The driver hops down with the stationary supplies I ordered because despite my own misery I have a ranch to maintain. A part of me wants to sell the whole damn place and forget everything I’ve worked for.
“Ah man, I was hoping I’d see that beauty that was here a while back. Please tell me she still works here.”
“What? What beauty?” I ask, jaw clenched because the only woman I can picture is my Angel. The fact that this asshole wants her reminds me that she could be with someone else by now.
“She was some sort of Hispanic-looking beauty. Stunning, sweet.” He’s nodding like he remembers her sexiness, and I do all I can to hold back the violent images of his body spread out before me as I beat him to death.
“Get off my property and don’t ever fucking come back,” I snarl, stepping out of the front door. He stumbles back and then rushes down the stairs to his vehicle, making quick work to get the fuck out of my path.
Dumping the supplies just inside the door off to the side, I pace my front porch like a man who has fucking lost his mind. I call Cyber because there’s something we missed. “What’s going on?”
“I need to look at the footage at the ranch before she left. Maybe an hour or so before. I had a UPS delivery that day, but I didn’t receive anything. The driver said he came here and saw her,” I growl, still feeling the deadly sting of jealousy.
“Come on down to the clubhouse, and we’ll look at it,” he says.
I speed down there on my motorcycle, revving hard, doing ninety the whole way even though it’s a short trip. When I get there Cyber has a worried look on his face like I’m going to kill him. The thought has crossed my mind, but it’s not his fault that she left me. “Sorry, man. I hadn’t thought there was anything to make her leave since we knew what time she left and that she stole your money.”
“You thought she just used me and ran.” Fuck, I thought the same thing, but it never felt right to me. Something bothered me and I wish I had looked more intently into her leaving.
“Exactly.”
“I get it. I’ve been living with that fucking pain for months. Do you have it cued up?”
“Yeah. Here it is. There’s the driver pulling up to the ranch.” They briefly speak and he goes on his way. She looks down at the envelope and there it is. Whatever’s in the envelope spooks her because she dashes into the house and then about an hour later she’s making a mad dash to her car where she’s packed her clothes and the money. “Look, did you see how she pauses for a moment before I thought it was because she saw someone, but now I’m thinking she’s second-guessing her decision.”
“I see. Fuck. She’s running from something.”
“Or someone.” I know it can’t be a lover because I’ve been her only one, but then who? She worked for the FBI.
“That explains why she didn’t take all of your money. She didn’t want to get rich off you. She needed money to hide.”
“I need to find her. She should have told me; I could have protected her.”
“Listen, Cowboy. Look at all we’ve been through. She’s been watching, trying to avoid all of it and not get in the middle. Other than a few of us, most have never even met her.”
“That’s because she wasn’t ready to be more than friends. I was planning to introduce her to everyone that weekend.”
“I’m sorry, Cowboy.”
“Well, we’ll find her and bring her back. Then I’ll fucking destroy all those who are after her and tried to keep us apart.”
“Remember, you have all of us behind you.” I won’t forget that my brothers are ready to mete out justice to these assholes.
“I know. Start digging. We know she’s a retired FBI agent, so this probably has to do with one of her last cases.”
“Are you thinking…”
“The PI asshole who was arrested and the charges were dropped due to incompetence, making some of the evidence inadmissible, but there’s another one in jail awaiting trial. They could be looking to eliminate a witness.”
“It’s a possibility.” I don’t want to fucking think it because that means my girl could be in much more trouble than I believed or even gone forever. I wish she would have been honest with me from the start and none of this shit would have happened and I would have destroyed all of her enemies because they would be my own.
****
It’s the end of July and no fucking news on her whereabouts. I’ve gone fucking mad with worry. I’ve tried to track her down, but the clues were leading me in the wrong direction. Even though I didn’t want to, I had to focus on the ranch, which had gotten sloppy and random incidents like my cattle getting loose.