Close Range Christmas by Nicole Helm (best free ebook reader .txt) 📕

“He gave Ace some song and dance about how killing your own son, even one as shameful as me, was a distraction from what Ace was meant to do. That it might even ruin his karmic reward or whatever Ace was always going on about. I’m not sure Ace was swayed so much as he paused to think.”

Think about the ways he could torture his son so much better if he were alive—alive and unable to continue in law enforcement. Alive and the weakest link in the Wyatt brothers.

But that wasn’t what they were talking about.

“Anth came over and told me his name. Told me we were brothers. He said if I wanted to live, if I wanted my family to live, I had to promise to never mention his existence to anyone. If I agreed, I’d survive. If I didn’t, we’d all be dead.”

The worst part in telling his brothers was he knew what they would have done. They would have accepted death. Better to die a noble one than lie for Ace.

“I promised,” Dev managed to say, though it felt like being back in the Badlands, broken and bloody. Failing. “Next thing I knew I woke up in the hospital.”

“Why didn’t you tell us when Ace died? That there might still be someone out there who wanted to hurt us?”

“Anth didn’t hurt me. He saved my life, what was left of it. I thought it was over. Whatever or whoever he was.”

“But it’s not,” Jamison said flatly.

Dev thought of the notes they’d all gotten. No, the worst part wasn’t knowing his brothers would have handled it differently. The worst part was knowing he wouldn’t change a second of it if he could go back. Even knowing it’d come back to bite him. “No. No, it isn’t over.”

NO ONE HAD EATEN. Even Sarah hadn’t been able to stomach more than a few bites. Despite everything that had happened last year as the Wyatts had navigated Ace and the Sons’ constant attempts to hurt them, she had never seen everyone look so...wrecked.

No one was going to speak, and even though Sarah had no right, she couldn’t stand this. “Well, I’m sure we’re all glad you made the choice that kept you alive, Dev,” she said, maybe a little too loudly and a little too pointedly at Jamison and Cody.

She was gratified to see Cody wince and Jamison close his eyes as if physically pained.

“She’s right, Dev,” Jamison said, opening his eyes and looking right at him. “You did what you had to do to survive. We understand that. It’s... The notes are concerning, but we’d never blame you for doing what you had to.”

Dev didn’t say anything, just tried to tug his hand away from hers under the table again, but she wouldn’t let him. She held on tight.

“Besides,” Cody offered. “Now we know. Which means once Brady, Gage and Tucker get here, we can figure out a way to protect ourselves from this Anth Wyatt.”

Dev looked down at his plate. Then, in a sudden move that finally freed his hand from hers, he scraped back from the table. “Got chores,” he muttered. He stalked outside before anyone could stop him.

Sarah thought about letting him go. He needed some time to work through this, and Dev best worked through things alone. But he would convince himself he was in the wrong, and she couldn’t let him do that.

She got to her feet, ready to follow, but both Jamison and Cody hurried to block the door. “This isn’t about you, Sarah,” Cody said.

She wanted to smack him, but instead she fixed him with her most imperious scowl—one she’d learned from watching Grandma Pauline for years. “You’re right, this is about Dev. Believing he failed you somehow.”

Jamison and Cody exchanged a glance as though that’s exactly what Dev had done. Her fingers curled into fists, though she kept them at her sides.

“He did what he had to do to keep himself alive. If you blame him for that, for even a second, you’re nothing but egotistical, self-centered blowhards who don’t love your brother the way you should.”

“I said we didn’t blame him. Right here at this table. You heard me.”

“Yeah, you said it. Now, why don’t you work on believing it.” She pushed between them and out into the mudroom, pulled her coat on, and then braved the outside.

Sarah knew there were only two reasons they’d let her leave without following. One, she was pregnant and they were all treating her with kid gloves, and two, because Grandma Pauline likely stepped in and stopped them.

She headed right for the stables and wasn’t surprised to find Dev saddling up his horse. He didn’t turn around, though she could tell he knew she was there by the slight pause in his movements.

“You want to yell at me, fine, but it’ll have to wait until I’ve done the morning rounds.”

“Yell at you?” Sarah could only stand in confusion as he cinched the saddle and started moving Roscoe toward the door.

“In fact, don’t bother,” he continued, as if she hadn’t voiced any confusion. “I’m sorry. No amount of yelling is going to make me feel more sorry.”

“Why would you feel sorry?”

For the first time he stopped moving. He held Roscoe’s reins in his hand and looked at her like she was the one who wasn’t making any sense. “If you’d known I’m sure you wouldn’t have involved me in the whole...” He waved at her stomach with his free hand.

Sarah settled her hands over her bump. “You gave me exactly what I asked for. I don’t know why you’d be sorry about that. And I really don’t know why this would have changed my mind.”

“Ace—”

“—is dead,” Sarah said firmly, cutting him off. She stepped toward him and took his hand just as she had inside. She needed that anchor as much as she suspected he did. Because the thought of him so close to death... It had been bad enough those ten years ago when