Darin: The Pride of the Double Deuce - Erotic Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (12 page)

“You mean if, say, a husband and wife work for us, one might be a dairy farmer with us while someone else might help out with the beef end of the family businesses.” She asked about Zach. “What about him? He works for both ranches. I’m sure he can find something else to talk about.”

“He has a farm now.” Jace leaned against the pole and waited. “I think he’s going to grow grain and hay. To sell. I guess he got a great deal on the place and was hoping to make his fortune by selling his wares to the public.”

“Do you think he’s planning to go public with his grain?” Mercedes said she had no idea, but that it would probably be to whoever wanted to buy it. “Are you, by chance, setting me up for something?”

She looked confused. “What would I be setting you up for? I just heard him talking to Darin the other day, and I thought you knew. Anyway, it’s a lovely place. We’ve been out to the house. It’s going to need some work, but I think he’s living in the basement for now. He comes by the ranch to take a shower and do his laundry until he can get some of his own things out there. I guess the place has been abandoned for a while, but is in fairly good shape.”

“Eleven years or so. The bank owns it, or they did. I never even gave it a thought to.... When did he buy it?” She said a few days ago. “And do you suppose he was going to let us know?”

“To be honest with you, I thought you all knew. But I would imagine he would have told you sooner or later. But I can see why he’s put it off.” He asked her why. “Well....” Jace waited. He could feel her fear at this. Whether it was because she didn’t want to tell him or was afraid of his answer, he decided that he’d not say a word until she did. “Susie told me about what you guys tried to do for her and Gerard. I think he thinks you’d do the same to him. Zach has his heart set on doing this on his own.”

“You mean he doesn’t want us to take over. You think we’d do that?” She said that she was sure of it. “What would you do? If this were your brother and he’d done something like this?”

“You make it sound as if he’s done something wrong. Has he? And so you know, he hasn’t. Not as far as I can see. He’s a young man, trying his best to live up to his brothers’ successes. And if you can’t see that, then to hell with all of you. I’m very proud of him. Do you have any idea how hard this has been on him? Doing this and being afraid of your disapproval?” Jace started to deny that when she snapped at him again, this time with a finger poking him in the chest. “You and your brothers have done so well for yourselves. You have a successful ranch, a soon to be successful dairy farm. Horses coming out of the woodwork for you all. And yes, they really do just sort of migrate to the ranch. I’ve seen them. But to live up to the Douglas fame, it’s hard.”

“Are you and Darin struggling?” She told him this wasn’t about them. “But you are. You’re still paying off the debt that Crosby left you, aren’t you? And Darin is as well. You two, other than the house, have nothing, do you?”

“The bad credit, it’s in my name and it has ruined me. I can’t even get a car loan.” He knew the exact moment when she realized she’d said too much. “Look, this is about Zach and his new venture. You should be proud of him for what he’s taken on. I am.”

“I am as well. I just wish that he’d been able to come to me.” She didn’t say anything but turned back to the computer screen. He’d bet anything that she was thinking of a way to get out of here, but like she said, she didn’t have a car. He had thought that they’d purchased her one to use, but would have to talk to Mason about it. He had been sort of out of the loop for a few weeks. “Mercedes, how much in debt are you?”

“Over sixty thousand in credit cards alone. Then there is the car loan that I took out that I never saw the car for, a house that has been foreclosed on, as well as the outstanding bills of my own. The clinic where I worked is suing me now for leaving them without a doctor. I can’t seem to get a break.” He wanted to hold her. To tell her it would be all right and take care of it for her. But he knew that she’d be pissed off, and that would be worse than seeing her upset like this. “Please don’t tell anyone. Darin knows, but no one else does. We’re making it, barely, but we have a roof over our heads and hot water. That is more than I thought we’d have at this point in our lives.”

After she left, walking back to the clinic on Mason’s part of the ranch, Jace stood in his barn and looked around. He’d spent more on this equipment than he had anything in his life. Money had been something that he’d never had growing up. And now that he had it, he still found himself pinching every penny except for when it came to the ranch. But he did have a brand new home, a new truck, and money in his personal accounts if he needed it. Jace decided it was time to have a family meeting. But first he needed to talk to Mason.

After telling him everything he’d found out and some of his speculations on a few others, he and Mason met at his house in the kitchen. It occurred to him then that they did that a lot, met in this part of the house when there was business to discuss. There was a perfectly good office here and at the other houses, but the kitchen was the meeting place. He took the glass of tea and sandwich that were handed to him as he made notes on what they needed to take care of.

