Chapter Fifteen
The Lucky Horseshoe was the kind of place where dreams went to die.
It sat on the edge of the highway, a low-slung building with peeling paint and a neon sign that buzzed like an angry wasp. The half-empty, gravel parking lot was populated by rusted trucks and motorcycles that had seen better decades.
Cassidy sat in a booth in the back corner. The vinyl seat was cracked and mended with silver duct tape that snagged on her jeans. The table was sticky with years of spilled beer and bad decisions.
She stared into her glass of whiskey. It was the cheap stuff, bottom-shelf amber liquid that smelled of kerosene and regret. She hadn’t taken a sip yet.
“He bought me,” she whispered the thought circling her mind like a vulture to the empty air.
Sterling Thorne had purchased her. He had looked at her distress, her fear, and her body, and he had calculated the ROI. He had played the hero in the storm because it was good for business to keep the assets stable.
“Asset.” When she said the word aloud, it tasted like bile.
She was just another line item on the acquisition sheet, not a partner or lover. The intimacy in the shack, the way he had held her, the way he had looked at her like she was the only thing that mattered, was all just a negotiation tactic.
She picked up the glass with a trembling hand and downed the whiskey in one gulp.
It hit her stomach like liquid fire. It didn’t numb the pain, but it blurred the edges.
“Another round?”
The voice came from above her. It wasn’t the waitress.
Cassidy froze. She knew that smooth, dark, and dangerous voice. She looked up slowly.
Travis Miller stood by the booth.
He looked exactly the same as he had four years ago.
He was handsome in a way that made people stop and stare.
His blond hair was perfectly styled, and his hazel eyes were warm and inviting.
He wore a black tactical vest with the Black Ridge Security logo over a tight gray T-shirt that showed off his gym-sculpted arms.
He smiled a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“Hey, Cass,” he said. “Long time.”
Cassidy’s heart slammed against her ribs. The flight instinct kicked in hard, and she started to slide out of the booth.
“Don’t,” Travis said softly.
He moved faster than she remembered. He slid into the booth next to her, blocking her exit.
“Sit down,” he said. “Let’s catch up.”
Cassidy sank back against the vinyl. She was trapped.
“What do you want?” she asked. Her voice was steady, but her hands were shaking under the table.
“I want to see you,” Travis said. He put his beer bottle down and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the sticky table. “I heard you were in trouble. Heard the bank was coming for the ranch.”
“It’s handled,” Cassidy lied.
“Is it?” Travis tilted his head and looked at her. “I heard Sterling Thorne bought the debt. That’s a big shark to be swimming with, Cass. He’ll eat you alive.”
“He’s a businessman,” Cassidy said. “Unlike you.”
Travis’s smile faltered for a second, and a flicker of cold anger passed over his face.
“I told you,” he said, his voice dropping to a whisper. “I told you you’d fail without me, and you couldn’t handle it on your own.”
He reached over and put his hand over hers. His palm was warm and dry.
“Come back to me, Cass,” he said. “I can fix this. I can make the debt go away and take care of you.”
“Get off me,” Cassidy hissed, trying to pull her hand away.
He moved his hand up to squeeze the wrist he had broken four years ago.
The old ache flared up—a sharp, phantom pain that made her gasp.
“You look good,” Travis murmured. “A little tired but good.”
He leaned in closer, invading her space. He smelled of mint gum and gun oil: the scent of her nightmares. “I missed you.”
“Let go,” Cassidy said. “Or I’ll scream.”
“No one will hear you,” Travis said, looking around the empty bar. “And no one will care. You belong to me, Cass. You always have.”
The door to the bar opened, a bell chimed, and a draft of cold air swept through the room.
Cassidy looked up, desperate for any distraction.
Sterling Thorne walked in.
He looked like an alien, too tall for the room. His shearling coat was too expensive. His presence was too commanding. The billionaire businessman stood in the doorway, scanning the dim interior with eyes that were accustomed to boardrooms and penthouses.
Then he saw them.
He saw Travis leaning over holding Cassidy’s hand.
From where he stood, and the intimacy of the pose, it looked like a reunion.
Cassidy’s heart leaped. “Sterling!”
She started to stand and call out to him.
Sterling’s eyes met hers. She expected him to be enraged with anger, storm over and pull Travis off her. She expected the “cold rage” he had promised in the shack.
Instead, his face went dead, and the connection they had forged in the storm snapped.
The light left his eyes, and he looked at her with a flat, terrifying indifference as he saw her with the man who had supposedly broken her.
Cassidy realized then that Sterling believed she ran back to Travis—that she was part of the con. From where he stood, they probably looked like they were having a drink to celebrate an elaborate scheme supported by the Tokyo investors.
Sterling didn’t say a word or take a step forward. He turned his back on her and walked out the door.
The bell chimed again, and the door closed. He was gone.
“No,” Cassidy whispered.
The devastation was total. He had walked away and left her in danger.
“Who was that?” Travis asked with a sarcastic smile, looking at the door. “Was that Thorne?”
Cassidy didn’t answer. She scrambled over Travis and out of the booth. She had to catch Sterling and explain.
“Sterling!” she screamed.
Travis as he leaped up from the booth and grabbed by the upper arm as she tried to push past. His fingers dug into her bicep with bruising force. The pain was sharp and immediate, radiating down to her elbow like a lit fuse.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he snarled, the mask of charm dropping completely. “You’re not leaving with him.”
“Let me go!” Cassidy shouted.
She tried to twist out of his grasp as her flight response turned into a fight response.
Travis loomed over her.
“You’re coming with me,” he said. “We have unfinished business.”
He started to reach for her other arm.
Cassidy saw the empty beer bottle on the table. Without a single thought, she just grabbed the bottle by the neck, swung it hard, and smashed it against the edge of the table.
Crunch.
The heavy brown glass bottle shattered, sending amber shards flying through the air, but she gripped a jagged piece like a knife.
“Back off,” she commanded.
Travis looked at the broken glass then looked at her face and saw the wild, cornered animal in her eyes.
He hesitated.
“You’re crazy,” he said.
“Back off!” Cassidy lunged.
She slashed the air in front of his face. Travis stumbled back and raised his hands.
“Okay,” he said. “Okay. Calm down.” There was a small, wry smile on his face as if he enjoyed provoking the situation.
Cassidy didn’t wait. She bolted past him, knocking over a chair as she sprinted for the door.
She burst out into the cold night air and ran toward her truck parked near the road. She fumbled for her keys, her hands shaking so hard she dropped them in the gravel.
“Damn it!”
She dropped to her knees and scrabbled in the dirt until she found the keys. The bar door opened behind her.
“Cassidy!” Travis roared.
She scrambled into the truck, slammed the door, locked it, and keyed the ignition. The engine turned over. She threw it into reverse and backed out blindly, tires spinning on the ice.
She saw Travis in the rearview mirror running toward her, looking furious.
She stomped on the gas. The truck fishtailed onto the highway, but she straightened it out and drove away from the bar, away from Travis, and away from the ranch.
She was alone, Sterling was gone, the ranch was sold, and Travis was hunting her.
Cassidy West had nothing left but a tank of gas and a broken heart. And as the lights of the town faded behind her, she realized that the storm on the mountain had been the easy part.
The real survival started now.