6. Chapter 6 - Cade
She’s fucking exhausting.
“Can’t we remand her to a damn cell?” I slump in the chair in front of Pete, rubbing my temples under the broad brim of my hat.
“I wish,” he grunts. “Being a judge, she knows all the tricks though. The best I’ve been able to swing is house arrest. It’s just unfortunate she’s not on the ranch where we could have access to the rest of them.”
“At least she can’t sign anymore. Do you know how frustrating it is that we have to fight restraining orders she put into place preventing us from access to that fucking family’s properties?
” Ever since I learned that Max reached out to his cousin, John Bailey, I’ve been cock blocked at every turn trying to gain new information.
It’s almost like she knew ahead of time and put a giant damn shield in place.
Running my palm over my face, I lean back and let my head fall against the back of the cushion. “I have an idea, but you might not like it.”
His gray eyebrows lower as he pauses. “Do I need a drink for this?”
“Maybe. I guess it depends on how ‘off the books’ you want me to be?” I don’t bother to look, I know he’s pouring himself a snifter of scotch by the clink of the decanter.
“We need answers, Cade. All the rabbit tracks keep diving down the same fucking hole.” He taps my arm, holding out a glass full for me. “So what do you have in mind?”
I let the liquid burn down my throat before I answer. “I need to get inside their house.”
He chokes, sputtering. “How in the hell—” Then his hand raises. “You know what, I don’t want to know.”
“Shit, I doubt it’ll work anyway. But I just have a feeling that they have proof of all those fucking cows somewhere, and it sure ain’t at the judge’s little townhome.
They had to stage ‘em somewhere before shipping them off. Remember that report saying that a chunk of ‘em had been rebranded? They need a place to do that where they won’t get caught.” I’m almost sure that they used the Bailey ranch for it.
“They run cattle, too. It’d all be circumstantial,” Pete sighs as he empties his drink. “Unless you catch them in the act or something.” His hand waves dismissively through the air.
“I won’t know until I get there.” I might be able to put my mischievous youth to practice.
I was always the prankster when I was small. I think it was easier being an asshole than it was admitting I was lonely.
Ava changed all of that for me. She’s the first time I ever felt like someone truly saw me, and I think it was in part because of her horrible upbringing.
Instead of making her gun-shy of new people, she tried to see the best in anyone she met.
Including me.
Shaking my head, I try to get rid of the past and finish my drink. “I am getting sick of being stonewalled, Pete. Before Wade finds out I’m here, I need to push the damn limits. I’m sure John and Eli know I’m around now with Max telling them. Maybe it’ll rattle them enough that they mess up?”
“Or they’ll push harder,” he grunts, staring at his glass. “You think they’re doing this because of you?”
Fuck. It’s like a gut punch.
All this bullshit against my brothers over what I did?
I did kill John and Eli’s sister, and it’s a weight I’ll always have to bear.
But the rest of my family had nothing to do with it. I even made sure Dad pulled my name out of the trust before I left, just so there’d be zero for the Baileys to try and sue for.
That was one of the hardest days of my life, signing away my future so soon after losing the woman I thought I was going to build one with.
I knew I had to do what I could to protect the people I still cared about, even if they hated me.
It also puts a new fire under my ass to bring them to justice.
“Well, if they want me so badly, they can have me. You think it’ll end there though?” I grit through my clenched jaw.
His sarcastic snort answers me.
“That’s what I thought. I’m heading back to Texas tomorrow to bring back my horse.
The best way I know to get onto the Triple Bar ranch is through the high country behind them.
I’m gonna crawl so far up their ass they’ll wipe my nose when they sneeze.
” And who knows? Maybe I’ll catch one of them on their own, and—
“Don’t do anything stupid, Cade. I can only protect you so far.” It’s almost as if Pete is reading my mind.
“They’re the only ones who know I’m here. If I put a little bit of the fear of God into them, they might just back off the rest of my kin.” I shrug then stand to move to the kitchen and rinse my glass out in the sink.
“Or you’ll start a fucking war,” he mutters, reaching for the bottle.
I pause at the door, my palm on the handle. “Either way, this ends.”