“I think that Mercedes is right.” Mason nodded as he continued. His brother was stuffing food in his face faster than he was. And Jace thought it was funny. “I can still remember Susie’s face when we stepped in and tried to run roughshod over her and Gerard. She put us in our place, and now look. They’re making it without our help.”

“So what do we do?” Mason didn’t say anything. Then he got up and left him. Jace finished his sandwich and was having pie when he returned. Mason handed him a page of handwritten notes that looked like Emma’s handwriting. Jace nearly choked when he got to the bottom. “Is this right?”

“Yes. She’s more than a hundred grand in debt as of yesterday morning. Darin has made arrangements with a couple of the credit card companies, but for the most part, they just want their money. And I was concerned that they’d take the farm from them, so I had someone look into things. And then Emma and Holly got wind of it and asked for Monroe to help them out with a few passwords.” Jace was almost afraid to ask. “That’s why they’re meeting with her this afternoon.”

“Are you going to tell me that Crosby has money? Or he had money?” Mason smiled and nodded. “Christ, I’m almost afraid to ask. Will it be enough to take care of this debt that he put her in?”

“Oh yes, more than enough. And as of this morning, the houses that he had are in Darin and Mercedes’s names, as well as a few properties that he hadn’t done anything with as yet. His bank accounts are empty. And this account that he had in another country is gone as well. That one is where the bulk of the cash was. Monroe also had a look around the house while he was snooping and found cash stashed all over the place. Millions. He managed to find it all after a little look into the man’s head, and found enough for them to live off of for quite some time, just in the house.” Jace asked how bad it was going to be for the dickhead. “Essentially, Crosby is dead broke. And the gun that Darin took from him? I turned it over to the police this morning, having just found it on my property. I think it might have a few bits of blood on it, as well as some prints that are going to lead them right to the man.” Jace pointed out that the man was on parole. “He is at that. And he’s not in his home state, nor is anyone going to be happy that he’s been carrying a gun, not to mention that the house he is living in? It’s not his either. The body of the man who owned it I’m sure will turn up soon as well.”

Jace thought he could get used to helping his family this way. The bad guys got their comeuppance. He wasn’t going to be yelled at by his sisters, and money would be Darin’s and Mercedes’s to spend on things that they wanted and not just what they absolutely needed. As the two of them went out to the barns, he told his brother about the milkers.

Things were looking up for his family, but he hoped that it wouldn’t come with a price. He was almost afraid to get his hopes up too far. Lately things had a tendency to go to shit in a heartbeat. But, he told himself, things usually turned out okay, but they did have a long path in getting to that point at times.

Chapter 12

Mercedes looked at the check, then at the stack of paperwork in her hand. They were bills, her bills. And they were all marked
paid in full
. She looked at Emma when she realized that she was speaking to her again.

“I’m sorry. But could you just start over? What do you mean, this is from Nash? He wouldn’t have given me shit, and we all know that.” Darin took the paid bills from her, and she was glad to give them up. There was something really scary about having them in her hands.

“You said that Nash had this much money. In his accounts. How is that even possible? He was stealing from me. He ran up my credit and never paid on them.”

“Yes he did. And he did have that much money in his accounts. Enough to pay off the debt that he incurred for you, as well as that extra cash that is in the form of the check you are now holding. And again, there is also an account set up in Bonnie’s name so that she can go to the college of her choice. If she decides that she doesn’t want to, then she can use it for whatever she wants. I’m sure they could use it to buy a lovely home.” Emma smiled at her when she lifted her hand up to stop her. “We found the money in some offshore accounts. Well, Monroe did. He’s the one you have to thank for this.”

“Are you saying that he stole this money?” Emma asked Darin who he meant, Monroe or Nash. “Nash. He’s...Christ, this is a shitload of money. I mean, the paid bills alone are more than we ever hoped to have paid off.”

“He’s been dealing in drugs and women for a very long time. Even before he met you. Then there is the money that he’s paid each month from a few bars and stores that he takes care of. And by that, he lets them do business so long as he gets a huge cut. You’d almost think that he was some sort of drama on television. Mercedes, he has lied to you about a great many things. Most of it about money.” Mercedes snorted. No shit that he’d lied to her, she wanted to say to Emma. “The money is just the tip of the iceberg for you guys. There are houses, as well as some property that is in your name now. A few dozen cars that are vintage and could go for a great deal of money as well. If you’d like, I can have my attorney look into selling them off.”

When Emma handed her the list of the cars, she handed it to Darin. This was just too much. When she’d been asked to come here, she’d thought that Emma was going to tell her that she had to move out of the big house to live with one of them or in a box. She had one all picked out, a nice sized freezer one that she’d seen in the back of the Douglas House. Not that she wanted that for her daughter or Darin. There was only so much a person would be asked to do, and she and her family living with them would have been too much.

