Chapter 3 #2
She shrugged, a gesture clearly meant to seem casual but betrayed by the tension in her shoulders.
“How could you? Our identities were completely changed after that. My mother and I became Diana and Sadie Blair. We moved to Salt Lake. She died three years ago—cancer.” Her expression softened with grief.
“So now it’s just me.” Her eyes fluttered, and she threw a hand through the air. “Trying to figure all of this out.”
Compassion filled him. He tried to process everything she was telling him. Witness protection. Murder. False identities. It sounded like something from a crime thriller, not the life of the girl he’d taken to prom. “What’s so important about this gold?” he finally asked.
The question seemed to catch her off guard. She looked away, her gaze settling on a framed photograph Nash hadn’t noticed before—an older man with her same green eyes, smiling beside a younger version of Sadie at what appeared to be a college graduation.
“Because I think it’s all connected,” she said finally. “To everything. To why my father was killed, to why Bill was murdered. I think whatever Porter Rockwell hid in those mountains is bigger than just gold. I think it will uncover secrets that have been plaguing my family for a long time.”
Nash sucked in a breath. “Dang …”
She shook her head. “Just go, Nash. Don’t get involved in whatever this is. It puts you in danger.”
He sat and ran his hand through his hair. “I’m already in danger. My whole family is.”
She stared at him. “That’s why you’re investigating this?”
He nodded, then turned back to the research wall with its intricate connections.
“Then help me,” she said softly.
He stared into her tortured eyes. Then he sighed. Maybe he was making a mistake, but he could see now that she was too involved to let this all go. “Fine. I recently was given correspondence between my family and the Stone family.”
“The ones in South Carolina,” she said immediately. “The ones initially involved in the conquistador gold.”
He nodded. “I see you’ve done your research.”
She leaned back. “Of course.” Tears suddenly bubbled into her eyes.
“Poor Bill. He didn’t tell me all of that, but he was just as frenzied as I was about this research.
He had dedicated his life to it, and he said one time that beneath the secrets of the Porter Rockwell gold, there were a lot of other secrets to uncover. Maybe that’s what he meant.”
Nash sent a group text to his brother Porter and Trey Stone. Could you guys find out if Bill Harris served as a SEAL with our fathers? I have a lead, I think.
Instantly, Trey texted back. Give me a sec.
“What?” Sadie asked.
He shook his head. “Not sure. I’m checking to see if Bill Harris served as a Navy SEAL with my father and the Stone family father.”
She looked confused, then nodded. “Okay, I wasn’t sure how your two families were connected, but now I get it. They served together.”
“Maybe.”
“How do you know that?”
He figured he might as well just tell her.
After all, she had shared some pretty deep secrets about her own life and her family.
“I’ve recently seen a letter between my family, their family, and a Mr. Harris from Salt Lake in regards to the Porter Rockwell gold.
But there was nothing else in the letter, and we don’t know why he reached out to our fathers. ”
“You think Mr. Harris from the letter is Bill Harris, the BYU professor?”
He shrugged. “It seems like it fits.”
“Hmm,” she said, seeming to ponder. “What else can you tell me about your search for gold?”
He hesitated.
“Hey, I’ve already told you a lot,” she said.
He figured he did need the help, and maybe she would know something he didn’t. “The broken arrow symbol. My family first found it on decommissioned missile silos on our ranch. My father was a Navy SEAL who helped decommission them.”
Her eyes widened slightly. “Missile silos? On your ranch?”
Nash nodded. “Hidden ones that weren’t on any official maps.”
“That’s … not what I expected,” she admitted. “In my research, the broken arrow is connected to Porter Rockwell through a group called the Danites—a sort of protective force in early Mormon history. Rockwell was one of their leaders.”
He hesitated. “And you think Rockwell hid gold in the mountains? Gold that somehow connects to the conquistador gold my family has been tracking?”
Sadie ran a hand through her hair, dislodging more strands from her ponytail.
“I don’t know. That’s what Bill and I were trying to figure out.
He believed the broken arrow marked caches of various valuable items—not just gold, but documents, weapons, artifacts.
Things the early Mormon settlers wanted to protect or hide. ”
Nash’s mind was racing now, legal training kicking in as he connected dots. “I wonder if he found that out from my father?”
She shrugged. “Could be.”
His phone buzzed. It was on the group text thread with Porter and Trey.
There was a Bill Harris from Salt Lake City in their Bravo unit, Trey had texted.
“What does it say?” She must have seen something tense in his face.
His heart was racing as he told her what the text said.
“Wow,” she said softly.
“We need to have a meeting. Everyone needs to know this.”
“No.” Sadie sat up straighter, wincing as she jostled her ankle. “Absolutely not. The fewer people who know about this, the better.”
He grunted. “Too late. The Stones and the Crosses have been in this for years together. We’ve dealt with threats, violence—they even had a fire at the ranch that was definitely arson. Mafia ties that were used to sell the gold. They’re already involved whether you want them to be or not.”
Sadie looked genuinely distressed at this information. “That’s exactly why you should stay away from me, from all of this. People get hurt, Nash. People die.”
“Which is precisely why we need to work together,” Nash countered. “More resources, more protection, more chances of figuring this out before anyone else gets hurt.”
She shook her head firmly. “No way. I work alone. It’s safer that way.”
Nash couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him.
