Chapter One #2
Kieran’s good behavior had gained him access to the K9 programs at Arrowhead, where he’d met Cash and his dogs from Redemption Ridge.
The front passenger window rolled down, and a familiar black-and-white head poked out.
Patsy, a border collie, was the first dog he’d met during the program, and it had been love at first sight for them.
It turned out Kieran had a sixth sense when working with animals, especially the shyest ones.
His talents had captured Cash’s notice, and he’d offered Kieran employment and housing on his ranch, where he rehabilitated horses and dogs.
Kieran’s participation in the program and the subsequent employment opportunity hadn’t been divine intervention or luck; it was all part of his carefully orchestrated plan.
Cash Sweeney’s rags-to-riches story was the stuff that made journalists cream themselves.
A former inmate himself, Cash got hired to work at a ranch near Last Chance Creek, Colorado, after leaving lockup.
He seized the opportunity and turned his life around, creating a software company and becoming a self-made millionaire and a media darling.
Information about Cash wasn’t hard to find, but how much of it was true?
Kieran had seen more dogged investigations performed by Taylor Swift fans when analyzing her videos for Easter eggs than from the so-called journalists reporting on Cash’s altruistic endeavors.
Kieran knew the leopard hadn’t changed his spots, and he was going to prove it.
Patsy let out three excited barks, urging Kieran to hurry.
He picked up the pace as the wind kicked up and the clouds threatened to erupt again, but he paused outside the passenger door instead of reaching for the handle.
Patsy wiggled farther out the window to lick his face.
Pushing his fingers into her silky fur, Kieran said, “I’ve missed you, pretty girl. ”
Cash had recently rotated the dogs in the program, and Kieran hadn’t seen Patsy in a few months except in photos and videos of her visiting sick kids at the hospital or horsing around at the ranch.
Kieran knew the smug ranch owner was watching their interaction because he felt the intensity of Cash’s stare.
Raising his head, Kieran’s gaze collided with intelligent blue eyes.
“She’s missed you too,” Cash said, his voice deep and gruff.
Kieran held his gaze for a moment before releasing Patsy and sliding over to the rear passenger door.
The truck’s interior smelled like leather, cinnamon, and something subtle and woodsy like aftershave.
It was a welcome reprieve from the misery that clung to every surface in the prison or the motor oil on the asphalt.
The door shut with an audible click, and Kieran reminded himself that he was there of his own free will.
Patsy let out a triumphant bark, and Cash chuckled as he rolled up her window.
“You didn’t have to sit back there. She would’ve moved with a simple command.
” Kieran knew firsthand how obedient and well trained Patsy was, but he preferred to sit in the back with his thoughts as company.
Introspection had been his existence for the past twenty months.
What else was a wrongfully convicted man to do but try to figure out what went wrong, who was responsible, and how he could make them pay?
Kieran had a brain full of suspicions and questions, but what he needed was answers.
Redemption Ridge was a good place to start.
Cash put the truck in drive and pulled forward, and Kieran was grateful he didn’t fill the ride with endless chatter.
He played music on the radio with the volume turned low.
Kieran kept his gaze on what he could see of the Rocky Mountains through the thick cloud cover.
He was just as mesmerized by their splendor as he’d been when he’d stepped off the Greyhound bus when he was twenty-one.
Kieran had been California bound with no goal other than to get as far away from Ohio as possible.
He’d only meant to hang out in Colorado Springs for a brief layover before catching the next bus, but those craggy mountains and the cerulean sky had held him spellbound.
They awakened the artistic side of him he’d locked in the basement of his soul because pretty art was for other people to make and enjoy.
For the first time in Kieran’s life, he’d felt like anything was possible.
Even now, when all he had found was more hurt and disappointment, he still couldn’t imagine a view that didn’t include Pike’s Peak.
The whoosh of the tires on the rain-slicked roads nearly lulled him to sleep as the truck navigated the winding roads, but Kieran forced himself to sit up straighter.
He couldn’t afford to let his guard down, not for a minute.
No distractions. No attachments. While it wasn’t fair to blame the entirety of his situation on the man behind the wheel, Kieran’s life had taken a sudden downturn the night he learned of his existence.
Cash Sweeney. Mackenzie’s Chophouse at 7.
One hastily scribbled note in his boyfriend’s handwriting and a clandestine meeting had changed the trajectory of Kieran’s life.
He’d relived that moment and everything that transpired afterward for nearly two years.
The time for introspection had passed; now was the moment for action.
And that started with uncovering the role Cash Sweeney had played in ruining his life.