Chapter Sixteen
Idon’t mention what happened to Riggs. He remains blissfully unaware as we figure out a new routine, one that has Riggs overseeing most of the ranch hand jobs, leaving me to take care of the horses, the things that really matter to me.
A week passes in quiet bliss, where the outside world doesn’t encroach on the peace we’re weaving into Corvis Wing, when Jen’s car rolls up with a sheepish-looking David in the passenger seat. He looks at me pleadingly when he approaches.
“Need a rescue?” I murmur.
“Please, god. That woman is terrifying. I have no idea how she talked me into coming along with her when I had my own truck loaded up, ready to leave.”
I chuckle. “I’m aware of that woman’s superpowers, trust me. I’m pretty sure she could sell oxygen to the masses if she put her mind to it.”
He grins, looking relieved that I’m not mad about it. I nod for him to head inside. “I don’t think you’ve met Riggs yet. He’s inside somewhere. Look for a tall cowboy with an eye patch. You can’t miss him.”
“Okay.” He hurries into the house as Jen stomps over to me in her tight skirt and high heels.
“You come from the office?”
“No. Why?”
“I live on a ranch. You don’t need to dress up for me.”
“Girl, I don’t dress up for anyone but myself.”
I grin, lean in, and give her a quick hug.
When I pull back, she takes me in. “Well, you look pretty good.”
“You don’t need to sound surprised. Turns out freedom looks good on me.”
“Well, I spent the last few nights worried you’d been hacked in half.”
“Like a magic saw trick gone wrong kind of thing?”
She rolls her eyes. “Like a you live with a gang member kind of thing.”
“If you were really worried I’d been chopped in half, which is oddly specific by the way, how come it’s taken you a week to come check on me?”
She huffs out a sigh but doesn’t answer.
“He’s a good guy, Jen. I’m not saying he was always this way. Far from it, and he’ll tell you that himself. I’m saying he’s trying to turn his life around. I can respect that.”
“Calliope. I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
“Do you trust me?”
“You know I do.”
“Then trust that I know what I’m doing. Please?”
Her eyes slip closed while she mutters something about patience. After a minute or two, she opens them and nods. “Fine. But if he hurts you, I’ll feed him to your pigs.”
“I don’t have pigs.”
“You should get some, just in case. Great for getting rid of bodies.”
I laugh, slipping my arm through hers. “And people think I’m the one they need to worry about.”
“I just hide my crazy better than most. Talking of things that make me crazy, I’ve got a mountain of paperwork for you to sign. I need to get it out of the way before next week.”
“Oh, that’s right. Hubby is taking you away for a weekend of debauchery.”
“That’s the plan. Though we both work so hard, we’ll likely sleep most of it away,” she admits with a wry grin. I lead her into the house. “Where do you want me?”
“I’d say my father’s old office, but the room gives me the creeps.”
She scowls. “What better way to reclaim that space than sign a multi-million-dollar deal to screw him over?”
I laugh and shrug. “Alright. It’s upstairs.”
“Let’s go then. Time is money.”
I follow her, amused that she’s leading even though she doesn’t know the way. Yet somehow, I’m not surprised when she walks right to his office as if she’d been there a million times before. Sometimes I have to wonder if she has some witch in her, too.
She twists the handle and opens the door before stepping inside. The room smells musty, so she walks directly over and opens the window as I take in the space. It’s exactly as I remember it as a kid, though less daunting without my father’s presence.
The mahogany desk dominates the room. The matching bookcase lining the perimeter makes it dark and foreboding. Not even the weak light pressing in through the dirty window can change that.
I close my eyes and picture myself growing up, how I avoided this room like the plague because nothing good ever happened in this office.
I’ve run, crept, and crawled past this door to avoid detection, but there were times escape was impossible.
Forced over the desk, I became the paper destined to tear, his whip became the pen designed to leave its signature mark.
My blood was the ink that bled from my wounds into the grain of the wood, staining it with misery and despair.
