No Refunds No Exchanges: A Hudson Family Series- Book 4- Matt and Ali

by Chontelle Brison

  Clearing her throat, she shook her head like she trying to shrug off a memory and put her phone back in her pocket. “A few years ago I was in kind of a bad place, I met Alison, and we hit it off. She insisted I stay with her while I got my bearings in life. I was there about three months before I came home to Carson City.” She explained.

  Her answers were vague and created more questions in my mind than ever. However, now wasn’t the time to push.

  “So, how did you know Alison’s Sanctuary was in trouble?” I asked wanting to get some answers sooner than later.

  She shrugged her slim shoulders, “Even though I left, I still kept tabs on Alison. She was wonderful to me. She didn’t judge me or make me feel broken, and she didn’t ask questions that I couldn’t answer.” She replied, reminding me that John had said the same thing about Ali and his friendship. It appeared Alison accepted everyone the way she hoped they would accept her. It was sad to think that my lovely Alison thought of herself as damaged or less than. I was determined to show her that it wasn’t the case!

  “Anyways, the people that I had looking out for Alison told me there were some people doing geology studies from a company in New York. The information said they were scouting, mainly researching old mining claims from the county archives and trying to match them up with land boundaries of the present. I thought it was silly until I was told that there was a vast mine of silver sitting underneath Alison’s land. I also knew she’d never sell, ever! Those animals are her family, and she’d die before giving them up.” She coughed, and Dalton quickly grabbed her a bottle of water from the kitchen.

  She smiled up at him gratefully then squealed when he scooped her up and sat her between us on the old, leather sofa we were on. I had to stifle a chuckle. Dalton was nothing if not determined and Camille had accused him of being a Neanderthal on more than one occasion. Shoot, Alison had accused me of the very same thing; apparently, it was another Hudson family trait.

  “Just wanted to be able to hear you better,” Dalton explained easing back against the sofa as if he was relaxing in front of a Jets game. After a long pause, Amber sank back into the soft leather.

  “Then men I hired were good at their jobs and told me that this New York Company had a lot of power and money behind it. They were going to hassle Alison and get her off that property one way or another. I didn’t know until later, I had overlooked it in one of the reports that they’d sent me, but her ex-husband, Richard knew about the land. Apparently, Alison’s father told him about the mine. It had been disclosed when he bought the property, but he’d refused to tear up his beautiful mountain for money. It was Richard that contacted this developer.” Amber’s eyes turned sharp, and I knew what she was saying.

  “You’re telling me that Richard knew about this mine before her parents died?” I asked. It would make sense, if Richard knew about the mine and tried to get Alison’s dad to sell; when he refused it wouldn’t be a far reach to say that he’d tampered with her parent’s car. The only hitch in his plan was that Alison had survived. Still, why wait all this time to come back after both Alison and the land.

  “If Richard caused Alison’s parents to crash, why come back and try to take the land now? Why wouldn’t he have finished her off when she was at her most vulnerable?” I practically growled through clenched teeth. The man had tried to murder Alison, had killed her parents leaving her scarred for life and all for a stupid silver mine?

  Amber smirked, and it was the first time I had seen any life to her since we had started this conversation. “The owner of the New York Company apparently put the puzzle pieces together and cut off all ties with Richard, but when he died, and his son took over, he was less worried about a little blood on his hands. If my men are correct, they have offered Richard a lucrative finder’s fee if he can deliver Alison’s property to them.” I watched her small fists clench and unclench as she fought to control her anger. Her pale lips were pursed together tightly, and I wondered about her blood pressure.

  “Okay, so Richard backs off and then the developers contact him again and so he starts trying to win Alison back, but she’s not having it so he figures if he can get her Sanctuary permit revoked, she’ll sell!” Dalton explained as he shook his head. “That is some seriously twisted, shit right there. As in, a few beat downs and some jail time seem in order kind of twisted.” Dalton's voice was quiet and lethal again, making Amber visibly cringe away from him.

  “Okay, so how long have you know about all this? I mean you can’t build all this overnight.” I told her as I looked at the list of amenities that this land of hers came with. Amber had not just deeded Alison land with animal cages on it. She had built state of the art habitats with man-made ponds and waterfall just like Alison had dreamed of incorporating. There was a large house that was gated and separate from the enclosures and large barns and even two small cottages that were presumably for housing staff, like Trevor. Amber had designed and constructed Alison’s dream. Apparently, from information she had gleaned from the time the women had spent together. The enormity of what Amber had done wasn’t lost on Dalton or myself as I heard him whistle when he read the dead and property description.

