Chapter Sixteen #3
A chuckle shook his chest before he continued with his story.
“My heart sank because there was really only one valid reason he wasn’t there.
Someone had picked him up for dinner. I searched his office and found a second phone I didn’t know he had buried in his desk.
The battery was dead, and I figured I didn’t have time to charge it and go through it.
I found nothing out of place until I went through his trash can and found a note that he’d scribbled on a fast-food napkin. ”
Finley snorted. “Dude sure has an MO.” He worried he’d overstepped until a chuckle vibrated through the muscular chest beneath his head. It made Finley want to snuggle closer, but that was impossible unless he could burrow into Kieran’s skin.
“Yeah, he does,” Kieran agreed. “This time the note was to himself. It read, ‘Cash Sweeney. Mackenzie’s Chophouse at 7.’” Finley bolted into a sitting position but didn’t let go of Kieran’s hand.
“The meetup was scheduled on our anniversary, which was why Ritchie wasn’t in his office working as he’d claimed.
I drove over to the restaurant and parked where I could see the entrance.
They didn’t come out until eight thirty or later.
Cash was dressed like a millionaire cowboy and Ritchie had put on a sport coat I didn’t know he owned.
” Kieran inhaled shakily. “I felt so humiliated seeing them together on our anniversary, but I tried to observe them objectively. It was plain to me that Ritchie was being his most charming self. Cash was laughing at whatever he’d said and didn’t pull away when Ritchie laid his hand on Cash’s bicep or forearm.
” Kieran tilted his head to one side. “Now that some time has passed, I think Cash was tolerating Ritchie’s flirtations.
He didn’t reciprocate or initiate anything, at least not in public.
Not everyone is comfortable with PDA, so I can’t say for sure they weren’t fucking.
” His mouth curved into a sneer. “Just not that night. I sent Ritchie a text that I’d gotten off early and was heading toward him with dinner.
I watched the fucker fish his phone out of his pocket and read the text.
He didn’t reply, but Cash drove him straight back to the body shop. ”
“What happened?” Finley asked.
“I beat them back to the shop and was sitting at Ritchie’s desk, dangling the napkin from my fingers when he returned.
I’d never seen him look so furious. He verbally attacked me and turned the whole thing around on me.
He said it was just an innocent dinner with a potential investor and anything more was all in my imagination.
Ritchie reminded me that he had big dreams and Cash was the kind of man who could help him achieve them.
He did it for our future.” Kieran shook his head.
“But I’d recognized the look in Ritchie’s eyes, that determination to get Cash Sweeney in his bed.
I knew if it hadn’t already happened, it would only be a matter of time. ”
“But you stayed?” Kieran dropped his gaze but not before Finley saw the shame in his dark eyes. Finley cupped his chin and raised it until their eyes met again. “Don’t do that. If you stayed, you thought you had a good reason at the time.”
“No one had told me they loved me until Ritchie,” he said, swallowing hard.
“I couldn’t give up. I begged Ritchie for forgiveness.
” Tears spilled out of his eyes. “I hate him most for that. I’d never begged anyone for anything until he came along.
Ritchie’s love poisoned me and made me weak.
I depended on him for everything—the food I ate, the clothes I wore, and even the car I drove belonged to him.
My beater died not long after I met Ritchie.
He arranged for me to sell it to a junkyard for scrap, and I told him to keep the money toward monthly expenses.
I barely worked enough to pay for the apartment he insisted I keep.
He was my entire world, and I couldn’t imagine starting over without him. I know that makes me sound pitiful.”
Finley’s heart plummeted, and he dropped their joined hands so he could straddle Kieran’s lap.
Cupping his face, Finley said, “Baby, no.” The endearment slipped out, but he wasn’t sorry, and he didn’t want to take it back.
“You weren’t weak or pitiful. Ritchie preyed on you from your very first meeting.
Everything you’ve described so far is the work of an abusive bastard.
Ritchie wanted you to catch him jerking off and fucking himself with a dildo.
He wanted you to feel insecure and beaten down.
It’s how he kept you in place. I’ll never understand people like him. ”
Had Ritchie cheated on Kieran with Cash?
That didn’t explain why Finley’s camera equipment was in Cash’s closet.
