Chapter 28
Inow understand why Sadie felt the need to tell me that she never wanted marriage. That was her experience. Everything about her started clicking into place. Her inability to trust, her fears about getting too close… the reason she wouldn’t let me touch her back.
A thousand questions burn in my mind. How did she end up with someone like him? How in the hell did this piece of trash have a chance with a girl like her?
She deserves every goddamn happiness in the world. Not this.
Never this.
When I enter Sadie’s cabin, my eyes burn into his, trying to put together all the missing pieces. I crouch down next to him, watching him squirm like the pathetic worm he is.
Bandit’s hold is tight around his neck. If he were to move even a single inch, Bandit would cut off his airflow and dig his teeth in deep. Markus whines, the only noise that’s able to come out of his mouth. I’ve never wanted to kill a man as much as I want to murder this one.
If you can even consider him a man.
Seeing Sadie with cuts and bruises on her face is an image I now have to live with. Hearing her scream in pain is a festering memory that makes me want to give the order for Bandit to clamp down harder.
“What do you want to do?” Blake asks me.
For starters, I don’t want him in her house. This is her safe place, and he’s not welcome in it. “Take him outside.”
With a shrill whistle, I command Bandit to let him go, and he runs back to my side. “Good boy, Bandit,” I stroke his head, pride beaming under my skin.
Wes and Ryker pull Markus to his feet, dragging him towards the door.
“You’ll pay for this,” Markus seethes with a rasp.
Ryker, Wes, and Blake laugh amongst themselves all the way down the porch steps, dropping Markus to his knees in the snow. He darts his eyes to each of us, waiting for our next move, but we’re quiet. Slow with our intentions, which only makes him more nervous.
“Well, what are you going to do to me?” he asks.
But none of us answers. True power was calculating and quiet, and much more terrifying. Let him sweat it.
Blake retrieves a rope from his truck, tying Markus’s arms behind his back.
“If you let me go right now, I can… I can make a deal,” Markus pleads. “We can work something out.”
“I think this city boy is scared,” Ryker taunts.
“He hasn’t pissed his pants yet, so he’s nowhere near scared enough,” Blake fires back, tightening the rope until he whimpers.
We leave him tied up in the snow, heading to our trucks to discuss what to do with him. Bandit stands guard in front of him, watching, growling, and showing him his teeth. Markus starts to scream, but we all pretend we can’t hear him, which drives him mad.
Good. Because no matter how loud he screams, no one is going to hear him.
Better he understands that now.
Blake pulls out a cigarette, lighting up in the frosty air. “So, what next?” A stream of smoke flows from the tip. “Are we going to castrate him?”
Ryker laughs at that.
And that’s when I have an idea. I reach into my pocket, pulling out what was left of my cigarettes, staring at them with a wicked smile. “I want to mark him.”
They all stare at me, confused.
Sadie’s scars are her secret. I’m not about to share it. But I can avenge her. Poetically. “Take him to the barn,” I gesture toward the small barn near our two properties. “Ryker, get a propane torch.”
Ryker smiles, realizing what I intend to do.
Blake and Wes drag Markus to the barn, still unsure of the plan. But when I walk out of a stall with an old branding iron, they grin. Lone Pine switched to freeze branding many years ago, but luckily, we still have a few hot irons for such an occasion as this.
Markus’s eyes go wide at the sight. “You sick, country boy motherfuckers!” he yells, struggling against his tied hands. “I’m going to take all of you down with me! You’ll regret this!”
But I highly doubt any of us will regret this.
They follow me outside, staring into the flames as I heat the metal with the torch.
Nice and hot enough to melt skin. The smell, metallic and pungent, like burnt skin, brings me back to when I was a boy.
Ryker covers his nose, cringing at the smell.
Blake and Wes do the same. This is too barbaric even for the cattle these days, but perfect for the asshole tied up in my barn.
Wes leans in closer to me, stroking his beard speckled with grey. “As much as I love this plan. What happens when we let him go with our mark? I have a feeling he won’t stay quiet.”
Markus lets out a scream, proving his point. A scream so shrill it cuts through the air from the barn across the open fields. Annoying, bastard.
I had a plan to keep him quiet, but I needed the documents in the office first. Conveniently, we just had 300 cows stolen. All I need is his confession that he’s responsible. And I’ll make sure I fucking get it with his signature on the dotted line. “Let me worry about that.”
