Page 1 of The Rancher's Wedding Betrayal
Chapter One
THE PHONE RANG, ANDEve’s stomach twisted into a pretzel of dread.
I can’t do this.
No, wait, I can.
I should.
I have no choice.
Yeargh, I...
Her hand moved of its own accord, sending her phone flying across the room just as the call connected. Hunter’s hatefully familiar voice filled the halfway house’s common room.
“You have five minutes to tell me what this is about.”
Eve immediately started gnashing her teeth. Had she really hoped he would be less, what, arrogant?
In front her, Hilary nodded and smiled at her encouragingly.
You can do it,the other woman mouthed.
Oh yes, she could.
She could tell her former stepbrother exactly where he could stick his five minutes...but because she had truly repented after the past week, Eve managed to swallow the bitter retort crawling up her throat.
“Four minutes forty-five seconds.”
The countdown made her teeth grind together. Eve fought off the urge to end the call as she forced herself to retrieve her phone from the floor.
“Hello, Hunter.” Her voice came out strangled. It was the best she could do, since right now she wanted to do some strangling herself. "Thank you for taking my call."
“Four minutes thirty seconds.”
Deep breath. Don’t kill him. At least not over the phone.
“I...need your help.” The words tasted like ashes in her mouth.
Silence stretched between them for three endless heartbeats.
“I’m sending a car."
If he wasn't even bothering to ask where she was, then that meant he knew she had lost her job. Her apartment. And just about everything that used to define her.
"Be ready in fifteen minutes.”
The call disconnected before she could respond.
Eve stared at her phone, wondering if selling her soul would have been less painful.
Hilary squeezed her hand. “I'm proud of you, and so's God. You did great.”
“I just want to throw up," Eve muttered. "I feel like I sold my soul to the devil.”
Hilary shook her head with a laugh. “Eve.”
Eve made a face. “Sorry. I’m just really...I don't know what to think. Or feel."