Or did it? Finley knew where Kieran was steering him, but he didn’t want to travel that path.
He wanted to think Cash was just another of Ritchie’s innocent victims, but it was getting harder to do.
Kieran had alluded to his suspicions earlier but hadn’t come right out and said it.
Finley had tried to say it for him, but Kieran had shushed him, presumably so they wouldn’t be overheard.
Most of the crew was gone until dinnertime or later, but Kieran had been wise to be cautious.
Alone in the small cabin, he no longer had an excuse to put off the inevitable.
There was a minimum of three sides to every story—Kieran’s, Cash’s, and the truth.
Finley wouldn’t stop asking questions until he’d probed all the angles.
He held Kieran’s gaze and said, “You think Cash is the puppet master.” Finley didn’t frame his remark as a question.
He knew fully well what Kieran suspected.
“And you deliberately sought out Cash’s K9 program at the jail, hoping to learn more about him and make a good enough impression to get an invitation to work on the ranch. ” Again, he didn’t ask.
“At first, I just wanted to see if Cash recognized my name,” Kieran said.
“I suspected Ritchie was involved in a rash of car thefts but knew he didn’t act alone.
Cash felt like a good fit for the person pulling the strings.
If that were so, he would’ve known about my connection to Ritchie and my arrest.”
“Do you think he recognized you?”
“Not that I could tell, but I didn’t expect him to give much away.”
“But you stuck with the program?” Finley asked.
Kieran gave him a genuine smile. “I fell in love with the dogs. Patsy in particular. Then I heard about Redemption Ridge, and it made me even more suspicious of Cash’s character.
I made it my mission to see what was going on here.
If there was a way to tie Ritchie and Cash to the car theft ring, I wanted to find it. ”
“And have you reached a verdict?” Finley asked.
Kieran lifted his free hand and cupped the back of Finley’s neck.
“No. So far, all I’ve found is a hell of a lot of hard work and some wonderful people, but that doesn’t mean my initial suspicions were wrong.
The stolen camera equipment proves my point.
The security guard was probably in on it if that’s what he really was.
We were dumb to think Ritchie wouldn’t have scouts monitoring any transactions going down.
Someone followed us to the motel and stole the camera out of the truck when we were in the room.
” Kieran’s expression softened. “Just to be very clear, my only regret that night was letting you down. The moments we shared in that shitty room are branded on my soul. I owe you an apology for my behavior, and you’ll have it.
Let’s just sort out the stuff with Cash first.”
Finley nodded, though he’d already forgiven Kieran.
“Why did Redemption Ridge make you more suspicious about Cash?” The answer was probably obvious, but he was too biased in Cash’s favor to see it clearly.
Kieran’s cheeks flushed, and the dread Finley had seen earlier returned.
“This stays between us, and I will not judge you. Tell me what you know or suspect so I can help you.”
Kieran held his gaze for several moments before answering.
“Redemption Ridge would make an excellent cover. Find vulnerable guys without families, give them a second chance, earn their trust, and…make them the fall guys for whatever illegal scheme or schemes Cash is running.” There wasn’t an ounce of conviction in Kieran’s voice, and Finley wondered if he realized it.
Finley leaned his forehead against Kieran’s.
“I know the world has collectively let you down, and I understand how and why you leaped to that conclusion. But good people do exist, and Cash Sweeney is one of the best.” Kieran stiffened, and Finley knew he needed to walk the tightrope.
One false move could mean disastrous results.
Kieran trusted him, and he couldn’t blow it.
“Don’t lock yourself down again. I believe you, Kieran.
I don’t know how or why my camera equipment ended up in his office, but I will give Cash an opportunity to explain himself.
It’s the least I can do because I have seen this man work miracles.
” Finley reached up and carded his fingers through Kieran’s inky locks.
“Ivan has been here for five years. I know there’s no love lost between the two of you, but he can smell a bullshitter ten miles away.
He’d lay down his life for Cash. These guys aren’t without families.
They earn vacation time like everyone else with a job.
Sometimes they go home to visit and sometimes their families come here.
Cash hosts them at the ranch when they do.
Those aren’t the actions of a man who plans to use their sons and brothers as bait. ”