“One of those assholes – the mayor or sheriff – killed our fucking mother, and you don’t even give a shit, Luke?” Silas’ voice gets louder as he stands close to me, looking like he wants to push me.
“You’re going to… what? Avenge her death, Silas?” I ask. “Make those bastards pay? Why? She didn’t do jack shit for us.”
“You don’t want to be involved? Fine,” Silas says. “Why’d you even come up here, anyway?”
“I’m just saying, there are options other than running some complicated con scheme here,” I point out. “What does that even do? Send them to prison? So does a murder confession.”
“But a murder confession doesn’t help anyone else,” Oscar says. “Like Letty Weston, Tempest’s grandmother.”
“Your grandmother lives in West Bend?” I ask flatly.
Tempest nods. “She’s in a retirement home, but still has her property, said no to the mining company’s offers on the place. But the company has a real bad habit of making sure that people who say no end up saying yes.”
Autumn has said no to the mining company, I remember, pulling up that conversation from somewhere in the back of my mind.
“Listen to the plan," Oscar says. "Then decide if it has merit."
So I sit and listen to the plan and the background they have on everyone. Besides the shit about the shady mining company, Emir dug up stuff about the sheriff and the mayor, dirt that’s enough to convince us that they’re rotten to the core, corrupt and poisonous to West Bend and its residents.
Meanwhile, I’m sitting here thinking of Autumn and Olivia and how the hell to keep them as far away from this as possible.
Oscar lays out a map, plots of land marked with red marker. “The mining company is going after the europium on the properties, we know that,” he says. “That’s what your father had found, what he told the geology teacher at the high school about. That teacher is long gone now, paid off by the mining company to disappear or –“
“Or made to disappear,” Silas says grimly.
“Yes,” Oscar agrees. “He’s gone and no one else knows about the europium.”
“Well, no one except the people in this room,” Tempest says. “And the mayor and the sheriff.”
“So the mining company has been picking off people one by one,” Iver says, sipping from his champagne glass.
“Not literally, though,” I say. “It’s not just coming in here and murdering –“
Oscar holds up his hand. “Literally, no,” he says. “It’s buying parcels of land, mostly, which is legal. Technically. Duping residents about the value of their property isn't the worst thing a company can do.”
“But we do think they’ve done worse,” Tempest says. “Intimidation, outright threats – there have been rumors floating around. It's not official representatives from the mining company, but they’re obviously behind it.”
“So, what are the properties marked on the map?” I ask, stepping forward for a closer look.
Oscar trails his finger over the paper. “These are properties we’ve marked, places we’ve been able to find out that the company is interested in,” he says. “They’re casting a wide net.”
“How do you know they’re interested in these places?” I ask, squinting to orient myself on the map.
“Don’t ask,” Emir mutters.
“It’s best not to know,” Oscar assures me. “Emir’s technical prowess doesn’t always operate within the bounds of the law.”
Iver chuckles. “Doesn’t ever, he means.”
“None of what you do is legal,” I point out.
“True,” Oscar agrees. “But what Emir does is quite illegal.”
“Seems like there’s not much of a distinction,” I say. Then I see it. Autumn’s orchard, outlined in red marker. “What’s this?”
Oscar leans over, his glasses perched on the tip of his nose. “One of the properties the company is quite interested in,” he says. “It's one that we can consider using to our advantage.”
“Using to your advantage? How?” Thoughts are rushing through my head, one right after the other. Autumn mentioned that there were men on the outskirts of the property. She mentioned the offer to buy her land. I clench my fists at my side, feeling the nearly-irresistible urge to walk out of here and go straight to her place.
“We select target properties, and our rival energy company shows interest in them,” Tempest explains. “Our surveyors find europium on the properties –”
“That we ensure is there, of course,” Oscar adds.
“How?”
“That will be my doing,” Iver says.
“So… what? Are you guys going to break into some top-secret lab and steal –“ I start. “Of course you are.”
“Our company drives up the cost of the land, and we get the mining company to put in bids to buy up useless land,” Oscar explains.
“A big company like that, it’s a drop in the bucket,” I protest. “How is that useful?”
“The mining company is going to have a problem with the company who does its extraction and testing,” Oscar goes on.
