Page 60 of River Legacy
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He considered Treyton for a long moment before he pulled the stack of hundreds from his jacket pocket, thumbed through them and put them back in his pocket. “Guess we’re done here, then.” He started to walk back to his ride, thinking about what his mother had said. He couldn’t trust anyone, especially Treyton.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Treyton demanded behind him. “You owe me a lot of money.”
CJ turned quickly, closing the space between them. Treyton didn’t have time to react. CJ plowed into him, driving him to the ground and ripping open his shirt. The fall knocked the air out of Treyton’s lungs. He lay on the ground, gasping for air.
“Are you wearing a wire, you bastard?”
“No!” He was sucking in air and trying to fight him off as CJ tore open his jeans, dragging them down to Treyton’s ankles.
He blinked in confusion, his pulse thundering in his ears. The sheriff hadn’t been out here hooking Treyton up to a wire to frame him? Treyton hadn’t been setting him up? It was just his mother putting that crap into his head. Getting to his feet, he stumbled back.
“What in the hell is wrong with you?” Treytondemanded, pulling his pants up. “You think I turned on you?”
It was exactly what he’d been thinking. It was too much of a coincidence that the sheriff had been here. He glanced toward Treyton’s house, little more than a lean-to, yet there were curtains—and they were closed. “Who’s inside that shack of yours?”
“No one. Seriously, are you losing it?” Treyton said as he inspected the damage to his shirt. “You owe me for this shirt. Just pay me, and we’re through.”
“Pay you for what?”
His old adversary gave him an impatient look. “Getting a little paranoid, are you, CJ? Might be your guilt over what you did to your mother. You didn’t fool anyone. Everyone knows what you’re like.”
“You’ve always been jealous of me.” CJ found himself watching the house. Someone was in there. The sheriff hadn’t come out here alone. Stuart would have known that CJ would suspect that Treyton was wearing a wire and check. Treyton resented him, always had. Of course, he would want him gone since he’d taken over the business CJ had started after he’d gone to jail. He realized he’d been a fool to ever trust him.
“I’m not going to stand out here and argue with you,” said Treyton. “Pay me what you owe me, and we’re done. After that, don’t call me ever again to do your dirty work. You got what you wanted. Now pay me. I know you made a bundle when you sold the ranch to Wendell Forester. If you try to cheat me—”
CJ expected the cops would come busting out of the house any moment after Treyton had laid it all out for them. He hadn’t admitted everything, but there was no doubt Treyton was going to sing.
The curtain moved inside the house. At least he thought it had. “You made a deal with the cops,” he yelled as he pulled his weapon and opened fire.
Treyton had already gone for his own gun as if he’d been ready for this.
CJ got off a shot, but his former business partner got off two, both dead center. He felt them burn through him as he fired again and again, even as Treyton took the bullets, dropping to his knees, his weapon falling from his hand.
He emptied the clip. As everything suddenly went silent, CJ looked toward the house again and saw a cat sitting in the window, batting at the curtain. No one had come out to arrest him because the cops hadn’t been in there.
He frowned as his legs gave out, and he fell over on the ground. Only yards from him, Treyton lay motionless, the ground next to him dark with his blood. He hadn’t betrayed him after all, yet CJ knew he would have eventually. He knew he couldn’t trust anyone. His mother had been right about that.
Chapter Nineteen
Claude cursed himself all the way back to Powder Crossing.You lie with dogs and you’re going to get fleas. His mother’s old expression echoed in his head. There was no doubt now about his future. Wendell Forester was going to use him, then throw him away or just get right to it and ruin him.
He couldn’t believe how excited he’d been when his boss had invited him to come to Montana for the weekend. He’d flown in the private jet, believing he was going to marry Victoria. True, the first time they’d met, things hadn’t gone well, but Claude had thought given a little time, he could win her over—and if not, Wen would make her marry him.
He’d seen himself as Wen’s son-in-law with his own private jet, his own tailored suits, his own corner office with floor-to-ceiling windows. Even though he’d known that Victoria would make his home life miserable, he’d been ready to make a deal with the devil to get the life he’d only dreamed of.
Now, after every humiliating thing he’d done for Wen, the man wouldn’t even let him fly home in the company plane. Instead, he was just supposed to wait around until Wen and Victoria were ready?
Well, he would see about that, he thought as he drove through Powder Crossing and headed for the Stafford Ranch. He knew where he could find Victoria. She’d been his ticket all along, just not quite in the way he’d hoped.
Wen would do anything for his precious princess, wouldn’t he?
Claude was about to find out as he drove up into the ranch yard. He didn’t even hesitate as he got out. This was going down. He wasn’t changing his mind or second-guessing himself. He knew what he had to do.
He started toward the house, but then heard voices down by the barn. Turning, he headed in that direction, knowing that Brand was still in the hospital. From what he’d heard, there wasn’t much staff other than a cook who only worked two meals a day and lived in town. He’d gotten the impression that Brand and Ryder had downsized the staff, running the house by themselves until their mother returned. No wonder Wen thought he could get the ranch. Clearly, it was vulnerable as its future was up in the air with Charlotte Stafford holding the purse strings and being out of the picture.
The voices grew louder. Ryder and Victoria sounded quite intimate as they laughed and talked about some horse called Vic. Had the rancher named a horse after her?
