Chapter Twenty-One
Nora
Firebrook Valley
I stood in front of my bedroom mirror while late-afternoon sun painted long shadows across the floorboards. I was back in Dad’s house, wrapped in the familiar rhythm of Firebrook Valley, but the peace felt like a borrowed coat that didn’t quite fit.
My fingers went, as they always did, to the braided leather on my wrist.
It was frayed at the edges now, the leather darkened by years of wear. For a long time, this hadn’t just been a bracelet; it had been a promise. It was my proof that Evan Holliston was my guardian angel—the man who would always come if I was truly lost.
But New York had been a cold wake-up call.
I closed my eyes, and for a second I wasn’t in my room. I was back in that high-ceilinged exclusive club, looking into Evan’s eyes. I’d seen torment there—I was sure of it. I’d felt the heat of his touch, the way his body seemed to lean toward mine even as his words pushed me away.
Was I wrong? The thought sat like a cold stone in my stomach. Maybe I hadn’t seen his soul, maybe I’d only seen my own reflection staring back. Maybe I’d spent a decade building a cathedral out of a few kind words and one bar rescue.
If Palila or Emma had come to me with this story—if they told me they were still pining for a man who treated them like a distraction and pushed them away the moment things got real—I knew exactly what I’d say.
I would tell them they were worth more. I’d tell them to stop looking for water in a dry well and to let him go.
My thumb hooked under the leather, ready to tug it over my hand. I wanted to be that strong. I wanted to be the woman who didn’t need a scrap of worn braid to feel safe.
But as the leather tightened against my skin, my heart gave a sharp, stubborn lunge. I couldn’t do it. Not today. Taking it off felt like admitting the one person who had truly seen me was only a ghost I had invented.
I let out a shaky breath and let the braid snap back against my wrist. Not yet, I whispered to the empty room. Just not yet.
I smoothed my sweater, trying to steady the tremor in my hands, and headed downstairs. I needed a glass of water. I needed to be busy. I needed to find the version of Nora Burke who wasn’t constantly looking over her shoulder for a man who had already told her to leave.
The house was quiet, the air thick with the scent of old wood and the lingering chill of a valley evening.
Halfway down the stairs I noticed a thin sliver of light bleeding from beneath Dad’s study door, and it stopped me mid-step.
My heart hammered a sudden, erratic rhythm against my ribs.
Part of me wanted to knock—to ask if he was okay, to tell him he didn’t have to carry the weight of the world alone.
Then I heard the voices.
“…and you’re sure this is airtight?” It was Dad’s voice—rough, tired, sounding as if he hadn’t slept in days.
A pause followed, then another voice answered through a speakerphone. “Rock solid, Cody. That old joint venture Gabe pushed through years ago, the one his daughter signed off on without digging into the financials? It’s a goldmine.”
My stomach tightened into a cold knot.
“Fudged investor reports,” the man continued. “Gabe manipulated the numbers to make your company look unstable and scared off your biggest backers.”
I stepped closer to the door before I realized I was moving.
“We leak it anonymously,” the voice suggested. “The SEC gets involved. A fraud investigation. Their entire operation collapses, and no one traces it back to you.”
My blood went cold.
“And the leverage?” Dad asked quietly.
The man chuckled. “We hold the originals. Gabe steps away from Firebrook Valley quietly—sells the ranch cheap, maybe to you—or we make sure the Feds bury him. The legal fees alone will destroy them.”
There was a long, agonizing pause. Then my father said, almost softly, “Finally.”
My chest tightened until it was hard to breathe.
“After all these years,” he added. “He’ll lose everything.”
The call ended. The hallway suddenly felt too small, the air too thin. The study door swung open before I could step away, and Dad froze when he saw me.
“Nora.”
“You can’t do this.” The words burst out of me.
He stepped aside slowly, gesturing for me to enter. “You don’t understand.”
“I do understand. Too much.” I shut the door behind me, my pulse racing. “You’re going to destroy them. Blackmail Gabe. Leak information so the government comes after them—”
“Not leak,” he corrected sharply. “Expose.”
“Dad.”
His eyes flashed with a sudden, fierce light. “These are facts, Nora. Gabe Holliston has been sabotaging me for decades. This isn’t revenge. This is justice.”
“Justice?” I laughed bitterly, the sound echoing off the bookshelves. “This is obsession. You need to let go of the past, Dad. Whatever happened between you and Gabe—it’s over. It has to be.”
He shook his head, pacing the length of the study like a caged predator. “You don’t know what he did. If you did, you’d understand why he deserves this.”
“Then tell me!” My voice cracked, raw with frustration. “Explain it. Because all I see is a man who has let hate run his life for thirty years.”
He stopped pacing, but he didn’t turn around.
“You need to leave Firebrook Valley for a while,” I said softly, pleading now. “Go somewhere else. Talk to someone about whatever happened between you and Gabe. This isn’t healthy.”
He shook his head, his posture rigid. “I have to do this.”
“No,” I said, my hands beginning to tremble. “You don’t. If you go through with this, you won’t only lose Drew.”
He slowly turned to face me.
“You’ll lose me too,” I whispered.
The words hung in the air, heavy and irrevocable. For a fleeting moment, I thought I saw something crack in his expression—fear, grief, perhaps even a flicker of doubt.
“You don’t understand,” he repeated.
“Then help me understand!”
Silence stretched between us, the kind that feels like standing on the edge of a precipice. His shoulders sagged slightly, but when he finally spoke, his voice was deathly steady. “I can’t let this go.”
My chest felt hollowed out. “Then you’re choosing it,” I whispered, “over Drew and me.”
He didn’t answer. He just walked past me, out of the study and down the hall. I stood there for a long time before my legs finally gave out. I sank into his chair, staring at the dark window across the room.
I was fighting to find sunshine while my father was seeding the clouds for a storm so destructive I didn’t know how any of us would survive it.
And I didn’t know how to stop him.