Chapter Twenty-one – Macbeth
Chapter Twenty-one
Rafe
MACBETH
Performed by Max McNown
Fallon had shown Puzo into the sitting room at the front of the house by the time Sadie and I walked in. I’d just taken a step toward them, fists clenched, ideas of tossing him out on his ass running through my head, when Sadie’s hand on my arm stopped me in the entry.
“Rafe. I understand you’re angry—”
“That’s the least of what I am.”
“He said he’s here for his cousin’s wedding, right?” My chest felt like it might implode it was drawn so tight. I gave a curt nod, and she continued, “You can’t ruin her wedding by kicking them off the property. Think of all the planning she’s done. The excitement. The people who are coming. No matter how much you despise him being here, she’s done nothing to you. You can’t ruin the best day of her life like that.”
Oh, yes you can , my devil taunted.
I didn’t reply. I couldn’t. Instead, I followed my daughter and Puzo into the sitting room. It was full of florals and chintz and claw-footed furniture my great-grandparents had imported from Europe, as if dragging Old World elegance onto the ranch could somehow change the savagery of the land and make it more refined. But it could never hide the truth of this place. The wild was meant to thrive here.
Without even knowing it, I’d done the same thing at The Fortress, attempting to bring grace and charm to a city that often reveled in addiction and sin. Attempting to show the entire world that I was more than a simple ranch hand with a knack for taming horses. But the me I’d forged, the life I’d created in Vegas, was as false as the facade of Mont Saint Michel I’d built to house my triumph.
Two days was all it took for this place to prove I’d never be able to cleanse it from my blood.
And I loathed it was Puzo who’d shown me the truth by trying to take it away.
“I’ll just get Mom,” Fallon said just as Lauren astonished those of us who’d seen her laid up in bed by walking into the room wearing a sundress littered with poppies. Her hair was up in a smooth ponytail, and she’d attempted to hide the shadows under her eyes with a layer of makeup. While it couldn’t rid the sadness from them or the strain from her smile, it did leave her looking better than she had that morning.
“I didn’t expect you until later this evening, Lorenzo,” she said, greeting him with a cheek kiss that made me cringe.
“My plans opened up, and I thought I’d take the boat out on the lake,” Puzo said with a smooth smile. As he stepped back, he ran his gaze over Lauren’s figure in a way that sent the blood in my veins boiling again. Not in jealousy—I’d never want her that way again—but from a need to protect my family.
“Fallon, you and Maisey get cleaned up for dinner,” I ordered.
My daughter’s gaze darted between the adults in the room, but she didn’t argue. She just rolled her eyes, grabbed Maisey’s hand, and headed up the stairs. And while I liked that she was no longer in the same room as Puzo, I worried because I could no longer see her. Keeping her close all day had been a balm I’d needed after last night.
“I haven’t heard from Marielle today,” Lauren said. “I’m assuming everything is still set for her arrival tomorrow?”
“Everything is going according to plan.” The sly smile returned, directed at me, and only Sadie linking her fingers with mine and holding me back stopped me from lunging for him. “It’s a beautiful location for a wedding. Marielle is lucky you were able to fit her in on such short notice.”
“Just exactly how long have you been planning this wedding?” I demanded. Had it been after Spence had died? Before? What the hell did Puzo think he could do while he was here?
“Your welcoming committee could use an overhaul,” he said instead of answering my question.
Lauren darted me a worried glance. “Let me get you the keys so you can get settled in.”
She went to an antique writing desk I recognized as once being in the housekeeper’s quarters. The cubbies were now labeled with gold numbers, and Lauren grabbed an envelope from one of them, handing it to Puzo. “It’ll just be you and the groom’s parents at the homestead. Nicky and his groomsmen are in the bunkhouse, and Marielle and her bridesmaids will be here. Do you need anyone to show you the way?”
“No, I’ve been here enough to know my way around.” His lips curled upward again at the dark grunt that escaped my lips.
As soon as he stepped out of the room, Lauren hissed, “What is wrong with you?!”
Then, she hurried after him, and I followed on her heels. We’d just made it to the front door when Adam came hurrying in. “Lorenzo! I thought I heard your voice.”
He extended his hand, and Puzo shook it, asking, “How’s my favorite gambling partner?”
Disgust and disbelief punched me in the stomach. Adam was gambling with Puzo? Was that how he’d gotten his hands into the ranch? Because Adam owed him money? Adam had been all about chess as a kid. He’d despised cards simply because of what they’d cost his family. Since when had that changed?