“What does he say about all this? Nash, I mean. I’m betting he’s not happy about the turn of events.” Emma only smiled at her. “Does he know who did this and where his money went?”

“Oh yes. Monroe made sure that he knew when you were at his house the other day, Darin. He said that he didn’t think that he believed him, but he’s sure that he does now. And by the way, the house that you visited that day, it belongs to a Mr. Donaldson. His body turned up this morning at a dumpsite just out of town. I think Mason told them that he’d found a gun and there were prints on it. As well as Donaldson’s blood. The poor man had been gone for a few days by the time that he was found.”

Mercedes started to pace. This was coming together too fast for her and the questions were overwhelming her. Nash had money? Why did he feel the need to charge her accounts then? He’d taken money out of her account too. Why take her little bit of money when he had so much of his own? With the fact that he had houses, more than one it sounded like, why had he let her and his only child live like they had? What sort of cruelty was he working at? When Darin said her name, she looked at him.

“Emma said that he’s being arrested in the morning. They’re not worried that he’ll run. He has no money, and they’re pretty sure that he knows his days are numbered anyway. She wants to know if you want to be there when he is.” She shook her head. “Bonnie is going to be watched all day tomorrow as well. No one will get to her if he escapes.”

“Do you think he will?” No one answered her. “Please tell me that there is going to be some sort of sniper team there when he’s taken. I don’t think I can handle knowing that one lone cop is going to go and try to bring him in.”

“He’s going to escape because we want him to. There is no way he’ll make it to prison.” Mercedes sat down when Emma came from her side of the desk to sit with her on the couch. “If he were to go to prison, do you know what would happen to him? Do you remember what he did to you when he was only in jail for those few weeks?”

“Yes. He had people follow me around. Some of them hurt me, others just did things to me, like knocking food off the shelves when I went to the store. And each of them told me it was from him. That he’d sent them to keep me in line. He was in jail for domestic violence, yet it never stopped with him. He was...they told me that he was living it up. A friend of mine worked in the county court house, and she told me that he had food delivered daily and that he had bottles of expensive wine brought in too. Even a tailor came in to fit him for his suit that he wore on his release day.” Emma nodded. “You’re hoping that he’ll try to get away and someone will shoot him. I don’t think that’ll work. Nash has a way of landing on his feet all the time.”

“He’s not going to be shot either. The leap is going to take care of him.” Mercedes asked if they were planning to murder him. “Murder a murderer? No, it will be something more along the lines of an attack. I doubt anyone will put much effort into making sure he gets the best of care if he were to survive them. Which I’m not saying he will. He’s pissed off a great many people. And that’s only from around here.”

“You mean to say that their animals are going to tear him apart.” Emma just looked at Darin and so did Mercedes. “Please tell me that you’re not going to chase this man into an ambush and then kill him. That won’t make you any better than he is. You know that, don’t you?”

“Mason said that he was going to hang himself by confessing to what he’s done. And yes, we’ll all be there, but we won’t kill him. He’ll do that on his own.” Mercedes asked him how. “I don’t know, love. I’m just telling you what Mason said to me just now. He said that if you want more details, he’d be glad to sit down with us and talk to you about them. I’m actually hoping that you don’t. Mason can be pretty...mean when it comes to family.”

The mind thingy. She loved it at times, but right now she could gladly tell them all to use conventional ways of talking. Mercedes decided that as soon as she was changed, she was never going to speak to any of them again that way. It was mean to know things that others didn’t.

“We’re sitting here planning a man’s death. Do you know that? Doesn’t that bother you in the least?” Darin took her hands into his. “Please don’t tell me this is for the best.”

“I wasn’t. But I’d like to ask you something. Not to be cruel, but just something I’d like to ask. What would you have done to him should he have succeeded in killing Bonnie?” She told him that was cruel. “No, it’s not. It’s the truth. He sat down with that other man and planned out to the minute how he was going to take our daughter and then kill you and her both. I’m sure that he’s still planning that. How he’s going to kill you. Make you suffer in ways that you can’t imagine. When I spoke to him, he didn’t strike me as the type of person who gives up just because the odds are against him. Nor does he like when people tell him no. Is that about right?”

“Yes, he hates to be told anything negative. And has hurt people that have told him that something was not available that he thought he should have.” She looked at the bills still in a neat pile on the corner of the desk. “He told me when he forced me to marry him I was going to give him things that he’d ever had. I assumed it was money. Not that I had all that much, but Dad and I were comfortable. But he had it all along, didn’t he? What do you suppose he thought that I could give him? It certainly wasn’t love. He told me hourly how much he hated me.”

