Sam rifled through a stack of papers on his desk and said, “The owner’s name is Matthews. Caleb Matthews.”
***
Sierra barely made it to the bathroom of Sam’s office before she heaved up her breakfast. CM Group, a.k.a. Caleb Matthews. She should have known, she thought. As soon as Sam gave her the buildup she should have made the connection and done the math. No, she reasoned with herself, who could’ve possibly connected Caleb with the heinous acts of vandalism and destruction that someone had perpetrated against her family? Only a truly jaded person could’ve uncovered such a twisted scheme.
It didn’t make sense. Yesterday they had reconnected as a couple and this morning he was being implicated in the vandalism at the Diamond Lil. It wasn’t true, she told herself. It couldn’t be true. Caleb loved livestock. He would never stoop so low as to kill animals. Or would he? Hadn’t he always vowed that he’d have the largest cattle ranch in the state? Hadn’t he practically admitted that he dreamed of avenging himself on her family? Hadn’t she witnessed firsthand his pent-up rage and vindictiveness? But she’d also seen his loving and caring, she’d found comfort in his arms and listened to his words of love.
Could it all have been nothing but lies?
No! she reminded herself fiercely. Caleb wasn’t a liar. He was more honest and straightforward than anyone she’d ever known. Sam was wrong about Caleb! The man she loved, the man she knew as warm and loving, wasn’t capable of such acts of violence and hatred. She believed in him, and it would take more than a few careless words from Sam’s mouth to shake her faith in him.
Still feeling numb from Sam’s revelation, Sierra leaned over the sink and splashed cold water on her face, then dried it with a paper towel that felt like sand paper against her skin. She flinched from the rough contact of the paper towel then took a moment to gaze into the mirror, cringing at the woman who stared back at her. A woman who looked as if her entire life had been turned upside down. Sam’s words had shaken her to her core, causing endless doubts to settle in her mind. And her face reflected her pain, disbelief and utter disillusionment. She couldn’t totally erase the doubt, not until she did a little digging on her own. Not until she was able to say categorically that Caleb and the CM Group weren’t responsible for the incidents at the ranch. Not until she was able to look Caleb in the eye without flinching or looking away. Not until Sam’s ugly words were erased.
She picked up her purse and began rummaging through the contents until she located the key that Caleb had given her earlier that morning. He had business at his ranch that would keep him busy for the rest of the afternoon and early evening, Sierra mused. She held the key in the palm of her hand, staring at it as if it were something that almost repelled her. She didn’t really want to rummage through Caleb’s belongings, but it was the only way to convince herself of his innocence without compromising their relationship. If she were to flat out ask him if he was involved in the incidents at the ranch, it would surely jeopardize where things stood between them. He would jump to the conclusion that she didn’t trust him. And he’d be right, she reminded herself.
As she left the building of Jarvis & Associates and walked towards where she’d parked her truck in the lot, Sierra couldn’t help but shiver. She felt a sense of impending doom as she started her car and headed towards Caleb’s apartment. Her feelings weren’t rational, she knew, but she couldn’t suppress them or pretend they didn’t exist. Her emotions were running too high to be denied. Regardless of the consequences, she needed to uncover the truth, if only for the fact that it would finally free her. And then, and only then, she’d be able to live the life she’d always dreamt of - a life she and Caleb richly deserved.
***
Bryce Jarvis quietly let himself into his father’s plush office, silently noting the expensive leather and mahogany furniture, the gold-embossed picture frames and the antique grandfather clock that decorated the room. He’d been coming to this office ever since he was a small child in knickers and he thought now, as he’d thought then, that this office was nothing more than smoke and mirrors. It was a showcase, or moreover, what Sam Jarvis wanted the world to see and absorb.
What they couldn’t see on the surface were the things that were eating Sam alive, bit by bit, until he no longer resembled the man that Bryce had once loved and been loved by. So much had changed in the past two years. All the greed and the manipulations. All the trickery and the lies. The situation was spiraling way out of control, and he feared it was past the point of no return. His father had done too much. There was no coming back from it.
His sins were too grievous.
