not, they needed to know that if she cared about me, I better care about her, too, or there’d be a problem.
And while I didn’t know where my head was at in the long term, I knew one thing for sure: Dakota mattered. More than I’d been willing to admit, even to myself.
I glanced around the festival, scanning the crowd out of habit. Families milled about, kids clutching cotton candy and running toward the carnival rides. Dakota was somewhere in the thick of it, probably with Hope, and despite the laid-back atmosphere, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. My gut had been doing backflips since we got here, and that wasn’t a good sign.
“So,” Jackson started, leaning against one of the festival tents, “how’re you likin’ Charlotte Oaks? Big difference from Colorado, huh?”
Before I could answer, a movement caught my eye as if it were drawn to the source without my permission. Dakota weaved through the crowd, her pace a little faster than usual, her face tight.
My chest squeezed immediately, and I went on high alert, already moving toward her.
She spotted me and closed the distance quickly, her hand clutching a crumpled piece of paper. “Tucker,” she said, her voice low, and when I looked into her eyes, I could see the worry there, the edge of fear she was trying to hold back. “I just found this in my jacket pocket. I have no idea who slipped it in there… or when.”
Already creeped out by someone’s close proximity—someone with their hands anywhere near her—without her permission, I took the note from her, smoothing it out. The words, scrawled in angry, messy letters, sent a chill straight through me.
Get out of Hope’s house, and get Hope out too—or else.
Son of a ? —
I balled the paper in my fist, my pulse spiking, adrenaline pumping through my veins. This wasn’t just some idle threat. This was a warning. A clear one, despite the vagueness of the or else .
Adam and Everett had followed me, and when they caught sight of Dakota’s expression, theirs turned deadly.
“What’s goin’ on?” Everett asked, his voice low and menacing.
“I got it,” I said before Dakota could speak. The last thing I wanted was to get them involved.
Adam’s jaw clenched. “You think you’re just gonna handle whatever it is alone if it involves Dakota?”
“Dakota’s right here,” she mumbled under her breath.
“Yeah, I do,” I replied.
Everett’s arms crossed, his eyes narrowing on me. “Not if Dakota’s involved. Not if it’s as dangerous as it seems like it is, judgin’ from the way you look right now.”
Adam stepped forward, looking like he was ready to argue, but before he could, Dakota cut in. “Guys, please. Tucker’s been workin’ on this for weeks. He’s got it, and he’s not gonna back down about lettin’ y’all help. Trust me.”
Her words hit me hard. There was something in her tone—something that said she trusted me, even when everything was going sideways.
Adam’s fists were clenched, his stance wide, and Everett looked much the same. This was a family thing for them. They wanted to protect Dakota, wanted to make sure she was safe… but so did I.
“Look,” I said, staying calm but leaving no room for argument, “I’m not going to let anything happen to Dakota. Or Hope, since she’s involved, too. But this isn’t your fight. It’s mine.”
They stared at me, and I could feel the tension rising in the air. It took everything in me not to let my own frustration show. These guys were good men, protective of everyone they cared about, and I understood that instinct. I felt it every time I looked at Dakota. But this was different. This was personal, and I wasn’t about to let them get dragged into something dangerous because of me.
“This is my fault,” I said, locking eyes with each of them in turn. “That note came because of me. Because I couldn’t convince Dakota to stay away from this case, and because I couldn’t stay away from her . And now someone’s trying to scare her, and I’m not going to let that stand. So please... back off, and let me make it right.”
They weren’t happy about it, considering Everett was grinding his teeth so hard I thought he might break a molar. But after a long, tense silence, they finally stepped back.
“Fine,” Adam said tightly. “But if you need backup?—”
“I’ll call,” I promised.
Dakota’s hand found mine, and I gave it a squeeze, my chest tightening. Because as much as I wanted to stay calm, to handle this like I’d handle any other case, the truth was, this wasn’t any other case.
This was Dakota, and even if I wasn’t willing to admit it out loud, I was pretty sure the impossible had happened. In the last few short weeks… I’d fallen in love with her.
And I’d take another bullet in a heartbeat if it meant keeping her safe.
I glanced over my shoulder, scanning the festival crowd, my pulse thrumming with a mixture of unease and adrenaline. The brothers were still nearby, watching over everything like a wall of muscle and silent judgment, but I didn’t have time to worry about them. My focus was on Dakota—and getting her out of here.
But then, through the crowd, I caught a glimpse of someone familiar slipping through the dirt parking lot, moving fast like they didn’t want to be seen.
Barto?
My gut tightened, suspicion flaring. What was he doing here? He was supposed to be long gone. My grip on Dakota’s hand tightened, my eyes narrowing as I watched his retreating figure, slinking away like he was trying to escape unnoticed.
Not happening.
“Stay here,” I said, my voice rougher than I intended.
“What— Tucker, wait?—”
But I didn’t give her time to argue or ask questions. I was already moving, weaving through the crowd, closing the distance between me and Barto as quickly and quietly as I could. My heart pounded against my ribs as I caught up with him, grabbing his pudgy shoulder just as he was about to slip around the side of a parked truck.
He jerked, spinning to face me, and the second our eyes met, I saw it—the fear.
Good.
But then… I saw something else that was so unexpected it stole my words for a second.
I’d only had a couple of meetings in person with this man, and each time, he’d been wearing thick glasses. So thick, in fact, that now that I was seeing him without them, his eyes looked completely different.
And yet… utterly familiar.
“Your name isn’t Anthony Barto, is it?” I growled, taking a step closer, using my height advantage to show him I meant business.
He paled, and when he shook his head, his jowls shook.
“Are you Syd Wharton?” I asked, though I was pretty sure I already knew the answer.