“He wanted your submission. And your fear of him. To have you say that you were afraid of him is what he thinks about most.” She looked up at Gerard when he came into the room and spoke to her after taking a seat. “I’ve been with him today, just brushing by him when he thought he wouldn’t be recognized. And in doing so, I was able to read his mind. The things that he plans to do to you when he gets you are sickening. And to Bonnie. After he finishes with her, he plans to give her to anyone who wants her. For whatever they want to do to her. He only wants to use her to control you. And so you know, he thinks that’s going to be an easy feat. He doesn’t have the slightest idea that we’re not human, even though he’s had firsthand knowledge of us nearly slapped in his face. He still is convinced that there are no such things as paranormals.”

“I don’t understand why that would be important to him. Why would he even care at this point? I don’t know what to make of him or this.” Gerard told her even if she were to give him what he wanted, he was still going to kill her. “But why? I don’t love him. I never did. He put a gun to my head and made me marry him. For what? Just so he could?”

“Pretty much.” She knew that, of course, but it didn’t make her feel any better to have it confirmed. “You want this to end or do you want him to be able to make your life a living hell for the rest of your life? It’s pretty simple really. He ends. I don’t mean to tell you that we’ll kill him. But if it comes to it, we will. But wouldn’t you like to be able to take a deep breath, have a nice relaxing afternoon making love to Darin all day?”

“Yes. But I don’t want anyone to be responsible for his death. I don’t want to have to think that you murdered someone for me.” Gerard handed her a picture, and she looked at it. Her hands were shaking when she handed it back to him. “You want to do this to him? How is that any better than a pack of cougars killing him?”

“That’s Mr. Donaldson. An eighty-four-year-old man that did nothing more than own a house that Crosby wanted. The poor old man had buried his wife a few years ago. She was buried nearby his home so that he could walk to her grave every day and lay flowers on it. And according to his neighbors, he did just that. While he was out one day, just a few feet from his back door, Crosby came into his home, took it over, and did that to him when he came inside.” The man had been mutilated, his body beaten. His throat had been cut, and it looked like his legs and arms had been broken as well. “What do you suppose he’ll do to your daughter when he gets her? Do you think he’ll be gentle with her?”

“No.” Gerard said that he didn’t think so either. “And so you know, I don’t care for this scare tactic either. You could have told me that he only beat the man to death.”

Gerard said nothing but sat there. Darin took the picture and looked at it before handing it back to his brother. Mercedes and Gerard stared at each other until she had to look away. The man was scarier than the rest of his family. She had a feeling that Gerard could and would do anything to keep them all safe.

In the end they agreed to disagree on the way that Nash was out of their lives. As she took the banking information from Emma, all she could think about was they were willing to kill for her. And had. Bonnie had been hurt and they had taken care of the man responsible without a backward glance. Mercedes could almost feel sorry for Nash. Almost, but she knew that what happened to him was going to depend on what he did or said when they took him.

~~~

Nash tried to think where he could lay his hands on some money as he made a few calls. Now…he needed as much as he could lay his hands on right this very minute. It didn’t help matters that his accounts were empty. The two credit cards that he’d stolen a few months ago were cancelled. The one he had in a fake name had been cut up by the store manager when he’d gone to get himself a new suit, something that he did when he was upset or down in the dumps. And now that had been taken from him as well. The phone in his hand rang and rang, and he was getting worried that something really had happened to Rocky.

There was no way that these people had killed him. They weren’t the killing type. They were more of the call in the cops and have them deal with it sort of people. He was the killer, not them. But the longer he tried to call his friend, the more and more he was afraid that he’d underestimated them. And in the end, Nash was going to make them pay for that as well.

Almost as soon as he ended the call, it rang again and he was relieved to see his attorney’s name on the screen. He would do what he needed. It’s what he paid him for. But before he could get too far into the mental list Nash had, he cut him off.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t help you. I suppose I could, but I’m not going to. You’re on your own, Mr. Crosby.” Nash asked him what he was talking about. “We were notified this morning that you were being pursued in the death of four people. Not to mention you’ve left the state. How many times were you warned that you couldn’t do that unless you notified someone? There are others charges too. A gun that has your fingerprints on it. Stolen property—”

“I have personal business with my wife. She left me no choice but to go after her and bring her to heel. Now as I was saying, I need for you to—” The man corrected him that it was his ex-wife. “So everyone keeps telling me. I never got to have my say in the story that she spun for the judge. So as far as I’m concerned, she’s still mine. She did this behind my back and I’ll not have it.”