Chapter 6 Rowan
ROWAN
The road unspooled in front of me, but I barely saw it.
My hands were tight on the wheel, knuckles pale, breath shallow.
Once I got in my truck, I knew I couldn’t go to the Kings and ask for help.
I told myself that it felt too much like begging, but I wasn’t sure I believed that.
So instead of driving to the Kings clubhouse, I drove to check the south fence line again.
I’d told myself I needed to get off the property for a minute, to clear my head, and stop imagining shadows where there weren’t any.
But the truth was simpler and uglier. I’d panicked.
The moment I’d hung up the phone, the silence in the house had closed in like a fist. Every creak felt wrong. Every window felt like an eye. I’d lasted maybe five minutes before grabbing my keys and walking out the door.
Running, if I was honest.
I hated running. But worse, I hated that someone had made me feel like I needed to run from my own home. Running me from my own land. Land that had been passed down to me by my parents. The very last thing they had ever given me.
The wind rattled the truck as I turned onto the old service road that cut through the back of my land. It wasn’t a road most people knew about. Hell, half the time I forgot it existed. But today, something had pulled me toward it. Instinct, maybe. Or fear wearing the mask of instinct.
I slowed down when I reached the ridge. From here, you could see most of the south pasture. The shed. The tree line. The stretch of land where the fence had been cut.
Nothing moved, nothing chased me.
I let out a shaky breath and leaned forward, resting my forehead against the steering wheel. I needed to get a grip.
I reached for the door handle, ready to step out and take a proper look around, when I heard a low hum of a vehicle. The sound grew louder, coming from behind me.
I lifted my head and checked the rearview mirror, watching as a dark SUV crawled up the service road, dust curling behind its tires. There were no plates on the front, and the windows were tinted too dark for the law.
My pulse kicked in hard and before I knew what I was doing I shifted the truck into gear, ready to turn around.
It was automatic, this feeling that I had, despite the vehicle driving towards me at an almost leisurely pace, like whoever was driving had all the time in the world.
I hit the gas and my truck lurched forwards and the SUV accelerated suddenly, closing the distance faster than I expected it too.
Way too fast to be anything but aggressive.
I swallowed hard and forced myself to breathe. I could back up or I could cut across the ridge. My mind cycled through various options and then suddenly my phone buzzed.
I glanced down at the unknown number and my stomach dropped, though I wasn’t sure why, other than because of the previous call I’d had.
The SUV flashed its headlights once, signaling for me to pull over, but there wasn’t a chance in hell that was happening. I was an unarmed woman on a lone stretch of land with nothing around for miles.
Instead, I put the truck in reverse and hit the gas, tires momentarily spitting out gravel in every direction as I backed down the ridge. The SUV followed, keeping pace with me, steady and deliberate.
“Come on,” I whispered to no one, gripping the wheel.
The road narrowed behind me until I couldn’t outrun them backward any longer. I needed to turn around. I needed to…the SUV honked its horn once. Not loud, and not aggressive. Just intentional enough to get my attention and keep it.
My breath hitched as realization hit me that they weren’t chasing me, they were herding me.
I slammed on the brakes, dust billowing around the truck. My heart hammered against my ribs as I stared at the SUV through the windshield.
The driver’s door opened and a man stepped out.
It was a different man from earlier. He was tall and broad, wearing a plain black jacket and blue jeans.
His hands were empty and his posture relaxed, like he was greeting a neighbor instead of blocking a woman on a deserted road, and yet there was something utterly terrifying about him.
He lifted one hand in a slow, almost polite wave, and gestured for me to wind my window down on my aging truck, and I did so with shaking hands.
“Rowan Hale,” he called, voice carrying easily across the distance. “We should talk.”
Every instinct in me screamed to get out of there, but I knew better than to speak right now. Right now, I needed to listen. To take in what was happening and to figure out what the hell was going on.
The man smiled faintly, like he could already hear the refusal in my silence.
“Don’t be like that,” he said, his smile falling and his dead-eyed gaze pinning me in place. “It’s about your father.”
My blood went cold as he took one step closer.
“And the problem he left behind.”
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said with more strength than I felt. I kept my eyes on his, my chin up. I was scared, but I wasn’t going to let him see any of that.
“Oh, Rowan,” he tutted, shaking a finger at me.
In my head I was counting the miles back to the ranch. The miles to the road. And the miles to the police station. But I already knew there was no chance I would make it to any of them before he caught up with me.
“What do you want from me?” I demanded, forcing my voice to stay steady.
“Just to talk.” He cocked his head to one side, examining me. “You’re prettier than I imagined. I’d like to keep it that way, if I can.”
A chill ran down my spine, the threat obvious. “I have nothing to say to you. And you’re on private land, so I suggest you get the hell off it, now, before I call the cops.”
I scrunched my hands up in my lap, my nails biting into my palms. The pain was good though. It kept me steady, and calmer than I felt.
The man’s smile crawled higher up his face. “That wouldn’t be a good idea.”
I narrowed my eyes and unclenched my teeth. “I have things to do, so get off my land before I make you.”
He pursed his lips and sighed. “You’re about to learn why your father’s mistakes didn’t die with him.”
A knot formed in my stomach at the accusation, and the threat. My thoughts scrambled for purchase on any memory that might explain what this man was talking about.
