Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Tanner’s boots pounded against the pavement as he sprinted around the side of the bakery, heart slamming against his ribs with every stride. The front door was locked tight. As soon as he’d seen Preston’s car across the street from the bakery, he’d known Junie was in danger.
Fear and fury twisted together in his chest, a lethal combination that made his blood run hot. He had never been more grateful for the years of conditioning that kept his body moving even when his mind screamed at him to break the glass and go through it anyway.
Please let the back door be unlocked, he thought, the prayer slipping out before he could stop it. For the first time in his life, he was hoping Junie had been distracted enough this morning to forget her usual routine.
She’d mentioned something about a big shipment coming in early to replace everything destroyed in the food fight. That’s why he’d headed into town to help her restock the shelves.
They would have come in through the back door…
The knob turned in his hand.
A rush of elation hit him, sharp and bright, but it died just as fast when the door cracked open an inch and stopped. Something heavy was blocking it from the inside. He shoved harder, shoulder slamming against the wood, but the door only gave another stubborn inch before stopping cold.
“Damn it,” he growled, the sound low and guttural.
He remembered her sleepy voice that morning as she kissed him goodbye.
“Got a big delivery coming in today. I need to get there early to make sure everything’s there.
” Those boxes of flour, sugar, and cases of chokecherries were almost certainly piled right against the back door.
From inside the bakery, he heard Preston’s voice, raised and unhinged. “Don’t fight me on this, Junie!”
The words hit Tanner like a physical blow. Rage, pure and blinding, flooded every inch of him. No amount of boxes, no locked door, nothing in this world was going to keep him from his Little girl.
He took two steps back, then rammed his shoulder into the door with everything he had. Wood splintered. The stack of boxes shifted forward with a crash, and he forced his way inside, the door banging open against the wall.
The kitchen was a mess of fallen supplies, but that would have to wait. Junie needed him. He burst through the swinging doors just in time to see Preston bolting out the front, the bell jingling wildly behind him.
“Junie!” Tanner crossed the distance between them in three long strides and dropped to his knees in front of her.
She sat on the cold wood floor with her back against the wall, knees drawn up tight to her chest, arms wrapped around herself like she was trying to hold her pieces together. Her face was pale, her eyes wide and glassy with shock. The sight of her like that nearly broke him.
She tried to assure him she wasn’t hurt, but then he saw the fingertip marks on her arm. They were already beginning to bruise. Fury, unlike anything he’d ever known, exploded inside of him.
“He’s going to die,” Tanner yelled, getting up. “Lock the doors, babygirl!” he called over his shoulder as he ran outside.
The street was busy with tourists and locals enjoying the weekend festival. Preston had a head start, but Tanner knew what direction he’d gone. Taking off at a full sprint, he weaved through the crowd, his Bluetooth already connecting.
Griff answered on the first ring. “Tanner?”
“Preston was at the bakery. He violated the order. I’m chasing him now. Pull the footage from the second he got anywhere near the building. I want to see exactly what he said and did to her. Send a copy to Sam and Weston.”
“On it,” Griff said, voice sharp and focused. “Don’t do anything stupid, man.”
“The only stupid thing I did was leaving my woman at the bakery without a bodyguard,” Tanner bit out, dodging a group of festival-goers. “I’m fixing that right now.”
Tanner kept running, scanning the crowded street for any sign of Lassiter. Then he spotted him about fifty yards ahead. Before Tanner could catch up to him, Preston ducked inside a department store. Tanner pushed through the doors and searched every aisle.
It was unbelievable and beyond infuriating, but Preston was gone. It was like he’d vanished. Tanner slammed his fist against a display shelf, breathing hard, anger and frustration burning through him.
He’d underestimated Preston. The man was fixated, but, though he’d warned Junie, even he hadn’t realized how completely unhinged Preston was.
Until today, he’d shown every indication that he would honor the restraining order.
Tanner had let his guard down. That mistake could have cost him everything.
Tanner raced back to the bakery, legs burning, chest tight. When he burst through the door, Junie was in Poppy’s arms, crying softly. Poppy looked up at him, still stroking Junie’s back.
“Thank you,” Tanner said to her, doing his best to keep his voice quiet and gentle.
He took Junie from Poppy’s arms and pulled her against his chest, holding her tight. She melted into him immediately, face buried in his shirt, her small hands fisting in the fabric like she was afraid he might disappear. Her composure broke into violent sobs.
He held her trembling body until the shaking eased and his own heartbeat slowed. When his phone rang, he took the call.
“We need you at the ranch,” Boone said without preamble. “Now. Bring Junie. The girls are all there.”
Junie still clung to him, but she’d overheard enough to understand. “I can’t close the shop,” she whispered. “I have orders and—”
Poppy spoke up from behind the counter. “I’m working on the orders. It’s just pickup day. I can handle it. Most people won’t pick these up until they get off work. You don’t need to be here if he might come back.”
Tanner nodded. “Thanks, Poppy. I’ll call Sam. Mitch can stay with you until we’re back.”
He got Junie into his truck, buckled her in, and drove straight to the ranch. He dropped her off at the main house where the other girls were waiting, then headed to the Wild River Security building.
The team was already gathered when he walked in. Boone, Chance, Trace, Griff, Dutch, and the rest of the Wild Men sat around the long table. The footage was already queued up on the big screen.
Tanner watched in silence as Preston entered the bakery, the way he smiled at Junie like she belonged to him, the way his mask slipped when she rejected him. When Preston grabbed her and forced a kiss on her, Tanner’s hands clenched into fists so tight his knuckles turned white.
“I want him dead,” he said, voice low and deadly. “I tried to be nice. I tried to be legal. None of it worked. I’m done playing by the rules.”
