Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
SLOANE
We pass through black iron gates that slowly swing open, revealing a gravel path framed by sprawling pasture and neat fencing. A wooden sign welcomes guests to Blackthorn Ridge Bed & Breakfast, nestled beside a second one that reads Main Office with an arrow pointing left.
Mandy follows the sign for the office, her fingers drumming the steering wheel while I try not to let my nerves get any louder than they already are. Worst case, I don’t get the extra cash and Camille loses her mind until my first paycheck from the diner hits.
It’ll be okay. It has to be.
Once we arrive, Mandy parks in front of the office, a small house-style building set back from the road, and kills the engine. “You okay?”
“Nervous.” I shrug. “But yeah.”
“Hey…” She turns to me. “You’re going to be great. Just be yourself. Well…maybe not the part of yourself that cries at dog commercials or stress-cleans the fridge at one in the morning. But the rest of you? Total catch.”
“I knew I never should’ve told you the one time I did that.”
She quirks a brow.
“Okay, maybe it was more than once.”
She laughs as we get out, climbing the stone steps before entering a brightly lit room that gives off cabin vibes. It’s quite homey.
A woman in a pale blue suit jacket looks up at us from her laptop and smiles. “Hi there. May I help you?”
“My name is Sloane. I’m here to see Greer for a job interview.”
She types something, then reaches for the phone. “Sure, I will let Ms. Whitlock know. Please have a seat.”
I glance around the space: wood floors, a eucalyptus tree tucked into the corner, paintings of horses lining the walls. It’s calm, but I feel nothing of the sort. My hands tighten around the strap of my purse as I take a seat, Mandy dropping down beside me.
“Relax,” she whispers. “You’re gonna be fine. This is no big deal.”
But it is. She has no idea the kind of mess I’m trying to crawl out of.
My foot starts bouncing as the minutes drag, my eyes catching on the large black clock across the room, watching every second tick by.
Mandy scrolls on her phone while I try not to make myself even more nervous, so I start thinking about my boy.
What he’s doing right now. If he misses me. If he’s asking where I am.
Camille only lets me talk to him once a week, so the second I’m done here, I’m calling him. I just need to hear his voice.
The door down the hall opens, and a woman steps out.
“That’s her,” Mandy whispers.
My eyes follow Greer as she struts past us toward another room, long brown curls bouncing down her back, the kind of edge around her that warns people off before they ever get too close. She moves like everything in this world belongs to her.
She’s the kind of beautiful that looks effortless, but there’s something hard beneath it that makes my skin tighten.
I’ve only ever seen her from a distance and heard about her reputation, and from the look in her eyes, she more than lives up to it.
She seems like the type of woman who could end a man with one hand and never smudge her lipstick. I’ve met women like her before.
Jess was like that. The first time I saw her kill someone, I was fifteen. We were on a job at a local pawn shop, and when it didn’t go as well as they had hoped, she killed the witness.
I couldn’t sleep for weeks after that. I was going to leave as soon as it happened, but you don’t leave a gang once you’re in it. Not when you’ve seen what you’ve seen and know what they can do to you if you try.
Eli taught me that. He taught me a lot of things, like how to crack safes until I became better than him—so good, they started calling me Ghosthands.
It definitely wasn’t the type of talent I wanted to discover I had, but by sixteen, I was their it girl, and Barrett treated me like his golden prize.
Right up until I became a problem.
Eli was Barrett’s prodigy, the second-in-command. The one who acted like your friend until you weren’t useful. I didn’t know that back then. I was young and wanted so badly to belong, and Eli knew it too.
Images flash behind my eyes.
Eli with a bullet in his leg. Two others dead. Cops hauling some of the crew away while everything fell apart.
I got out. I don’t even know how, just that I ran and didn’t stop until my lungs burned. Samuel, my neighbor, found me after. The same man who later set me, Milo, and Camille up with new identities, whose house we’re renting now.
If it hadn’t been for him, I’d be dead. I still don’t know how he found me. He always felt bad for me, for the way I grew up, and once I got involved with Barrett, he tried to warn me. I just didn’t listen.
It didn’t matter at that point, though. All that mattered was that I was out, and I’d wanted out for so long it almost didn’t feel real.
But Samuel told me Barrett wanted me found. He blamed me when all of it went down. Someone had been talking to the police, and he’d decided it was me. But I never would have done that. Never. I had a son, and Barrett knew it. I wouldn’t have been stupid enough to put Milo in the crosshairs.
The door Greer walked into opens and she returns back to the one she came out of. I clear my throat, the past snapping shut as the secretary peers over from her desk.
