"Yeah." Jacob nods his head.
"Get what?" Liam asks, his hair falling more and more in his face.
"Your confession," I say. "You were so eager to tell me how you planned to fuck me over." I shake my head. "Forget that you were stupid enough to light the match to burn down the barn and then smoke a cigarette, leaving your DNA at the scene." I laugh at how pathetic he is. "And the fact we found the money wire from you to the man you hired to take out Amelia. The fact that you cut the wires to the alarm system at this barn. Oh, and let’s not forget the motel room you’ve been renting out for the last month." He looks like he’s seen a ghost. "Little did you know that we’ve been on to you for the last three days. You see what you did wrong there, dear old Dad?" I say. "You showed your hand too soon. Thought your three of a kind would win. What you didn’t know was I had the full fucking house." I open my arms to my sides and laugh at him. "You did all that, and in the end, I. Still. Fucking. Win." I look him straight in the eye when I say the next line, the sound of sirens off in the distance. "And. You. Fucking. Lose." He reaches behind his back, and I see the gun come out as he aims it at me.
"Asher!" I hear yelled right before the sound of the shot rings out.
Chapter 34
Amelia
The ride back to the barn takes forever, or at least I think it takes forever. The sound of sirens off in the distance makes my whole body go stiff. "Leave the horse." Willow rushes out of the barn when we get back. "And go. Quinn is already on his way there, and we are locking down the barn," she says, and I look over to see all the other workers starting to close everything down.
I get off my horse. My grandfather is already five steps ahead of me, running to my car. He starts the car when the phone rings in his hand. "You’re on speakerphone. I’m on my way," he says right away.
"Dad, do not come here," my uncle Casey says, and I can hear sirens coming from his phone along with the sound of him running.
"I’m with Amelia," he tells him, and my uncle groans.
"We’re closed off," he tells him. "They aren’t letting anyone in." My heart sinks.
"What’s happening?" I ask, and he stops running.
"Someone said they heard a gunshot." The minute he says the word, my eyes close. "I can’t confirm it yet, but we have the EMTs coming."
"She isn’t going to sit at home," my grandfather says, and we pull up as close as we can. I open the door before he even has a chance to say goodbye. The sheriff's truck is stopping anyone from getting any closer to the barn. My eyes go to the barn as I spot Asher’s truck parked there with four other trucks surrounding him. Men are running in and out of the barn. People are everywhere. An EMT truck is there with the lights on as they run into the barn.
"I need to get there," I say to the man who I’ve met a couple of times when I went to visit my father at his office.
"I’m sorry. I’ve been told to block everyone from getting closer," he says, and I look behind me as the EMT truck comes straight toward us. I move to the side of the deputy’s truck while the EMT drives around him. He is going too fast for it to be nothing. I put my hand over my eyes to look without the sun blinding me.
My breaths come in pants as my mouth waters, and I think I’m going to be sick on the side of the road. "Oh my God," I say, putting my hand on my forehead. My feet move as I pace in front of him. "Oh my God.” I stop moving and put my hands on my knees as I start to panic. He walked away from me thinking I didn’t love him goes through my head. The last thing I said to him was it was a lie. "Oh my God," I say, trying to catch my breath. My grandfather rubs my back.
"Breathe in and out," he says. "Focus and breathe." I listen to him and then turn to the deputy, shaking my head.
"I have to get in there." He looks at me and then looks back at the barn. "My father is in there," I say, pushing past him, and he knows better than to follow me. I hear my grandfather issuing an apology and saying that it’s going to be okay. I run to the entrance of the barn.