“Calliope?”
My eyes, which were riveted to the desk, snap to Jen, who is watching me with caution.
The house stirs around us, as if waking from its slumber.
It tends to remain quiet when I have company, finding tranquility in having guests once more, but the desk wasn’t the only thing that absorbed my blood.
The house heard my screams and whimpered pleas.
These walls, which protected the generations that came before, stood in helpless horror, unable to help me.
I know that left scars carved deep into its foundation.
Jen walks to the desk and, with one fell swoop, sweeps her arm across it, sending the contents scattering across the room. I gasp in surprise.
“That takes care of that. Now sit your cute butt down and let’s go over all this shit. And then when that’s done, we can figure out what to do with this space. This is your fucking kingdom, Calliope, don’t let thoughts of that fool try to tarnish your crown.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I tell her with a small smile, snagging one of the chairs to sit on. I’m not ready to sit in the one my father used, not trusting that an ejector switch hasn’t been added or a metal spike prepared to skewer me.
She takes his seat without blinking and places her briefcase on the desk with a heavy thunk.
Before she can open it, there’s a tap at the door. It opens, Riggs poking his head around, his gaze only on me. “You okay? I heard some banging?”
“I’m good, thanks.”
He looks around the room as if searching for possible threats. He takes in the mess on the floor before looking to me once more. When I give him a nod, he sighs and leaves, pulling the door closed behind him.
“You have him well trained.”
“He’s protective of me, that’s all.” My answer sounds defensive, but I don’t care. I don’t like the way she’s talking about him, even though I know if the shoe were on the other foot, I wouldn’t be any happier.
She pretends to zip her lips and throw away the key like she’s five years old.
I bite back a smirk, not wanting to encourage her.
In the end, she settles down, and we spend the next hour going over everything.
There are some things she wants to negotiate.
I want this part to be over so she agrees not to push it.
It’s still a good deal at the end of the day.
“Okay, sign here and here, and I’ll get this sent over to the other party, and then things should move quickly after that,” she says, stacking the papers together as I sign the two that need my signature.
“Now, the boring part is done. What happens next? Have you thought about what you want to do with this place long-term, with the cattle gone?”
“Not all the cattle,” I remind her. “Right now, it’s still a cattle ranch, just on a far smaller scale until I decide the herd’s future. I want to focus on my business, and for that, I need a bigger space for production.”
“Production?”
I blink and realize Jen doesn’t know anything about the little side business I had before I got locked away. I grin and fill her in on what I used to make and how popular it was, even with people’s dislike for me.
Jen, being the awesome friend and businesswoman she is, runs full steam ahead.
“You take care of what you need to do on this end, like how much space you need to keep up with demands, and whether you have a place you can convert or if you need to build something from scratch. I’ll take care of all the marketing and promo shit.
You need a website. I’ll get Boy Wonder downstairs on that,” she murmurs to herself as she makes notes.
I grin at her in amusement. “I’m going to need to cultivate the plants and harvest them first, so there is plenty of time.”
“I know, I’m just thinking out loud.” She tosses the pen down and looks at me before her eyes drift around the room. “Shame this room isn’t big enough to convert. I’m sure your father would roll in his grave if he thought his office was being used for making face creams.”
I chuckle, but then think over what she says, an idea forming in my head. I push the thought out, wondering if this will even work. But when the house stirs around me, I dip my head to hide my grin, especially when heat wraps around me as well as a sense of approval.
“Leave me to think about that. So are you looking forward to your mini vaycay with the hubby?”
“Yes and no. Yes, in theory. What’s not to love about lazy mornings, breakfast in bed, and dirty sex?”
“So why only in theory?”
“I know what I’m like. I get bored too easily.
I don’t work because I have to. I work because I’d go insane without it.
That’s why James doesn’t push me to retire even though he’s retiring himself next year.
I don’t want to be one of those women who kill their husbands for blinking too loudly, but that’s what’s likely to happen.