It seemed impossible. How could I have missed that?
But, to cut myself a bit of a break… the man before me looked like he could’ve eaten the man I’d been searching for over the last few weeks. The Syd Wharton that Colt and I had been trying to find had been skinny and withdrawn. His driver’s license showed a man who was only a buck-thirty with a shaved head, and the client I’d been working with weighed at least a hundred pounds more than that. No wonder we hadn’t seen any traces of him on security footage or any other way. He didn’t look anything like that anymore, and I had no idea how this transformation was possible.
“Start talking,” I seethed, keeping the crumpled note out of the conversation for now.
“I had to disappear,” he stammered, looking wholly terrified now. “I knew he’d come for me.”
“Who?”
“My partner. I’d kept it under wraps for a while that Roy had my gold, but then somehow he figured it out, and when Roy died… I had to get away.”
“So you moved to Colorado and gained a hundred pounds?”
“Well,” he kicked at the dirt, looking sheepish, “I started gainin’ the weight before I left, but it got a little worse once I moved. I think they call it eatin’ your feelings.”
I rubbed a hand over my face, trying to make sense of everything. “Okay, let me get this straight: you let Roy keep your treasure safe, but then your partner found out that he had it, and when Roy died, you bailed. Then, what, you just laid low for a while before hiring me to recover the gold?”
“That about sums it up, yeah.”
Finally, I unfolded the note and held it in front of his face. “Why did you send this to my girl?”
Syd’s eyes widened, darting to the paper in my hand. His face went pale as he read it, and he took a half-step back, like he was ready to run. “I—I didn’t?—”
“Cut the crap,” I snapped, my voice low but dangerous.
His hands went up in surrender, palms facing me. There was genuine fear there—more than I’d expected. “Look, man, it’s not what you think.”
“No? Because it looks like you’re trying to scare her out of Hope’s house so you can cut out the middleman and take your treasure back.”
Syd swallowed hard, glancing around like he was afraid someone was listening. “Uh, yeah. Well, maybe it’s pretty close to what it looks like. But I didn’t send that note to scare her. I sent it because... I just wanted to push things along. I’m tired, okay? I’m tired of running. I thought if I pushed, maybe you’d get in there and figure it out. Is it there? Is it hidden too well for us to ever find? Or… what if my old partner’s already gotten to it?”
I narrowed my eyes, my blood still pounding in my ears. “So you thought threatening her would light a fire under me? Real smart. It did. But maybe not in the way you wanted it to.”
He shook his head quickly, stepping back again, his hands trembling. “It wasn’t supposed to be like that. I just... I wanted answers. I figured if you kept digging, we’d find out the truth. But now—” His voice cracked, and his eyes darted toward the parking lot. “Now, I’m done. I’m walking away.”
I scoffed, taking a step closer and crowding him back. “Walking away? You’ve got 1.2 million reasons not to walk away. You’re just gonna give it all up?”
Syd looked up at me, and for the first time, I realized the source of his fear wasn’t quite what I thought it was. Not just of getting caught. Not just of losing the treasure. This was fear of something deeper. Something darker.
“My partner,” he whispered, his voice barely audible, “I thought I could get ahead of him, thought I could get the treasure back first. But now, I’m not so sure. Maybe he already found it.”
I clenched my jaw, trying to piece together his words. “You really don’t know where the treasure is? This whole time I’ve been looking for Syd—for you —I’ve been hoping that would be the key to finding out where Roy hid it. I figured you’d know.”
“I told Roy not to tell me, just in case,” he said mournfully. “And now, you’ve already searched Hope’s house. You didn’t find anything in the safes, and you don’t have any other leads. So, maybe my partner got to it first. And if that’s the case, there’s nothing left for me here.”
I took a step back, frustration boiling in my veins. “So that’s it?”
He nodded, his eyes pleading. “I don’t have a choice. I’m out of money, Black. I took some of it before Roy hid it, but that’s gone now, so I can’t pay you to keep looking. If the treasure’s gone, it’s gone.”
I stood there, staring at him, my fists clenched at my sides. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. This wasn’t the resolution I wanted. The idea of letting him walk away without answers to this mystery made my skin crawl.
But he was right. I’d searched every inch of that house. If the treasure was gone, what was the point?
And without a client, how could I justify dragging this out?
Syd seemed to sense my hesitation because he took another cautious step back. “Look, Black, I appreciate what you’ve done. I do. But this is the end of the road. I’m cutting my losses and leaving before it gets worse.”
I watched him for a long moment, my mind racing, trying to find some way to make sense of this. But the truth was, he was a liar, a moron, and worst of all—he was quitting on me, leaving me without a client.
And without a client, I had no case to work.
I let out a sharp breath. “Fine,” I said finally, my voice low. “But if I find out you’re holding out on me?—”
“I’m not,” he said quickly, shaking his head. “I swear.”
I didn’t believe him. Not entirely. But I couldn’t call his bluff either because I had no idea what was still lurking in the shadows of his expression or which questions would shed light on them.
I turned away, my jaw clenched, and started walking back to Dakota. She was standing by my truck, watching me with wide eyes, her body tense like she was bracing for bad news.
When I reached her, I didn’t say a word. Didn’t explain. I just pulled her into my arms, kissing her hard, fierce, like I needed to ground myself in something real. Like I needed to remind myself what mattered most.
When I finally pulled back, her eyes were wide with surprise, her breath coming in soft, shallow gasps.
I gave her a small, tired smile, then opened the door of my truck and got her situated before heading toward my side.
My heart pounded in my chest. This case was over but not solved, and just like Dakota getting that threatening note… it was my fault.