Page 63 of Shattered Melodies

“What’s going on here?” I demanded, putting myself between them like a human shield. “Who the hell are you?”

The suited man smiled wider, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Caleb, I presume? Your father and I were just having a little chat about some outstanding debts.”

I looked at my father, confusion and dread warring in my gut. “Dad? What’s he talking about?”

My father opened his mouth, but no words came out. He looked deflated, defeated in a way I’d never seen before.

The stranger tsked, shaking his head in mock sympathy. “It seems your father has been keeping secrets, Caleb. Secrets that are about to catch up with him in a very big, very expensive way.”

I felt my hackles rise, my hands clenching into fists at my sides. “You listen to me, you son of a bitch. I don’t know who you are or what you want, but you’re not gonna come into our home and threaten my family. Not on my watch.”

His smile turned predatory, his eyes glinting like a snake’s. “Oh, but I’m afraid I can, Caleb. You see, your father owes my employer a great deal of money. Money that he promised to pay back, with interest.” He pulled a sheaf of papers from his briefcase, waving them in the air like a flag of victory. “And according to these documents, if he can’t come up with the cash the ranch becomes ours. Simple as that.”

I felt like I’d been sucker-punched, the breath whooshing out of my lungs in a rush. The ranch? Our home, our livelihood, the very foundation of our family. It couldn’t be true. It had to be some kind of mistake, some kind of cruel and twisted joke.

But one look at my father’s face, at the guilt and the shame and the utter, crushing despair, I knew it wasn’t. I knew that this slick, soulless bastard was telling the truth.

“How much?” I asked, my voice raw and ragged. “How much does he owe you?”

The man’s smile widened, his teeth gleaming like a shark’s. “Fifty thousand dollars. Plus interest, of course.”

I reeled back like he’d slapped me, my mind reeling with the enormity of it. Fifty thousand dollars. It might as well have been a million, for all the chance we had of coming up with that kind of cash.

But I wasn’t going to let him see that, wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing he had us over a barrel.

“And what if we can’t pay?” I asked, my voice steady despite the fear churning in my gut. “What happens then?”

He shrugged, a casual gesture that belied the malice in his eyes. “Then we take the ranch, of course. Every last acre, every last head of cattle. It’s all laid out in the contract.” He snapped his briefcase shut, the sound like a gunshot in the tense silence of the room. “You have thirty days to come up with the money. Not a day more, not a day less. I suggest you start liquidating assets now, before it’s too late.”

And with that, he was gone, striding out the door like he owned the place. Like he owned us, body and soul.

I turned to my father, my heart pounding and my hands shaking with a mix of anger and terror. “Dad, what the hell? What did you do?”

He wouldn’t meet my eyes, his shoulders hunched and his head bowed like a man awaiting execution. “I’m sorry, Caleb. I’m so goddamn sorry.”

“Sorry?” I repeated, incredulous. “You’re sorry? Dad, you just gambled away our entire future, our whole damn life! How could you do this?”

But even as the words left my mouth, I knew. Knew with a sudden, sickening clarity that made my stomach turn and my heart ache.

“Mom,” I whispered, the truth hitting me like a freight train. “This is about Mom, isn’t it? About her cancer, her treatment.”

He nodded, a single tear tracing down his weathered cheek. “The insurance, it didn’t cover everything. Not even close. And I couldn’t let her suffer, couldn’t let her…couldn’t let her die.”

His voice broke on the last word and he crumpled, folding in on himself like a house of cards. And despite my anger, despite the betrayal and the fear coursing through my veins, I felt my heart break for him, for this proud, stubborn man who had always been my rock, my unshakable foundation.

“Oh, Dad,” I murmured, crossing the room to pull him into a hug. “Why didn’t you tell us? Why didn’t you let us help?”

He shook his head against my shoulder, his body shuddering with silent sobs. “I couldn’t. Couldn’t put that burden on you, not after everything you’d already been through. I thought…I thought I could handle it on my own, could find a way to pay it back before anyone found out.”

I pulled back, holding him at arm’s length and searching his face. “And now? What are we gonna do now?”

He looked at me, his eyes red-rimmed and haunted. “I don’t know, son. I don’t know.”

My mother, who had been silent through the whole exchange, stepped forward then. Her face was pale and drawn, but her eyes were fierce with determination.

“We’ll figure it out,” she said, her voice steady and sure. “We’re Winchesters. We don’t go down without a fight.”

I felt a surge of love for her, for this amazing woman who had stared down death itself and come out swinging. If anyone could get us through this, it was her.

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