My boots crunch in the snow as I head back into the barn, the glow of the red-hot iron leading my way. Markus’s chest rises and falls, fear quickly replaced by hatred as he meets my eyes. “I’m going to kill you for this,” he seethes through clenched teeth.
Steam rises from the iron, creating a haze between us.
“You’re lucky I’m not a violent man, or this would be much, much worse. But I can promise you this. If you ever come back here, or if you ever so much as try to contact Sadie again, my face will be the last thing that you see.”
Markus lets out a noise of disbelief. “You don’t have the balls.”
“Don’t give me any ideas, now,” I smile, stepping back.
“If you do this—if you brand me. I’ll put you in prison. And with a face like yours, you won’t last long,” he has the gall to laugh.
The red-hot iron reflects crimson light in my eyes. “If you want to try your luck, by all means. But I’ve got you for domestic abuse. For bringing a gun on my property and threatening people I love. If you want to turn me in, go for it. But you’ll only be fucking yourself in the ass.”
Sweat pools on his forehead. He knows I’m right.
“Prep him,” I nod to the boys.
Wes and Blake grab Markus, lifting him to his feet. Ryker pulls down his pants and briefs, laughing the whole time. I move behind him, readying the iron.
“Wait—don’t do this! No! No, please—” Markus begs.
“This is for Sadie.” I place the hot iron on his bare ass.
He lets out a shriek that shakes the barn, reaching the pines in the distance. Birds fly out of the snowy trees as I let it burn until blood runs down his leg, staining the concrete. Wes and Blake hold him steady while I continue to burn him.
Branding him.
Leaving a lasting scar.
For all the pain that she’s endured, this is for her.
After dealing with the whole Markus situation, Ryker joins me when I head to Cole’s. There’s a blonde-haired woman I know he’s dying to see. He smooths down his dark mustache in the car mirror and messes with his hair, twisting a curl down, trying to look his best.
Before he hops out of the truck, I grab his arm, pulling him back. “Hey, I wanted to thank you. If you hadn’t called me…” I struggle to say the words because if he hadn’t called, I might have found Sadie too late, and just the thought wrecks me. “Well, I owe you.”
Ryker smiles, quirking a brow. “I thought you were about to tell me to stay away from Averie.”
That did cross my mind. “She is Sadie’s best friend.” And because of that, he would need to tread very carefully.
Ryker nods with understanding. “I know,” he murmurs.
I sigh, caving at the puppy dog expression on his face. “But maybe after the fiftieth time, she’ll finally agree to go on a date with you.” I can’t believe I’m encouraging him.
Ryker grins with renewed hope.
We enter the house, finding Sadie and Averie in the living room, cuddling under a flannel blanket on the floor in front of the fireplace, gazing into the flames.
The crackle of the fire fills the room as Averie runs her fingers through Sadie’s wavy, long hair, speaking soft words.
There’s a moment of light laughter between them, and it fills my chest with ease.
They look like a cozy painting, curled up together while the orange glow wraps them in warm light.
Cole and Annie quietly come up behind us, standing under the archway to the living room. “They’ve been in there for a while,” Annie murmurs with worried eyes. Cole places his hand on her back, comforting her. “Is her name really Emma?”
“She’s whoever she wants to be,” I reply. Her name doesn’t matter to me. I know who she is. Sadie. Emma. I love her just the same.
Annie smiles at that, a brief smile before her expression turns into despair. “I’m so sorry, I should’ve—”
I wrap an arm around her, pulling her in tight as the tears fall. “You did everything you could.” And there’s nothing else she could’ve done. “It’s all over now,” I confirm.
Ryker places a firm, comforting hand on her shoulder. “You did well, Annie.”
“So where is he now?” Cole lifts a brow.
Annie nods and unravels herself from me, wiping a tear from her cheek as I pull out the documents from my coat pocket, handing them to Cole. “Well, we found out who was responsible for the missing cattle,” I grin.
Cole checks the papers, briefly flipping through. When he lands on the last page, finding Markus’s signature, he smiles brightly. “Very clever.” He tucks the documents into his vest. “And where is he now?”
“If he’s smart, he’s long gone by now,” I say. “I don’t think he’ll want to come back for round two.”
Ryker meets my eyes, and we laugh, a laugh that vibrates in the air. There was nothing more satisfying than sending him packing with a brand on his ass. A mark that would never fade. Justice for Sadie, and a family secret we’d keep for the rest of our lives.
Her eyes meet mine, suddenly realizing I’m here. “Kit,” she whispers my name with her breathless voice before she’s running towards me with Foxie following her close behind.