“Bryce, your timing is impeccable as always,” Sam said dryly, his hawk-like features lined with disapproval as he stared down his only son. “Two minutes earlier and you would’ve run into Sierra and made a mess of things.”
Bryce nodded his head in greeting to his father, a twinge of sadness slicing through him as he remembered the days when he would’ve greeted his father with a kiss and a hug. Those days were gone forever. Instead of a loving father and son they were now partners in crime, bonded together by a diabolical plot hatched by a greedy and manipulative man. His own father! A man who’d never had enough of the good things in life to satisfy him. A man who’d always wanted more...and more.
More money, faster cars, bigger homes and fancier clothes. He craved it all, with the desperation of a drowning man reaching for a life jacket.
“How’d the meeting with Sierra go?” he asked blandly, not allowing his troubled thoughts to show on the surface. He didn’t need his father blasting him once again for being a weak sniveling coward. Frankly, he’d had enough of that talk to last him a lifetime.
Sam’s face lit up with a dazzling smile, one that had triumph written all over it. “I do believe the lady is beginning to see how foolish it would be to stay in Briarwood and run the Diamond Lil. By the time I got around to telling her about the CM Group her face looked as green as pea soup. She ran out of my office looking like she was about to lose her lunch.”
“You don’t have to enjoy this so much,” Bryce grumbled, hating the way his father was relishing the situation and Sierra’s misery. The worst part of the plan was the way in which it affected Sierra, he thought miserably. Sierra! She was his idea of female perfection - beauty, brains, class and spirit. He’d always had a crush on her, going all the way back to the sixth grade when she’d shared her lunch with him and swapped horse stories with him during recess. Through the years she'd grown into an amazing woman, a more dazzling version of her younger self. It wasn’t right that she was being hurt, he thought bitterly. It simply wasn’t right.
Sam rose from his chair and pounded his fist on the mahogany desk, his features mottled with rage as he vented his anger. “And why shouldn’t I enjoy it? I’ve waited years for this moment. Do you have any idea of how long I’ve wanted the Diamond Lil? I’ve wanted it since I was a teenager, you simple fool.”
He let the insult roll off his back. “Dad, you’ve gone too far in trying to get it. Slaughtering cattle was bad enough, but you shot Morning Star.” Bryce looked at his father with distaste, as if the sight of him was repulsive. “What would have happened if someone had stumbled across you in the act? Would you have killed them too?”
“How dare you! How dare you question me you miserable, whining boy.” Sam walked out from behind his desk, his face frenzied and wild as he confronted his only child. “I’ve done whatever I’ve had to do to get what I want. And if my measures were a little drastic, then so be it! And don’t think you’re so innocent in this, boy,” he snarled. “You’ve helped me every step of the way. Why, if I remember correctly you were the one who wrote those slurs on the barn.”
“I only did as you instructed,” he said, hating himself for sounding so wimpy and whiny. His father was right, he thought. He was up to his eyeballs in the situation. A court of law certainly wouldn’t look too kindly on a defendant who said, “My daddy made me do it.”
&nbs
p; “Tell it to the judge, Bryce,” Sam said cruelly. “You have accomplice written all over you. So if you know what’s good for you - you’ll shut that fool mouth of yours and listen up, but good.”
“You’re wicked,” Bryce said in a faltering voice as the realization suddenly struck him that his father was a man without a conscience, a man devoid of any real human emotion. He hid his fatal weakness well beneath a smiling mask, a brilliant veneer that hid the wickedness that lurked within. It was an evil that shocked Bryce to his core and made him fearful for Sierra. Surely he would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.
“Wicked but good, my boy. Wicked but good.” Sam grinned as he puffed at his Cuban cigar, the taste of triumph hovering in the air like an intoxicating aroma emanating from a kitchen. He was so close to sweet victory he could almost taste it. And when he did taste it, he thought to himself, he would devour it like a connoisseur devours a gourmet meal. Voraciously, and with thorough enjoyment.
