Page 51 of Cru's Crush
“Bringing Bradley on as winemaker at Butler Ranch was one of the smartest things I ever did. It took Naught a while to agree. I’d say he’s pretty happy about it now, though.”
Naughton had married the woman Maddox mentioned within a year of her taking over as head winemaker in his older brother’s place.
Mad shook his head. “She makes damn good wine, just like I predict Daphne will.”
“So what happened?” I asked. “How’d you break your ribs?”
He chuckled. “Don’t ask.”
“What did you do, slip and fall in the fermentation room?” The way his cheeks heated told me I wasn’t far off. “Sorry, man,” I said, chuckling.
He laughed too and looked between me and Daphne’s dad. “I’d appreciate if you didn’t let word get out.”
“I don’t know, fellas. Sounds like we should use this opportunity to get even with Maddox for all his high jinks over the years,” said Noah. “What can we get out of him?”
“Withdraw the Demetria Cab from next year’s awards,” I muttered. It was the only category I hadn’t been able to best him in, and each year, it pissed me off.
“What fun would that be?” he countered, still chuckling. “Winning by getting rid of your competition? No way would that make you happy, Cru.”
“You’re right,” I said, knowing he was.
I saw lights from a vehicle approaching the house. “This must be Bit,” I muttered. I watched the SUV pull in and park, but I didn’t recognize it.
“What’s up?” Maddox asked.
“It is him, but he isn’t alone.” When two men walked toward the house, I took a closer look. “I think Decker Ashford is with him. Would you excuse me?”
“Of course,” said Maddox when I raced into the house.
By the time I was inside, they were both walking in the front door.
“Everything okay?” I asked, meeting them in the entryway.
“Is there somewhere we can talk?” Deck asked, looking behind me.
I glanced over my shoulder and saw everyone, including Maddox, had come inside.
“Sure, follow me,” I said, leading them into the back bedroom. I stopped before going inside. “Should I get Daphne?”
“In a minute,” Decker responded.
I shut the door behind us and looked between him and my brother.
“Go ahead,” Bit said.
Decker cleared his throat. “After you and Daphne left the hospital, your brother went outside to take a break. He hadn’t been out there long when he overheard two men talking. One said something about being able to grab ‘her’ once you returned to the ranch.”
My eyes opened wide. “Do you think they meant Daph?” I asked.
“I know they did,” Decker said, nodding. “Anyway, your brother was able to record the rest of their conversation, and it was pretty damning. When he heard them say it was time to head out, he went inside and called me. My team and I showed up right as they were exiting the parking lot. We surrounded them and waited for local law enforcement to get there.”
“You were already here?” I asked.
“Affirmative. We’d been tracking three suspects we strongly believed were the ones who’d held Daphnecaptive back in New York. The problem was we didn’t have enough proof to apprehend them.”
“What about now?”
Deck put his hand on Trevino’s shoulder. “Thanks to this guy, we have more than enough to hold them. The sheriff has them in custody, and I’m headed to the jail to interrogate them now. I figure one of them will be scared enough to confess and take the others down with him or her.”
