Page 121 of Dirty Cowboy

I flip through the stack. Her leverage.

I hold them up, meeting her wild eyes. “This ends now.”

Her face pales, panic slicing through her arrogance. “Eric, don’t?—”

I rip them in half. Then again. Then again. I let the pieces fall into the muck where she landed.

She scrambles to her feet, slipping, her dress stained and reeking, her hair tangled like a hay bale gone wrong. But I don’t care. She has no power over me anymore.

I turn, walking out without looking back.

Annabelle stands near the garden gate, watching me with raised brows as I approach.

“You good?” she asks.

“Better than I’ve been in years,” I say honestly.

She nods, but there’s something softer in her gaze now. “Eric, I’m going to New York to see Emma. I’m going to talk to her.”

My heart lurches. “She doesn’t want me there.”

“That’s a lie.”

“She made it clear, Annabelle. And her brothers?—”

“I don’t care about her brothers.” She folds her arms. “I care about her. And you. And the fact that you’re miserable.”

A lump forms in my throat. “You really think she?—”

“I think you need to get your ass on a train and fight for the woman you love. But since you’re not ready to do that, I’m going. I’ll find out how she feels.”

I swallow hard, the ache in my chest deepening. “You’d do that? Talk to her for me?”

She smiles, just a little. “Of course. Maybe hearing from someone else will help.”

Hope flickers, fragile but real.

“Thank you,” I whisper, my voice breaking.

She squeezes my shoulder. “We’ll get through this. All of us.”

I nod, though I’m not sure I believe it.

From the barn, I hear Caroline cursing softly, trying to scrape dung off her shoes with a broken rake.

As the last car pulls out, I stay behind, gripping the urn, and walk to the garden one last time. Silence wraps around me.

I kneel, placing a hand against the fresh earth. “I’m sorry, Grandpa,” I whisper. “I’m so damn sorry I couldn’t make things right. I wish you were here. I don’t know what to do without you.”

The wind stirs around me, carrying my words away, and my tears finally spill over. I tried to hold it all together and be strong, but standing here, with everything that mattered to me slipping away, I can’t hold back any longer. The sobs come out in violent bursts, wracking my chest. And I let them, until I have no tears left.

After what feels like hours, I finally rise and wipe my eyes. Derek and Blake wait for me beneath the willow tree, their gazes filled with the kind of understanding only brothers can offer. But even with them at my side, the emptiness is overwhelming.

I walk them to the front gate. The sun has dipped below the horizon, and the last of the light bleeds from the sky. My eyes drift over the land where I’ve lived since birth—but when I turn to my right, my heart sinks.

A sign stands in the front yard.

SOLD

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