***
Years ago Sam had almost had the Diamond Lil in the palm of his hand, ripe for the plucking. But because of Lilliana’s mercurial nature and his own botched blackmailing scheme, he’d lost his firm hold on the dream of a lifetime. It had slipped through his fingers like sand through an hourglass and he’d never managed to swallow the bitterness that welled up in his throat every time he passed by the ranch or heard someone mention it by name. It should've been his property long ago, he thought angrily, and not the possession of some puff-headed, pistol packing female who’d had something to prove to the whole male gender. Grudgingly he admitted that Lilliana had been a brilliant rancher, both shrewd and knowledgeable about the market and the cattle, but she’d been missing one ingredient that he possessed in spades. An avaricious nature.
He’d been shocked to his socks when he’d stumbled across the papers from the land surveyors. At first he hadn’t been able to believe it, hadn’t wanted to believe that anyone could be so stupid as to hold on to a piece of property that was sitting on a fortune in oil. But Lilliana hadn’t been stupid, Sam later came to realize, just stubborn and altruistic.
“For the sake of the land,” Lilliana had said when he’d confronted her with the truth. “Land is a thing of beauty, Sam, not just something that you can tear up and toss out like the bath water. When all else fails there’s always the land. People die, lovers betray you, friends are fickle, your body fails you...but the land never disappoints. Ain’t no one gonna tear up my land...not for gold, not for diamonds, and certainly not for some stinking oil.”
“But, Lilliana,” he’d implored her, “think about all the money that-.”
“Sam Jarvis!” she’d screeched, “don’t tell me that you want me to destroy my father’s legacy so I can add more money to my coffers.” She’d then drawn herself up to her full height and flared her nostrils at him angrily. “When is it enough, Sam? I have more money than I know what to do with. I’ve made provisions in my will so that my family will be well taken care of for as long as they live. What else is there?”
Well, Lilliana, you forgot about me in your equation, Sam brooded. Loyal friend, loyal attorney. More like loyal slave, Sam thought, always willing to do your bidding at a moment’s notice. Lilliana hadn’t thought of his reward or his justly deserved riches after a lifetime of service to the Jackson family. She’d used him, plain and simple, stringing him along throughout the years by dangling the Diamond Lil before his eyes as a tantalizing reward. Not that she’d promised him anything, he reasoned. But she’d known he wanted the ranch. She’d seen the desire for the largest spread in the county glinting in his eyes. And behind his back she’d probably chuckled over it, making herself silly with laughter over his desire for something he could never possess. Ruthless witch! he fumed.
And his sniveling, weak-minded son wasn’t going to ruin everything that he’d worked so hard to obtain. After today’s bombshell that he’d dropped on Sierra it was only a matter of time before she ran back to New York with her pride in tatters. Stupid heifer! he thought angrily. If she’d only gone back to New York after the funeral and put the ranch up for sale like he’d imagined. Once she placed the ranch on the market he’d imagined that he would approach Sierra as a close friend of the family and make her an irresistible offer. Even that simpleton Simone wouldn’t have been able to ruin his plan. Simone was as weak as a newborn baby, and if necessary, he would’ve dealt with her the same way he dealt with an annoying fly. He’d have squashed her quicker than spit.
He’d thought that once Sierra got wind of the trouble at the ranch she would’ve turned tail and run, just like before. Lilliana had told him all about her wicked lies and her deception involving Caleb Matthews. And he’d used that little tidbit of information today when he’d lied his butt off to Sierra by telling her that the CM Group was responsible for the vandalism. And she’d eaten up every detail, he chuckled to himself, like a kid eats birthday cake.
As long as he continued to apply the pressure, she would cave in like a house of cards. It might take awhile, he thought, but the payoff would be worth considerably more than the price of admission. Once he owned the ranch he’d unearth the oil and make a killing selling it. And then, and only then, would he feel comfortable in his own skin. Only then would he be able to rid himself of the feelings of failure that had consumed him his entire life. He’d finally be a winner.
“T-This ain’t right, daddy. This has to stop!” Bryce interrupted his thoughts with a raised voice, his chin trembling with both fear and emotion. It was one of the first times in his life that he’d ever challenged his father and he felt a burst of pride mingled with fear.