My fear fed into my resolve and gave me a surge of strength. “My father didn’t make mistakes,” I snapped, “I think it’s you that’s mistaken.”
Another pause.
“Oh, Rowan,” he said with a heavy sigh, “what is it with your family always wanting to do things the hard way.”
The way he said my name made my blood run cold.
“You don’t scare me. This is my land. My property!”
My hands trembled in my lap, and before I could stop myself, I gripped the wheel and revved my engine.
What the hell was I thinking?
“You’re making this harder than it needs to be.
I promise this won’t end well for you. Or for the Kings.
” The man chuckled and walked back to his SUV and climbed in.
He flashed its headlights twice and leaned out of his window.
“Be sure to tell them you had a visitor. In fact, I believe they’re out looking for you right now. ”
Then he roared past, gravel spraying against my truck. For a split second I saw the man behind the wheel close up—dark sunglasses, a calm smile, dark hair. There was nothing spectacular about him and I knew I could walk past him in the street and I likely wouldn’t recognize him again.
Then he was gone, the black SUV disappearing down the highway in a cloud of dust. Just like that.
“What the hell is going on?” I whispered, loosening my grip on the wheel.
My phone buzzed again, and this time I didn’t hesitate. I grabbed it.
“Unless you’re going to tell me exactly what you want, stop calling me!”
“Rowan?” Tex’s voice barked down the phone, and relief washed through me so fast my chest hurt.
“It’s me, it’s me,” I said, my voice breathy as the realization of what just happened hit me and I gripped the phone tighter.
Tex’s voice was sharp and tense. “Where are you? Who are you talking to?”
“I’m just south of the main road,” I said, still trying to catch my breath. “Someone was following me. They forced me to pull over.”
There was a beat of silence before he spoke again, his voice lower, deeper, like he was struggling to contain his anger. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
“No.”
“Stay right where you are, I’m coming.”
“What—”
“I’m two minutes out,” he said. “Don’t move.”
The line clicked off and I stared at the phone.
The early morning air felt suddenly colder, and two minutes felt like a lifetime as I waited. I hadn’t realized how badly my hands were shaking until I tried to set the phone down and nearly dropped it.
“Get it together, Rowan,” I chastised myself.
Finally, the sounds of bike engines cut across the silence of the day, and for the first time since I’d gotten in my truck earlier, I let myself breathe.
The motorcycles headed in my direction, but one in particular roared toward me like a thunderstorm tearing across the road. Even before he slowed, I recognized the bike.
Tex pulled up beside my truck and killed the engine in one smooth motion. Then he was off the bike and at my door before I could even open it.
“You’re okay?” His eyes scanned my face, my truck, the road behind me.
“Yes.”
His shoulders loosened, just a fraction.
The other bikes had finally caught up, and they pulled to a stop, their engines cutting and making the silence immediately feel oppressive.
“What happened?” Tex said, his eyes on mine, still scanning me from head to toe as if searching for an injury, a mark—a reason to explode.
I thought only briefly of holding back some of the information. I didn’t want anyone thinking badly of my father, but when I saw the genuine concern in Tex’s eyes, I knew in my gut I could trust him, so I told him everything.
The SUV, the phone call, the way I’d raced out of the house and the way the truck had clearly been waiting for me and had herded me down the road. I told him everything I could remember about what the man had said about my father and about the Kings.
Tex didn’t interrupt once, but the longer I talked, the darker his expression got.
When I finished, the silence between us was thick.
“Are you going to say something?” I asked.
Finally he dragged a hand down his jaw and his eyes lifted to mine. “Did you recognize anything about either man?”
I shook my head. “No, they didn’t look like they were from around here, which isn’t unusual with all the tourists recently. They looked smarter though, I guess. Dark hair, tanned skin. They had an accent I didn’t recognize. Definitely not American.”
Tex leaned one arm on the doorframe, his body close enough that I could feel the heat coming off him. “Whoever this is, they’re not just trying to scare you any longer.”
“Then what are they doing?”
His gaze hardened. “They’re sending a message.”
A chill slid down my spine. “What message? To who?”
Tex looked back down the road where the SUV had disappeared.
When he spoke, his voice was cold enough to freeze the air.
“A message to the club. And whatever your father did just became my club’s problem.”
My breath caught. “Tex, my father didn’t do anything. He was clean—always. I would know. I’ve gone through the deeds and the accounts and there’s nothing to suggest—”
“Rowan, if it’s not legit, that shit’s not going to show up on your accounts.”
I held his gaze for a moment. I was shaking my head in denial, but something in my gut wouldn’t let me voice my concern.
Because what if he was right? What if my father—my uptight, law-abiding, church-going member of the community—had done something he shouldn’t have?
I liked to think that I knew my father, but there was no denying that over the years we had drifted apart.
Could I really trust him to have made the right call?
Tex looked at me again. Something fierce burned in his eyes now. Something protective and dangerous. “You’re not staying alone on that ranch tonight.”
“I can take care of myself, Tex.”
His jaw flexed. “Not from this, and not from these men.”
“I’m not running,” I said defiantly.
“You’re not running,” he said quietly, and his gaze held mine, “but you’re not facing this alone either.”
The way he said it made something in my chest tighten.
I opened my mouth to argue. But the words never came. Because for the first time since the threats began, since that black SUV appeared behind me in the mirror, since my parents had died, I didn’t feel alone anymore.
And that scared me almost as much as the danger I was in.