“Ms. Maddox?”
“Yes?”
“Ms. Whitlock is ready for you now.”
My stomach squeezes as I rise, smoothing my hands down my jeans.
“Good luck,” Mandy whispers. “Don’t let her eat you.”
That doesn’t help. At all.
By the time I reach the last door, my hand hovers in front of it, frozen for half a second before I knock.
“Come in.”
Here goes nothing…
I push the door open and step inside, and there she is: the infamous Greer Whitlock, seated at a large desk with papers stacked neatly around her. She flips her curls over her shoulder, her eyes sharp and assessing as they lift to meet mine.
“You must be Sloane,” she says, her words smooth with a thread of subtle Southern drawl.
“I am.” I step forward, forcing myself to hold her gaze. “It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Whitlock.”
She sits up straighter, looking me up and down before glancing toward the chair in front of her. “Well, don’t just stand there looking like I might bite.”
A nervous laugh slips out as I shut the door and drop into the seat, forcing myself not to fidget.
“So…” She crosses her jean-clad legs. “What’d Mandy tell you about me?”
I grimace. “Uh, nothing really.”
Her brow lifts. “Come on. I know people around here talk. Hell, if they stopped, I’d think I was doin’ something wrong.
” She leans back as she folds her arms like she’s settling in for entertainment.
“Don’t be shy. I wanna hear it. Nobody ever tells me this stuff to my face.
Probably think I’ll shoot them or somethin’. ”
That’s because you probably would.
I hesitate, my fingers twisting together in my lap. “I don’t want to offend you.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” A faint grin tugs at her mouth. “If I got offended that easy, I’d never survive.”
I exhale and glance up at the ceiling before giving in. “Okay. Um…someone once said you have razor blades in your boots and—”
“Mm…” Her eyes light up with interest. “Go on.”
“And that you skinned a man alive once.” My face stiffens, but I keep going. “That you tied another one to your horse and dragged him until he died. And that down in Texas, you poisoned a woman with your lipstick because she went after your boyfriend, but nobody could ever prove it.”
Silence. She just stares at me, her expression going completely unreadable. My nerves sink the longer she doesn’t say anything.
Okay, so this is the part where I get asked to leave…
Then, out of nowhere, she lets out a sharp bark of laughter, tipping her head back slightly as it rolls out of her.
“Well, damn.” She shakes her head. “People around here got more imagination than folks back home, that’s for sure.” She rests her forearms on the desk, eyes locking on to mine with a wicked glint. “I’ll tell you this much.”
My breath catches.
“Half of that’s true.” Her mouth curves into a slow smile. “I’ll let you decide which half.”
No, thank you. I’d rather not.
She studies me a moment longer. “So, why do you want this job?”
I sit up straighter. “Honestly? I need the money. That’s the truth. But I also love horses. I’ve always loved being around animals, and I really like working with people. I’m managing the diner now and still waitressing there six days a week. But I’m hoping to pick up extra hours here.”
Greer nods thoughtfully. “We can put you on payroll and see how it goes. How’s this Friday?”
My heart leaps. “Really?”
It can’t be that easy.
“Yeah, why not? If you’ve got enough balls to tell me all that to my face when not even my brothers could, then I’ve gotta give you a chance now, don’t I?”
Emotions stir in my chest. “Thank you so much. I won’t disappoint you.”
“I know you won’t.” Grabbing the phone off her desk, she types something, then glances back up. “We’ve also got a petting zoo behind the bed and breakfast. You’d help out there too.”
“That’s fine. Whatever you need.”
Her smile grows a touch wider. “Perfect. Nice to have you, Sloane.”
“Thank you.” I try not to grin like an idiot as I stand.
I got the job. I really got the job.
“Alright, come on. I wanna show you around and introduce you to my sister, Thora, who helps me run this place.”
She starts to rise, and I follow suit, keeping pace with her as she starts for where Mandy is waiting. When she sees me, she gives a subtle thumbs-up, and I nod, letting her know I got it.
“You can come too, Mandy,” Greer calls over her shoulder.
Mandy immediately jumps to her feet and walks up beside me.
“Where are we going?” she whispers in my ear.
“She’s gonna show me around.”
“I told you she’d love you.”
“That’s a stretch,” I say under my breath.
Once we arrive at the lot, Greer unlocks her cherry-red SUV.
“Damn, that’s a Rolls-Royce,” Mandy breathes.
I wouldn’t have recognized that unless she’d told me. I know very little about pricey cars.