“Don’t you dare threaten me, boy,” snarled Sam as he rose from his chair and stood chin to chin with his son, his eyes radiating his unbridled rage at his son and heir. “Who the hell do you think you are, you sniveling coward? You better shut your mouth before I shut it for you. Remember boy, you won’t come out of this thing smelling like a rose neither. You’re up to your neck in this and don’t you forget it!”
Bryce stood nose to nose with his father, his body trembling with a fury that he’d never felt before in his life. All the other times his father had threatened and screamed at him for his countless failings, he’d felt a gnawing fear in his belly that consumed him. But this time the fear wasn’t as powerful as the other emotions that seized him. Shame. And an everlasting hatred for the man who’d given him life. Because of his own unscrupulous actions at the bank his father had been able to draw him into his web of deception and lies using blackmail and threats; he felt as ensnared as a spider caught in a web of it’s own making. And as far as he could tell there was no way out.
***
“Take a deep breath and relax!” Sierra said out loud, her voice a low whisper despite the fact that she was alone in Caleb’s apartment. Her fingers were shaking, beads of sweat covered her forehead and her heart was thumping erratically, perhaps serving as a warning, she thought irrationally, that she was betraying the man who owned her heart. Her heart painfully lurched inside her at the thought of betraying the man who meant the world to her. Why was she here, anyway? she asked herself defiantly. Why was she sneaking around his apartment? Why had a few words from Sam’s lips made her doubt the man she adored?
You came here to find the truth, another part of her brain shouted.
Sierra laughed softly at the irony in her searching for the truth among Caleb’s personal items. Who was she to be so self-righteous about the truth? Why couldn’t she just believe in Caleb? Because you trusted someone you loved once, the other part of her brain screamed, and she betrayed you. It wasn’t so inconceivable, she thought miserably, that Caleb could betray her. After all, her grandmother had shown her that betrayals of the heart came naturally to some people.
But not Caleb, she told herself. Never him. He wasn’t capable of such a betrayal, such mind boggling deception.
I predict that by this time next year it'll be giving you all a run for your money. Caleb’s words which
had resounded with so much pride yesterday, now haunted her. Had there been a hidden meaning in his words? A subtle triumph in his words that she hadn’t picked up on?
Just look around the apartment a little bit, the other part of her brain insisted. One look and it’ll all be over. All the doubts, all of Sam’s ugly accusations would be put in the back of her mind, never to be revived again. If she found nothing incriminating against Caleb she would lay the whole thing to rest. She might even mention it to Caleb as a joke later on tonight. Not that he would think it was very funny, she acknowledged. His reaction would be a deep sense of hurt and perhaps even anger that she hadn’t trusted him.
With trembling fingers she opened the top drawer of his dresser, the scent of spicy cologne assailing her senses the moment she pulled it open. Quickly she rummaged through the contents, her actions feverish and frenzied. Underwear, socks, and t-shirts. Hardly incriminating, she thought with disgust as she made her way through all of the drawers and came up with nothing remotely damaging, with the exception of a few questionable outfits that her fingers itched to throw in the trash. She let out a low chuckle as she eyeballed the black velvet shirt with the rhinestone cuffs. Shades of Elvis, no doubt, she thought with a shaky smile.
Relief washed over her as she reached into the last dresser drawer and saw nothing but jeans and shirts. Half-heartedly she poked around the clothes, her fingers casually browsing through the items. She pulled out a comb, a few old photographs, a raggedy rabbit’s foot and a pocket knife stored among the clothes. Almost by accident her hand brushed against an envelope, one that had been crammed into the corner of the drawer. She tugged at the envelope, pulled it forth from the drawer and stood gazing at it for a few moments as she battled her conscience. She knew in her gut that she was going to open it.
Before she changed her mind she opened the envelope, gently unfolding the piece of paper that had been folded in half and carefully placed in the envelope. An aged and faded piece of paper fluttered to the floor, and she bent to pick it up with trembling fingers, her eyes widening in shock as she scanned the document.
Through The Fire (Guardians, Inc. Book 2) Page 18