"Your employers?" Garrett spat the words like they tasted bad. "Is that what you're calling it?" Holden took a step forward. "Garrett, I'm giving you one chance to leave."
"Take it." "Or what?" "You going to shoot me?" "All of you against all of us?" Garrett gestured to his men.
"I don't think so." "Then you're stupider than I thought." The tension ratcheted up another notch. Evelyn could feel it, the sense that they were one wrong word away from violence. Then Jonah spoke up, his voice calm and cold.
"You came here looking for someone to blame for your losses, but your cattle died because you didn't prepare. Your fences fell because you didn't maintain them. And your ranch is falling apart because you're too busy picking fights to do the work." Garrett's face went red. You son of a Leave, Holden said.
Now. For a long moment, nobody moved. Then Garrett jerked his reins and turned his horse around. This isn't over. Yeah, it is, Cain called after him.
Garrett and his men rode off, leaving a cloud of dust in their wake. The brothers stood there in silence, watching until they disappeared over the horizon. Then Holden turned to Evelyn. You shouldn't have come out here. Probably not.
You could have gotten hurt. So could you. His expression softened slightly. I mean it, Evelyn. That was dangerous.
I know, but I wasn't going to stand inside and watch while She stopped, unsure how to finish that sentence. Caleb finished it for her. While your family got threatened? Evelyn's breath caught. Family.
There was that word again. She looked around at the six men standing with her. At Holden with his quiet strength, at Jonah with his steady presence, at the twins with their fierce loyalty, at Levi with his gentle heart. They weren't perfect. They were rough and hardened and shaped by loss.
But they were hers. And she was theirs. Yeah. She said quietly. While my family got threatened.
Holden smiled then, really smiled, for the first time since she'd met him. Come on, let's get inside before someone else shows up looking for a fight. They filed back into the house, and Evelyn set the rifle by the door with hands that were finally starting to shake. The adrenaline was wearing off, leaving her hollow and exhausted. Levi touched her arm as he passed.