We barely made it through the menopause years.
Just when I thought we’d survived the worst of it, Covid hit, and we went into lockdown.
I love my husband, Calliope, you know I do, but I’ve never felt such a kindredness with my clients before.
I understand how women just snap all of a sudden.
One minute you’re carving up the Christmas turkey, and the next your husband is on the floor with a carving knife sticking out of his chest.”
I blink and lean forward. “I’m wondering which one of us should have been in jail.”
“Hardy ha ha.”
“I’m seriously considering an intervention. Or having your husband relocated for his safety. Maybe he needs a new identity too, something you’d never figure out like Legolas Mcstuffing.”
“I’m not sure that name would help him blend in.”
“James is a six-foot-four ebony god of a man. That man was born to stand out.”
She grins. “He’s a catch, I’ll give him that. And the things he can do with his tongue would make a nun weep.”
“And we’re done here.” I stand up, ignoring her cackling as I open the door and head out. She follows me downstairs, where David and Riggs are in the kitchen talking.
“Everything okay?”
They both turn to look at me.
“All good. Riggs is helping by pointing out areas that he thinks will be good spots for cameras. Let’s get a couple of drones too. If there is an issue that the sensor picks up but not the camera, or if the camera gets taken out, the drones will get there faster than we can,” David adds.
I shrug. It’s not like I can tell anyone the house has a built-in warning system. “Whatever you think I’ll need.”
Riggs grins. “Even I know that’s dangerous to say. You’ll end up with a tank in your yard and a team of mercenaries.”
“I mean, I could make that happen—”
I laugh at David. “Nope. No tanks or mercenaries. I have Riggs and you. That’s more than enough.”
Both men look pleased at my statement. Jen mutters something under her breath, but I don’t call her on it.
“Well, while they’re doing whatever it is they’re doing, why don’t you and me drive into town?” she suggests.
“No thanks. I’m actually waiting for a delivery anyway.”
Jen crosses her arms. “You can’t avoid the place forever. Better to rip the Band-Aid off now, don’t you think?”
“The Band-Aid has been ripped. I went to the town meeting for all of five minutes. A man just died here, Jen. If you thought people would forgive that, regardless of it being a heart attack, you’re mistaken.”
She stomps toward me, her hands going to my face. For a moment, I’m struck with a powerful reminder of what I missed out on growing up without a mother.
“You have nothing to be ashamed of, and you damn sure don’t need to be hiding out here.”
“I’m not hiding.”
“You’re hiding. I’m not saying I don’t understand why, I’m saying you’re not a kid anymore. You need to go and hold your head high and let them know you won’t be pushed around. Even if you don’t go back often, you need to set a precedent. It’s the only way for people to stop targeting you.”
I scrub my hands down my face. It’s not as simple as she’s making out. But despite the churning in my gut, there is some wisdom in what she’s saying.
“Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
I stomp off to get my boots and a cardigan to throw over my tank top and jeans.
“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” I hear Riggs say, but I miss what’s said afterward.
By the time I walk back into the kitchen, there is a silent standoff happening.
“I’ll come with you,” Riggs says to me, his teeth gritted together.
As much as I want to hide behind this man, there is a part of me that wants to protect him.
Now that the locals know he’s here, they’ll start to pick apart his life too.
I shake my head. “I’ll be fine. Nobody will try shit with Jen there, and as she said, I’m not that little girl anymore. I can handle it. Besides, right now you’re my ace in the hole. Most people don’t know you’re living here, so if they come looking for trouble…”
“They’ll fucking find it,” he growls.
“Okay, I get the appeal, but let’s get this show on the road. I have tennis later with Judge Jedding and dinner with the DA, and if I’m late for either, I’ll never hear the end of it.”
Both Riggs and I look at her.
“What?”
“We are not the same.” I chuckle before shooing her toward the door. “Let’s get this over with.”
“It’s gonna be fine. You’ll see.”