Wild Ride: BBW Western Romance (Under Open Skies Saga Book 2) (20 page)

She felt like crying, right there in his office.
Why did I think I could do this?

“
Look,
I’
m sorry, Kat. I really am. I jus
t…
oh honey, do
n’
t get upset. It is
n’
t going to help. Like chewing bubble gum to solve a math problem, right? Does
n’
t get you anywhere. We need to take a sophisticated approach to this
.”
Han
k’
s voice was suddenly fatherly as he leaned over and put his arm around her.

“
Why would anyone want to do this to me
?”
She asked.

“
For any number of reasons, really. Anger at your father, anger at his death, anger at you, spite at your success. It is
n’
t like you have a lot of enemies, but you do
n’
t have a lot of friends either
.
”

He had a point. Other than Jenny and Hunter, Hank was her only real confidant, here. She did
n’
t know that many people, and even though she lived with her father a good bit, she never made any real friends in the rural area. Not really. How could anyone identify her, especially when they barely knew her
.
”

“
What do I do
?
”

“
You work with the people you do trust. You find out who is doing it, you confront them. Do
n’
t let them steal your company from you, Kat. Your father worked so hard to have something to give to you, are you just going to let that all fall away
?
”

She shook her head. There had to be a break. Somewhere. Something.

Hank was using Wyatt and Hunter to try and find out what was going on. Maybe Wyatt had some information, she needed to call him.

“
Thank you, Hank. I really needed the pep talk
.
”

“
Anytime, darli
n’
. Anytime
.
”

She pulled herself out of the chair after giving him a final hug and walked out of the meeting room, her head held high.

She faced them. She knew who her board members were. There was nothing to be ashamed of, it was just one of many steps to finding out who was trying to harm her.

Harm her company.

“
Jenny, could you get Wyatt on the phone
?”
she asked as she slunk into her desk, kicking her boots off and sinking into the chair. Jenn
y’
s pumpkin coffee was getting to be a guilty pleasure, and she sipped it, willing the entire world away.

“
No problem, boss. He called earlier anyway, while you were in your board meeting
.”
Jenn
y’
s voice trailed off through the door of the two offices. It did
n’
t take long to get him on the phone.

“
Kat, returning my call
?
”

“
Something like that, I wanted to call anyway, see how things were over there, if you have heard anything about what Hank has asked you to look into
.
”

“
I have, actually. I tried to call you this morning, did you get my text
?
”

“
I was in a board meeting, could
n’
t look at my phone
.
”

“
Well, I found a copy of some construction reports sent to me, with your name in the signature line. Except they were never done
.
”

“
Could you fax those over
?
”

“
I already did, but I think you might want to come out to the facility to see the work they wer
e‘
suppose
d’
to do
.
”

“
Who is the company
?”
she asked, grabbing a pen and paper.

“
R&J Construction
.
”

“
Have you heard of them
?
”

“
Yeah, I mean, around here. They did a few jobs for your father, when he was alive, but the work, it was
n’
t great. Had to get them to come out and fix it a couple of times. Still, he kept hiring them
.
”

“
Why
?
”

“
Because he made a deal for the labor, and he was too sick to go looking somewhere else. The price was right, and the work was good enough
.
”

“
That does
n’
t sound like him
.
”

“
I know your old man, and you are right, but at the time, you shoul
d’
ve seen him. He just starti
n’
to go through chemo, Kat. Things were weighing him down
.”
Wyatt pressed on
,“
normally I would just fax it to you, but I want you to come down, take a look for yourself. Take pictures. I want to catch these bastards in the shit the
y’
ve done. You know
?
”

She had to blink back the tears. The thought of her father struggling to run the business, and fighting of a cancer that would not quit, it was too much. Especially when she factored in that someone was going out of their way to destroy the business.

Destroying it in a slow, methodical fashion. The kind of job that had to  be conducted out of malice because it left her holding the bag.

“
So, you comi
n’?”
He asked.

“
Yeah, just give me a few,
I’
ll be there when I get there
.
”

“
Heard that before
.
”

It was her da
d’
s infamous saying.

She pulled her boots back and  pushed away from the desk, standing and walking out of her office.

“
Jenny
?”
she asked, as soon as she got out there. The perky blond swiveled in her chair
.“
I need to go over to the bull riding center. If anyone calls, and it is urgent, let them know I am there, okay
?
”

“
What if your mother calls
?”
she asked. It was a good question.

“
Tell her I will call her when I get a chance, then just text me
.”
Kat started to walk away
,“
Oh, and Jenny, could you do me a favor
?
”

“
Sure
!
”

“
Get me everything you have on Sarah Harris and Edward Kristobeck. I have some research to do
.
”

“
You got it, boss
.
”

She walked out of the office and through the lobby to the parking lot, hoping to be free of the office confines as soon as possible.

Except as soon as she stepped out into that late August sun, she saw Alice, leaning against her car.

And the look on her face was not a happy one.

“
What the hell
?”
Alice said, her soft voice shaking
.“
You needed to ruin my relationship
?
”

“I’
m sorry
?
”

“
Why Samuel broke up with me, he told me you found out about this. About us. You confronted him about it. And he broke it off
.
”

“
It was
n’
t abou
t…
we were discussing other business. That came up
.”
She tried to keep her tone even, but Alice was becoming completely unhinged, and it was making it hard for her concentrate. She was too busy thinking of ways to defend herself in the event the woman attacked.

“
Yeah, well, he said he could
n’
t date me because of you. He was going to leave is wife, we had all these plan
s
…”

“
If you had them, why would he break up with you? Why not just leave his wife now that someone knows
?
”

“
Because it got ruine
d
…”

“
We were going to find out anyways, when he did leave her for you
.
”

“
I,
I
…
”
She could see the wheels turning in her mind, trying to make sense of something that only had one real explanation.

“
Look, Alice. Sometimes men do this
.”
Kat tried to explain what she knew Alice did
n’
t want to hear, but it was true. Men, and sometimes even women, would promise the moon, all to have it fall apart. They looked for any reason to get out of it, and Kat was just the scapegoat.

“
No, Samuel was different. He was going to marry me
,”
she insisted.

“
And leave his kids behind
?
”

“
Yo
u’
re the reason all this has gone wrong, not him
.”
She refused to see reason
.“
Tha
t’
s it. I quit. Tell Hank he can take care of his own dirty laundry from now on
.
”