“An unfortunate data leak,” Emir says, shrugging. “Can’t trust anyone these days.”
“And… you’re the new company doing the testing,” I say.
Oscar nods. “We’ll fail to find anything of value on the properties the company has already purchased,” he says. “The mining company will want to unload the properties onto their rivals – also us – and there you have it.”
“That doesn’t take care of the sheriff and the mayor,” I say.
Oscar holds up his index finger. “All in good time. You haven’t allowed me to finish.”
“This property,” I interrupt, pointing to Autumn’s place on the map, “is not involved. She’s not involved in any way with this. Do you understand?”
I try to ignore the glare I can feel coming from Silas' direction. I want Autumn and Olivia kept far away from any of this shit, out of danger.
Oscar nods. “No involvement,” he says.
No involvement, I think.
That’s when it hits me. Autumn can’t know about any of this. If she did, she’d be an accomplice to the hundred laws I’m sure we’re about to break. Autumn, and especially Olivia, have to be protected from this. If they’re involved, they’re even more vulnerable. If the mining company wants her land, they're going to keep trying to get it and she's going to keep saying no, which puts her in danger. And that means the mining company has to be stopped.
But I have to keep Autumn and Olivia out of this.
I have to stay away from them.
If Autumn doesn’t hate me, she’ll come after me.
So I realize what I have to do. It’s for the best. If I care at all about Autumn, I have to let her go.
29
Autumn
I swallow hard to try to manage the lump in my throat. “It’s no big deal, you know,” I say, my voice wavering, betraying how I really feel.
Which is like total and complete shit.
“It is a big deal,” June says, her voice rising briefly before she clears her throat. Even over the phone, she sounds pissed off. “Even if he was just a fling, it’s still the biggest dick move ever. And he’s working for you.”
I laugh, the sound bitter. “Yeah, well, not anymore,” I say.
It’s been two weeks since that cryptic as hell message from Luke. Two weeks. Over two weeks, actually. It’s been fifteen days, to be precise. Fifteen days since Luke texted me, saying something had come up and that he couldn’t come over. Fourteen days since he texted me again, saying he’d be sending someone else, another foreman to replace him. The foreman was overqualified, competent, completely on top of things. I should be pleased about that fact.
I should be pleased to be rid of Luke, with his annoying lack of boundaries, with his showing up to my house all the time and inviting himself in.
Inviting himself into my life.
I’ve never been dumped
by text and frankly, I should have expected as much. Luke has short term written all over him. He’s young, immature, impulsive… and hot as hell. I’m sure he’s shacking up with another girl right now, someone his age.
Not a single mom, who’s sitting in her bathtub eating ice cream out of a pint container at ten p.m. because she got dumped via text message.
I’m a sad case.
But it’s not like we were dating. And he was just a fling.
That’s what I tell myself, but it doesn’t make me feel any better. Neither does the rest of the pint of Rocky Road; now I just feel sick.
So what? I ask myself as I pull on my most comfortable pair of pajamas and climb into bed. So what if you’re climbing into bed alone? It’s better this way. My old routine is comfortable, familiar. It involves sweats and soft pajamas. It doesn't involve someone disrupting Olivia’s routine, disrupting my workday with his stupid muscles and lame grin and disrupting my evening routine with his stupid cock. And his cooking. I was going to gain twenty pounds from all that cooking anyway.
So, it’s better this way, I think as I pull the comforter up around my chest. Totally.
Tons better.
So much better I could cry.
“You’re going to spoil her,” I say, shaking my head. “You know she expects ice cream every time we come here now.”
Connie C. laughs. “Good. You can understand how this is a smart business move for me, then. I grow my customers from the very beginning.”
“You’re a tricky old woman.” I slide my basket up on the counter.
“My husband tells me the same thing," she says with a laugh. "Oh, and you were great at the town hall meeting the other night, you know. Very well-spoken, my dear."
I wasn't going to get involved in small-town politics, but then I'd gotten another visit from a couple of guys from the mining company wanting to make an offer on my land, do some more testing, and that was that. I decided that thinking about something bigger than myself would be the best thing right now.
