Page 98 of Sold to Her Enemy

“Mckenna, why are you crying?”

He comes up beside me, his dark eyes full of concern.

Taking the reins in one hand, I wipe my tears away.

“I don’t know,” I whisper.

He cocks an eyebrow at me, and I tense, holding my breath.

I don’t want to tell him why, not at this moment. I want to enjoy the fresh air and these horses because I don’t know what my future looks like tomorrow.

“Kurt mentioned a short trail that takes us by a pond? Feel up to it?”

“Yes, let’s do it.”

To my surprise, he takes the lead, and it allows me to not churn the doubts through my mind. The trail is well-groomed, with beautiful oaks lining either side of the path.

After a good walk, Adrian sets a trot.

It’s so familiar to me, being on top of a horse. Working with these gentle giants is all I wanted to do. My heart aches as I think of how Adrian’s actions derailed that plan. Even if my father needed money, why didn’t he go to Adrian’s dad?

All my dad wanted to do was to help people. He didn’t care about money, and maybe that’s why he was so bad with it. But I can’t imagine why he wouldn’t tell Mr. McIntyre he was in trouble.

Maybe it wasn’t the first time. Some of these blanks are my fault. I’ve ignored the of paperwork that my mother was handed by a representative of Adrian’s company. I think of my mother telling me they had to wait to get the reports from the forensic accountants to see if my dad was owed anything.

I frown now as we go back into a walk. When my mom told me this, I was exhausted from working two jobs and wanted to put anything related to MM Industries out of my mind. It was my fault I didn’t look into the details. But that doesn’t sound right. My father had lots of patents and inventions in bioengineering. I know all his accounts were frozen, but all these months later, we still don’t have a penny.

“Adrian, I need to ask you a question.”

“Ask me anything, hellion.” He smiles over his shoulder.

“There haven’t been any formal charges against my father.”

Adrian stiffens. “That’s true. But the investigators have more questions for him.”

“Right, but does that mean all his accounts are frozen?”

“The investigators froze all accounts relating to MM Industries as a precaution. I had nothing to do with your father’s account being frozen.”

“What about the royalty or whatever he got from MM Industries for his patents? I know you folded the company and started Colossus, but you’re still using the technology, right? Doesn’t he get paid for that?”

“Mckenna, I always pay my debts.” He stops at a little clearing and comes next to me.

“But we haven’t had any money in months.”

“Your father’s personal assets are frozen, but he gets a payment twice a month on the royalties earned on the licenses. I know it’s not as much as when he was a partner, but you have to take what you get when he decided to sell our tech to the mob.”

“Allegedly,” I mumble. “I haven’t seen a cent since we were kicked out of our house.”

And I thought that was because the Feds had frozen all our accounts, but now, as I think of the vacant look in my mother’s eyes, I wonder if it’s something more and that information has been kept from me.

“I don’t know Mckenna. Talk to your father’s lawyer. The pond is just down this path.”

His tone indicates the conversation is over.

I try to stay in the moment, take in the frogs in the pond and the sound of the birdsong and the magnificent creature I’m riding.

But I can’t put it out of my head.

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