Ruthless

Chapter 22

Jean took out her phone, which had finally charged. One of the officers who'd gone to the trailer had been nice enough to grab her phone. The sheriff had the same model so she'd been able to use his charger.

Not that the sheriff was there at one in the morning. There was only one deputy taking notes on her crazy story and the patrol car that went to check things out. Things like this just didn't happen in small towns. But she had the New York police confirm that she'd been attacked there, and thanks to the knowledge that it wouldn't happen again, she was secure in the fact that it didn't matter how much the small department muddled up the investigation.

She scrolled past the list of voicemails from Colin and looked at the ones from her brothers. She owed them a call, especially after they'd funded Colin's little plan to get Eric's men to turn against her. They must think she was an absolute mess. They give her a hundred grand without her even asking, and not even a day later, she needed two hundred thousand more. She'd have to promise to give it back once she got her inheritance.

Of course, she didn't know which brother to call. Nathan was the one she'd had the most contact with, but Robert was the one who seemed to be...in charge. She took a chance and dialed Robert first.

"Hello?" he said in a tired voice. Jean suddenly realized she was calling well past midnight his time.

"Shoot. I'm sorry, I completely forgot what time it was. I can call back tomorrow."

"No, no. It's fine. I was up. Just going over boring work stuff."

"Oh. Maybe someday we can talk more about the boring work stuff." Someday she could actually learn more about this family of hers.

"Any time you want a cure for insomnia, call me," said Robert. She thought he was joking, but he was just as dry as always, so it was hard to tell.

"I'm sure it's not that bad. Running an empire always sounds like so much fun in the movies."

"Except the fun stuff is normally the stuff that ends up with me cleaning up messes. Like the three articles and one news interview today that made me look like I'm the next dictator that needs to be taken down."

The curse of Walter Farrell still hung over the entire family, it seemed. "Well, I'll let you go. I just wanted to say thanks for everything you did for me tonight."

A few seconds passed without Robert saying anything. "I'm sorry, it's late. What did I do for you?"

Jean sat up straighter. "The money. Colin—he said that you and Nathan gave the okay?"

"I didn't give the okay for anything. Did you need more money? I can probably get something over in the morning, but—"

"No. I, um, don't worry about it. I think there was just a misunderstanding about something. Go to bed. I'm going to try to get back to the city soon and I want us to try lunch again. A real lunch this time, not that crap you pulled earlier."

"Okay. A real lunch. I'll make it happen. Promise."

Jean smiled as she said her good-byes and hung up. She stared at the white office wall for a few moments in silence. If Colin didn't get the money from her brothers, where the hell did it come from?

It took a day to track down Colin. By the time Jean finally found him, she realized she should've started there in the first place. Ron's Bar.

He sat at the same barstool where he'd been that first night. Where she'd left the safety of her friends to go talk to him.

Jean took a steadying breath as she passed the day drinkers and took the barstool next to Colin. "Hey there, stranger."

He didn't look up at her, but instead kept his gaze firmly on the drink in front of him. "You shouldn't be here."

"It's my town," she reminded him. "You're the one who doesn't belong."

He let out a bitter laugh. "So you're here to kick me out?"

"No. I'm here to get some answers from you. For once, I want you to tell me the truth."

Colin turned to face her and she realized his eyes weren't the droopy bloodshot of someone who'd been drinking all day. They were awake and aware. "Ask me anything. I'll never lie to you again."

Jean took a nervous swallow and wished she had her own drink in front of her. "The money from last night. I called Robert to thank him and he had no idea what I was talking about."

"It doesn't matter."

"It matters to me!" A few heads turned, and she forced herself to lower her voice. "Tell me you didn't take it out of your own funds."

"I would, but that would make the whole honesty thing hard."

"Damn it, Colin. Why would you do that?"

"Because I needed some sort of leverage to save you. The funds that the Farrells have aren't always liquid. Especially not in the middle of the night. And you can't argue with results."

"I'll pay you back," she promised. "As soon as I can, every penny is going back to you, okay?"

Colin shook his head. "Don't worry about it."

"No, I'm going to—"

"I said don't worry about it! Damn it, Jean, stop trying to save me. You're such a goddamn bleeding heart. You can't save everyone you meet, okay? Maybe it's just time to let me know I'm a lost cause."

Jean stood, halfway to walking out the door, but never actually moved away from the stool before she sat down again. "What makes you think I'm doing this for you?"

He frowned. "What?"

"Maybe it just makes me happy to be fair and nice to the man I love. Did you ever think of that?"

He focused all his attention on her. "What did you just say?"

She squared her shoulders, no longer afraid to admit what her mind had barely let her consider these past few days. "I said I love you. It's only fair after the casual love bomb you dropped yesterday right before you bailed on me—which is totally not fair, by the way."

He scooted his stool closer to hers. "Wait, say it one more time."

The corner of her mouth tilted up. "I said I. Love. You." Each of the words got quieter as she leaned in closer.

Colin tentatively set his hands on her knees, as though he couldn't believe he was really touching her. "So where do we go from here?"

The dark bar was filled with a burst of light as someone new walked in. Jean glanced over to see Mark looking around the bar. "Great. He's probably here to yell at me for bringing trouble to his town last night." Sure enough, Mark's eyes fixed on her as he started to intently cross the bar.

Colin moved his hands farther up her thighs. "Well, I liked the technique we used to get rid of him last time."

Jean raised an eyebrow. "The fake kiss."

Colin inched closer until his lips almost touched hers. "You and I know there was nothing fake about it."

"You'll have to refresh my memory then," said Jean before she closed the distance between them. She never opened her eyes to see Mark's reaction. She had better things to focus on.

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