Boone and Trace exchanged a long look. Boone leaned forward. “At least hear us out first. We’ve been digging since the last meeting. You need to know exactly what you’re dealing with.”
Griff started, sliding a tablet across the table.
Tanner looked down at a list of transactions. “What the hell am I looking at?”
“Financials are a mess if you don’t know where to look,” Griff said.
“Harlan Lassiter’s firm has been involved in at least four aggressive land deals in the last three years.
Small ranchers suddenly selling at below-market value after ‘financial pressure’.
Two of them mentioned anonymous calls threatening to call in loans that had been purchased from the bank. ”
Jude cut in, arms crossed. “I talked to one of those ranchers yesterday. Old man Whitaker. Said some slick-talking kid from Wilder Wealth Management showed up with the loan papers in hand. Whitaker never even knew his loan could be transferred. Next thing he knows, he’s got thirty days to vacate or come up with the cash on the spot.
His lawyer told him it was completely legal, though unethical as hell. ”
Chance frowned. “That sounds more like extortion with the government’s blessing.”
“Exactly,” Griff said. “And Preston’s name is on three of the four deals as the closer. Kid’s learning fast from Daddy.”
Ryker spoke up from the far end of the table, his voice low. “Kai and I dug into some of his East Coast connections. Graymore Academy wasn’t kind to him.”
“That was after he went to Wilder Community School with Junie?” Tanner asked.
“Right. He only went to school here for a couple of semesters. It was during that time that he met Junie. That was their ninth grade year. After that, his mother insisted he be sent back to Graymore Academy, the boarding school in Connecticut, to finish his high school. We got a former classmate on the phone who was willing to talk to us. The way he tells it, Preston was an entitled little shit who thought the rules didn’t apply to him.
He got accused of sexual assault more than once.
Nothing that stuck officially, but there were three separate complaints about him cornering girls, making threats, and sending obsessive notes.
This guy said it was an open secret that the girls’ families were paid off, and a generous donation to the school always followed. Classic rich-kid cover-up.”
Kai nodded, adding, “The parents weren’t any better.
We talked to three people who knew the family when they first moved to Wilder.
One woman who worked at the country club said Carolyn Lassiter was, and I quote, ‘a stuck up bitch who only cared about appearances’ unquote.
Preston was the golden heir. She put insane pressure on him to be perfect.
He had to have the best grades, the best connections, and the best wife.
Harlan was worse. Told him a real man takes what he wants.
Kid grew up thinking the world owed him everything, especially the female half of the world. ”
“Everybody knows Harlan isn’t exactly a faithful family man, whatever front they put on,” Boone said.
Tanner’s jaw tightened. “So Junie was kind to him in ninth grade and only knew him that one year, and that’s all it took?”
“Evidently,” Chance said. “What I’m hearing is Preston has been messed up all his life.”
Dutch leaned forward. “That tracks with what I found in the sealed reports from college. Two incidents of girls who filed complaints about him showing up uninvited, leaving gifts, then getting aggressive when they said no. Both reports mysteriously disappeared. One girl transferred schools. The other dropped the complaint after her family suddenly was awarded a generous ‘scholarship’ from an anonymous donor.”
Boone rubbed his jaw, eyes hard. “So, we’re dealing with a rich, entitled psychopath who was raised to believe he could have whoever he wants with no consequences when he acts out.”
“And now he’s fixated on Junie.” Tanner shoved his chair back from the table. “If I’d known all this, Junie would never have been alone.”
Grant spoke up from the other side of the table.
“On the security side, I’ve got good news.
The ranch perimeter is solid now. We upgraded the electric fence, added motion sensors to the back forty, and put up four new night-vision cameras.
It’s a good thing we put in the bakery’s system at the same time.
Junie got the latest, greatest equipment.
The footage we pulled from today is crystal clear.
We’ve got audio and video of Preston violating the order and putting his hands on her. It’s ironclad.”
Tanner nodded, grateful. “Did you send all this to Sam and Weston? I want this on record.”
“We contacted the sheriff and the lawyer.” Griff frowned. “They didn’t want us to send it. Sam wanted to come by and copy it from our system himself to make sure there wouldn’t be any chain of custody issues later. He said he’d deliver it to Weston.”
“That makes sense. All right,” Tanner said, taking a deep breath. “Here’s what we do. Junie stays at the ranch as much as possible. No reason she can’t bake from the cabin kitchen or the main house if she needs more space. Boone, you good with that?”
“More than good,” Boone said.
Thank fuck. He’d pick Junie up and head there right after the meeting. “She’ll fight me on it at first, but she’ll listen.”
“We can set a rotation for the bakery,” Boone suggested.
“Right,” Tanner said. “At least one of us is at the bakery at all times. No more leaving her alone. Legal pressure stays on. We keep feeding the sheriff and Weston everything we get. They’ll probably pick him up for this last stunt, and you can believe we’ll be filing a police report for assault.”
“Yeah, but with the high-priced lawyers he has, I’ll be surprised if he’s in there more than ten minutes. Bail won’t be an issue,” Chance chimed in.
“We still need the legal paper trail for our own protection should it become necessary to justify our actions,” Tanner said.
Dutch grinned darkly. “And if he shows up when one of us is there?”
Boone looked around the room, a grim look on his face. “We do what is necessary but follow the rules if we can. I don’t want to see any of you in jail for, let’s say, murder.”
Tanner clenched his jaw. “Then he’d better pray that one of you guys is on duty.” They could all understand how he felt. Any of them would feel the same way. Hell, some of them had experienced pretty much the same all-consuming fury. At least now they had a plan.
It was all well and good to want to follow the rules, but only one counted. Keep Junie safe, no matter what it took.