Chapter 3
Silas Holt sipped his coffee and watched Kip strut from table to table like being a fucking waitress in a sorry town like Wilder was something to be proud of. And for some godforsaken reason, the town loved her. He hated this town and everyone who lived here. Including her.
He’d been trying to fit in here ever since he first arrived. All he wanted was a fresh start after getting out of jail. The very thought of it filled him with rage. It hadn’t been his fucking fault. He’d been railroaded by a woman three counties over for allegedly sexually assaulting her.
Stupid bitch enjoyed everything he’d done for her, and he’d done a hell of a lot—right up until he tried to take something in return.
When he tried to claim what was rightfully his, she clawed his face and called the sheriff.
He’d spent six months in county jail, and now his name was on a fucking registry for predators.
So, he’d gotten a new name and moved to Wilder to work for Jack Clark on the Three Eagles Ranch.
After busting his ass for years, he’d finally made it to assistant foreman.
Three weeks ago, he nearly got the chance to run the entire ranch, a once in a lifetime opportunity ruined when the stupid fucking waitress spilled coffee everywhere.
It had been going great before that. He’d had old man Clark eating out of his hand.
But that stupid girl messed up more than just the table.
The meeting had gone to shit after that.
Clark decided to give the job to someone else.
He was done with women ruining his life.
Kip Harper was going to pay for what she’d done to him.
Then, out of the fucking blue, he spotted her picture online the next day.
Turned out a powerful man named Reynaldo Rios was offering a hell of a lot of money to find out where she was, and even more to get her back.
There was a phone number, which Silas called.
To get things started, all the man wanted was a picture to prove Silas knew her location.
Getting that picture was as easy as waiting outside the saloon in his car that next weekend.
The stupid woman hadn’t even noticed him snapping the photos as she left work.
He got the girl without anything that let Rios know where she was.
That way, the man couldn’t cheat him out of the reward.
He’d texted the picture to Rios within minutes.
Now he was waiting for just the right moment to grab Kip.
It better not take much longer. He didn’t get paid until he delivered her. When he got his hands on all that money, he would tell old man Clark what he could do with his fucking ranch.