Connie helps me to the car with my bags, and I’m putting them in when I see Luke talking to a girl right on the sidewalk not more than twenty feet in front of me. He looks up, and I stare at him, and both of the assholes look at me like I have three heads.
I’m fuming, my hands practically shaking as I open the car door, sliding behind the steering wheel as Luke heads for me, jogging down the sidewalk. I’m putting the car in reverse, planning to get the hell out of there, when he reaches me. He knocks on the car window, and I don’t roll it down. “I’m leaving,” I say.
“Autumn,” he says, knocking on the window. “Don’t be like this.”
I can’t help it now. I roll the window down and look at him. “Don’t be like what, Luke?” I ask, my voice trembling. “You send me a couple of text messages and a new foreman over to my house? That’s how you quit?” I say quit like it’s only his job I’m talking about, except I’m clearly not. Quit us is what I mean.
Except there is no us. There never was.
That was all in my head.
I’m not sure if I’m more disgusted with him for how immature he is, or with myself for how stupid I obviously still am.
I hate deception and lies – my entire life with Edward was one giant fraud, and I can't do that again. I refuse to go there.
“Autumn,” he says, his jaw clenched. “I – that wasn’t what it looked like. There’s not – damn it.”
“You don’t owe me any explanation, Luke. There’s really nothing you can say. Besides, it’s no big deal. A blip on my radar.”
“Autumn, it was a big deal to –“
“Save it,” I say, holding up my hand. “Out of sight, out of mind, right? At least from my perspective. Now, I need to get my child home for a nap, so if you’d kindly move out of the way so I don’t have to back over your feet with my car, I’d greatly appreciate it.”
Look straight ahead, I tell myself. And that’s what I do. I look straight ahead, ignoring him, hiding behind my sunglasses as I back out of my parking space and drive away. It’s only afterward, when I look at him in my rearview mirror, that my eyes well up with tears.
30
Luke
“Is that the girl?” Tempest asks.
“I don’t want to fucking talk about it.” I’m filled with anger and self-loathing. I hate that I’ve made Autumn hate me. And I hate that she was so damn casual about the whole thing, like what happened between us was no big deal at all. I hate that she looked at me, that she thought I was standing here with Tempest because I was with Tempest.
“You should go to her,” Tempest urges me.
“It’s none of your damn business,” I snap. “Now, are we putting on a show here or not?”
Tempest shakes her head and hands me a business card, fake, with the name of the rival energy company on it. “In case you’re interested.”
“I’m not interested,” I say loudly. “My family’s property isn’t for sale, not to you or anyone.”
I can see one of the ladies from the hair salon not ten feet away, standing in the doorway, staring at us. Good.
“We’re done here,” I say loudly.
“If you change your mind,” Tempest calls after me, as I walk away.
“It’s in the bag,” Silas says. “Emir is tracking email correspondence. The mining company is flipping the fuck out. They're running in circles like chickens with their heads chopped off, not sure whether to unload the properties they have or buy up the properties they don’t. They called in a second lab company to test the land they’ve already purchased – and stat.”
“Part of the con group,” I say, only half-listening to my brothers update me on what’s happening with the con. My mind is on the interaction I had with Autumn earlier this afternoon. I thought that whole out-of-sight out-of-mind thing might work for me. Hell, it has a million times before. Other women have come and gone, in and out of my life with no problem. Of course, none of them were Autumn.
“Are you paying attention?” Elias asks. “Of course the lab company is fake, part of the con group. They've done the tests already, and the results will be expedited, of course, and will demonstrate that they were misled into thinking there was europium on the properties.”
“That sounds good,” I say absently. “How do they know the mining company is falling for it?”
“Emir, of course," Silas says. “I don’t know exactly. He hacks into the company emails or something.”
“Do you really trust them?” I ask.
“You don’t have to be involved,” Silas tells me. “Back out of it, man. The chick with the orchard isn't at risk. You can stay out of it."
“What do you know about her?”
“I know you’ve been moping around the past few weeks,” Silas says. “You should just go deal with that whole… situation.”
“That whole situation isn’t any of your business,” I grumble, “so butt out of it. I don’t want her involved in it. She’s got a kid, and she's too good for a Saint anyhow.”
Silas laughs. “You’re such a stupid stubborn asshole