“Can I offer you a drink? Maybe take you to dinner tonight?” Adam’s affable charm was disorienting—a much shinier, more polished version of the Adam I’d grown up with or I’d witnessed this week. His wide-eyed honesty caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand up. It was all an act. But for whose benefit? Mine? Puzo’s?
“Thank you, but I have other plans tonight. I’ll have to come back another weekend.”
It was another shot he sent in my direction. Another reminder he had his hooks into much more than the ranch and wasn’t going to slink away at my say-so.
Adam and Lauren both gave him a warm goodbye that had me biting my cheek and tasting blood. The door had barely shut behind him when I said darkly, “You’ve let the goddamn devil in the door. Puzo’s only goal here is to destroy all of you as a means of getting revenge on me.”
Adam’s charm dissipated in an instant. “Your ego is larger than ever, Rafe. As I told you before, Lorenzo has had nothing but good advice for us. He’s the reason we got the cell tower contract and the reason we’ve got steady income coming in from the dock and the stables. Hell, he even sent hay sales our way.”
“I doubt he did it out of the graciousness of his heart. How much do you owe him?” I demanded.
Adam’s face paled ever so slightly. “Nothing. I don’t owe him a damn thing.”
I didn’t believe him, and the way Lauren looked at him, I wondered if she knew he was lying too. But she turned to me and said, “I’m not sure why you hate Lorenzo, but Adam’s right. He’s been nothing but helpful. Spence wasn’t always thrilled with how he handled business in town, but even he knew Lorenzo had stepped into the void we’d been forced to leave behind in the community. He’s been good for all of us.”
“Because it serves his purpose. But believe me, he’ll take you for every penny he can and walk away laughing. And if you try to stop him, he’ll have no qualms about wiping you out.”
“You’re overreacting,” Lauren said.
“Am I?” Fear and fury fueled me. I yanked up my shirt, revealing the scars that slaked down the left side of my chest. “Is this an overreaction? Because this is how Lorenzo handles business with those he believes have crossed him.”
Lauren’s voice was barely above a stunned whisper when she said, “You told us you were mugged.”
“I told you that in order to protect my family.” But I hadn’t. Instead, I’d ignored them and let him sneak right in the back door.
“I don’t believe you.” Adam’s voice was contemptuous. “Lorenzo told me all about how you worked for him in Vegas and got involved with a bad crowd. How the FBI came after you, and you ratted out your supposed friends to save your own skin.”
I pressed a knuckle into the knot in my jaw. “And of course you believed him.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Adam glared. “He’s given me no reason to doubt him.”
And every reason to doubt you. The words were unspoken but hung in the air anyway. It bit at me in just the way he’d intended.
“I did gather evidence for the FBI, but it was on Puzo’s criminal activities. He’s involved in drugs, guns, money laundering. You name it, his family has done it.”
“What?” Lauren demanded, her voice shaky and unsure. “Why isn’t he in jail, then?”
“Because he lets the people below him do all the dirty work, and no one is willing to testify against him. People who do, end up dead.”
“I don’t believe you,” Adam snarled. “Whatever your issue is with Lorenzo, it has nothing to do with us. You washed your hands of the ranch after you got your cut. We don’t want or require your assistance. And we certainly don’t need for you to cause a scene this weekend. Plenty of important people will be attending this wedding. People who can not only invest in the ranch’s renovation, but who would be happy to sprinkle their money around by staying here and bringing other weddings to our doors. You want to do something for all of us now? Just leave.”
He turned on his heel and strode down the hall.
Lauren put a shaky hand to her forehead, the fake bravado she’d put on in front of Puzo had disappeared.
As much as I loathed being the one to bring more anguish, more concerns to her life, I had to make her see the truth, if only to keep her and Fallon safe. So, I gentled my voice as much as I could and said, “If Adam owes Puzo money, it could explain what’s happening.”
Her eyes jerked up to mine. “Wh-what do you mean?”
“The rattler left in my bed, the person in your room last night, even the way the ranch is failing. They could all be warnings from Puzo.”
She shook her head. “N-no. The ranch has been struggling ever since Spencer took the loan out to give you your money.” Her face hardened. “Adam is right, Rafe. We don’t need you getting involved now. You’ve done enough already.”
She hurried after her brother, a wisp of the person she used to be. And for the first time, I wondered how long she’d been this way. Had she been fading away even before Spencer had died, or had his death truly triggered her slow dissolve?