“Safer? Your research partner was murdered a week ago. Your security system might as well have a neon sign saying ‘paranoid resident lives here.’ And you’re clearly injured.
How exactly is that safer?” He gestured to her. “Plus, we’ve just shared information.”
She scoffed, then looked horrified. “Ohmygosh, I need to think. This is all happening too fast. Please go.”
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“Go!” she shouted.
Nash knew when to back off. Even though he didn’t want to leave her, he needed to go talk to everyone. “Here’s my number. When you’re ready to talk—really talk—call me.” He placed his card on her coffee table.
She stared at the card, still looking horrified.
He paused with his hand on the doorknob, looking back at her. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry about your father. And I’m sorry about how things ended—or didn’t end—between us.”
Sadie’s expression softened slightly and her eyes flitted back to him. “Me too.”
“Lock up behind me,” Nash said. “All three locks.”
A ghost of a smile touched her lips. “I always do.”
Nash stepped into the hallway, waiting until he heard all three locks engage before heading toward the stairs.
As he walked to his Jeep, his mind was already working through the next steps.
He needed to know more about Bill Harris’s murder, more about Porter Rockwell’s connection to the broken arrow, and definitely more about how all of this connected to his family’s gold hunt.
But most importantly, he needed to figure out how to convince Sadie Blair that whatever danger she was facing, she didn’t have to face it alone.
As he climbed into his Jeep, Nash pulled out his phone and initiated a group video call with the Cross and Stone families. After everything that had happened between their families, they had agreed on total transparency.
One by one, their faces appeared on his screen.
“I’ve found a lead on the gold,” he said, skipping the greetings. “A significant one.”
That got their attention.
“What kind of lead?” Chance asked.
Nash took a deep breath. “I ran into Amanda Levitt today.”
“Your prom date?” Blaze looked confused. “The one who disappeared?”
“Yeah, except she calls herself Sadie Blair now. She’s been living in Salt Lake, and get this—she’s researching Porter Rockwell’s connection to a gold cache in the mountains. The same cache I’ve been tracking.”
The rest of the faces stared at him in disbelief and blank nonunderstanding.
“That’s … quite a coincidence,” Brooks said carefully.
“It gets better,” Nash continued. “Her research partner, a history professor named Bill Harris, was murdered last week in Provo Canyon. Shotgun blast to the back of the head.”
“Good grief,” Colt muttered. “And she thinks it’s connected to the gold?”
“Trey says that Bill Harris was a SEAL with our fathers.”
Everyone went completely quiet.
“Dang,” Trent said.
“Crazy,” Hunter said.
Kensi cleared her throat. “Does this … old prom date know about all of this?”
“A lot of it,” Nash offered. “She’s got an entire research wall in her apartment connecting Porter Rockwell to the broken arrow symbol.”
Porter leaned forward. “The same symbol from the missile silos?”
“Exactly. She believes Rockwell used it to mark caches throughout the mountains. Not just gold, but documents, weapons, artifacts—things the early Mormons wanted to protect.”
Brooks was already typing something on another device. “I’ll look into Bill Harris’s murder. What else can you tell me about this woman? Sadie Blair, you said?”
“That’s where it gets complicated.” Nash glanced toward Sadie’s window, where he could still see her silhouette moving near her research wall.
“She told me that her family was in witness protection in Cross Creek. Her father was supposed to testify against someone dangerous. They had to flee the night of our prom, and her father was killed the next day.”
A moment of stunned silence followed.
“Wow,” Cheyenne said. “That’s sad.”
“Are you sure about this?” Brooks asked, his expression now intensely focused. “Witness protection is federal jurisdiction.”
“That’s what she told me. I believe her.” Nash hesitated, then made a decision. “Brooks, I need you to look into not just this murder, but Sadie Blair herself. Her history, her connection to witness protection, everything you can find. I need to know what I’m dealing with here.”
The FBI agent nodded. “I’ll see what I can do. Might take some clearance to access witness protection records, but I have channels.”
“I don’t like this,” Porter said. “If Bill Harris is the same one who was just killed, and this woman’s father was killed after their cover was blown, getting involved with her could bring heat on all of us.”
“Too late,” Nash replied. “We’re already involved.”
Chance rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. “He’s right. If there’s a connection, we need to know about it.”
“What’s your next move?” Colt asked.
Nash glanced again toward Sadie’s window. “I’m going to try to convince her to work with us instead of alone. She’s scared, but she knows things we don’t.”
“Be careful,” Blaze warned. “If people are getting killed over this …”
“I know.” Nash’s tone was resolute. “But I’m not about to let her disappear from my life again. And I’m definitely not letting her face whatever this is by herself.”
They all looked shocked.
Trey cleared his throat. “Well, then it seems you’ve decided this.”
“That’s why I called.”
“I’ll call with updates from my end,” Brooks said. “And Nash—watch your back. We’ve seen how dangerous people can get when they’re after this gold.”
The group nodded solemnly, all of them remembering the violence that had come with their gold hunt—particularly from Truman Birch, who had nearly destroyed their family before his obsession led to his own death.
Everyone echoed goodbyes as the call ended.
Whatever she was hiding, whatever danger surrounded this gold hunt, one thing was certain: Amanda Levitt—Sadie Blair—had just become the most important lead in the Cross family’s search for the conquistador gold.
And Nash wasn’t going to be blindsided again—by either the danger or the woman at the center of it all.