Sadie was right. My hands were so completely and utterly tied. I had to let Puzo remain at the ranch this weekend, and it made me want to hit something until my knuckles were bloody and raw, until my outside matched the feeling inside my chest.
There is something you can do , the devil reminded me. And there was. I could look into the ranch’s accounts. I could do what Spence had asked of me in that last voicemail. I could bury my pride once and for all and help my family.
The timing of Spence’s call, as much as the location of his accident, should have made me question his death sooner. Maybe I’d been too shocked to process it, or maybe I’d just gotten so good at putting up walls between my brother and me that I hadn’t wanted to let them down enough to see the truth. If Fallon hadn’t flown the Cessna to Las Vegas, I wasn’t sure I ever would have.
“Rafe…” Sadie’s voice was low and pained. Filled with sympathy for me. Pity I hated and was the last thing I wanted from her.
“Don’t,” I bit out. My voice was gritty and harsh, but she didn’t take offense. She just moved toward me, wrapping her arms around my waist. Her touch, her warmth, the genuine caring in her expression almost brought me to tears.
I blinked fiercely, tugging on a lock of hair that had escaped her clip, and then told her the simple truth. “I’d like to finish what we started, Tennessee, more than I think you could possibly understand. But even more than that, I want to know you’re safe. I’d like you to get the hell out of here.”
Her chin went up automatically, and that fierce determination to stay with me, to not walk away from the battle, was almost as much of a turn-on as her siren-like eyes. When was the last time someone had stuck by me simply because it was me? I couldn’t remember. I wasn’t sure it had ever happened.
If I asked her to take my daughter, to get them both as far away as possible from Puzo and Adam and whatever ugliness had draped itself over the land, I thought she just might. But could I stand to have them out of my sight either? To have them where I couldn’t reach them?
It would be agony either way. To have them gone or to have them stay.
Wheels on the gravel drive outside had me moving away before she could respond. I opened the door and watched as a black SUV parked next to my Jaguar. The pressure in my chest eased ever so slightly when Jim Steele emerged from the driver’s seat. The passenger door opened, and Steele’s son, Parker, stepped out just as two wide-shouldered men got out of the back. Part of our security team, Noah and Barry traveled with me whenever Steele felt I needed extra coverage.
And goddamn did I need it now. Not for me, but for the people I needed to protect.
The pressure in my chest loosened even more. Not quite relief, but a feeling of being not quite so alone. With four men here to watch my back, watch my family’s, I might just be able to breathe.
“Thank the fucking stars.”
“Who are they?” Sadie asked.
“My security team.” She glanced from them to me, and I saw the tension ease from her shoulders as well. “Can I ask you to do me a favor?”
“Anything,” she said without hesitation.
“Can you stick by Fallon? Make sure she’s safe while I get them up to speed?”
“Of course,” she said. Then, she lowered her voice and said, “We still need to talk.”
We did. But I had to get Steele and my men caught up on what was happening, see what cameras we could get up quickly, and figure out how long it would take to overhaul the mansion’s antiquated alarm system no one had used in years. Then, I needed to peel back the layers on the ranch’s accounts and find out what had shaken my brother enough to ask for my help.
“We will,” I promised and meant it.
Instead of walking away as I expected, she glanced one more time at the men pulling bags and crates out of the SUV and then closed the distance between us. She cupped my face and brushed her lips against mine. The heat of her, the honeyed goodness, bled into me instantly, igniting the ever-waiting embers and sending a craving through me so strong it almost blocked out all the other bullshit.
And then, she was gone, leaving behind the smell of burnt ash in the air as if I’d been singed by a passing flame. Except, there was nothing passing about what I felt for her. I was hooked. By that mischievous smile and silky hair. By the mark of bravery on her skin. By the way she rolled up her sleeves and dug in to help without a hint of hesitation when she had zero reason to do so, other than to be kind. She’d seen me at my worst, angry and cold and selfish, and she still stood there looking like she wanted to devour me. As if she cared.
She moved farther away, walking backward so she could watch my expression as she said, “I’ve been turned on by you in more ways than I can count, but the way you love and protect the family who let you walk away without blinking…that’s sexier than hell. That kiss was to remind you that our unfinished business is about more than just talking. Do you remember what you promised me? I think you said something about begging and loss of control? I’m not leaving here until I’ve gotten what you anted up. Neither of us is folding.”
She winked and spun around, leaving me speechless.
Filled with a craving to not only finish unraveling her but to keep her.