  “I found out that Richard was sniffing around Alison about a year ago and had my guys dig a little deeper until they uncovered phone records that showed Richard was back in contact with the developers. I knew Alison wouldn’t leave those Animals, I also knew that I had all this land my father had given me, but I had no use for. I had once thought to build a home for Reece and me, but you guys know how that turned out.” She said blushing.

  “You’ve gone all out on this Amber, this is state of the art security fencing, night vision cameras, a parking area for tour buses and a visitors center off to one side. Even the home is fantastic. It has a private drive so that you can live separate from the animals or follow a gated path from the back of the house that will take you to each habitat.” Dalton’s contractor hat was apparently on as he sat reading off the various things that Amber had put in place. My brother was the top house building contractor in Carson City and with Camille helping to design them, they were a perfect match.

  Still, even I was impressed when he rattled off things like, an in-ground heated wave pool and natural hot spring Jacuzzi that had accordion type panels so it could be enclosed in winter or left open in the summer. I could only imagine how good that would feel on Alison’s leg when it stiffened up or was sore at the end of the day. There was no doubt that Amber had put care and thought into every detail for Alison. I wasn’t sure what Alison had done for Amber in the short time she’d stayed with her, but it seemed that Amber had spared no expense on this gift.

  “It took a long time, but I wanted everything that Alison had ever spoke about. She works so hard and takes care of so many things that I wanted something that gave her the animals she loved and still something for herself.” Amber finished as a tear streaked down her cheek.

  “So you’ve been building this for over a year?” Dalton asked in amazement. When Amber nodded, both Dalton and I gave each other a shocked looked.

  “Richard is a bad person, Alison’s not safe as long as he’s around. He won’t stop until she sells or until he decides to remove her from the equation. I can have my guys give you the evidence they found but a lot of it is circumstantial, and I don’t know how much is admissible since wiretapping phones are illegal.” She explained her voice stronger than it had been.

  “Yeah, we need everything you have Amber, it’s important. We need to see if there’s anything we can use to put that asshole away before he takes another shot at Alison.” Dalton sat back and tossed the paperwork on the table. He seemed as overwhelmed as I felt.

  “It’s bad enough he’s probably going to get her Sanctuary license revoked, there’s no way he gets her land,” I swore as I felt my face flush with anger. No way was he going to harm one hair on Alison’s head; I would take him out first. A sideways glance to Dalton told me we were on the same page.

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nbsp; “There’s only one thing I ask,” Amber whispered as she got to her feet and faced Dalton and I. With a pained look she said, “Alison can’t ever know that I gave this to her, it has to be anonymous. She can’t know it came from me or that I live here.” Her voice was shaky but determined, and I didn’t miss the fact that she’d started shaking again. One look at Dalton told me he hadn’t either.

  “Why? Why can’t she know? If she takes this deed she’ll be living here in Carson City, she’s bound to run into you.” Dalton asked stepping toward Amber only to have stumble backward to stay out of his reach.

  Her eyes darted from me to Dalton, panicked like a cornered deer. “I-it won’t matter, I’ll be gone before she comes here and then it won’t matter if she knows because I’ll already be gone.” The words fell from her lips in a rush, and I saw the moment when she decided she had said too much. Her eyes darted toward the front door and before I could even blink she shoved Dalton’s chest and in his surprise he fell back onto the couch as she dashed for the door.

  I hadn’t even gotten up from the sofa before Dalton, moving faster than I had ever seen anyone move, had wrapped his arms around Amber’s struggling body in a hold I knew she wouldn’t be able to break out of.

  He lifted her frail frame off the floor, turned with her still in his arms, and walked back toward the sofa. Angry and emotional, Amber began to squirm and fight as Dalton gently held her in his firm grip.

  “What the hell is this?” Camille’s voice boomed from the doorway.

  I threw a look to Dalton. I had expected him to panic or at least babble some explanation to his wife, who was standing just inside the door with her hands on her hips wearing a dark expression. There were two things I knew about life, never piss off Synclair when there was a bat in reach and never, ever piss off Camille because the Irish, Spitfire would maim you in your sleep. Instead of a worried expression on Dalton’s face, he grinned up at Camille with a boyish grin.

  Yep, the man, was done. There was no way he was going to explain to Camille that he was holding Amber in his arms strictly because he wanted to help her. Camille was Synclair’s cousin and very protective of her. She definitely knew all the things that Amber had done and I was pretty sure if Camille decided to attack Amber, there was nothing Dalton would be able to do to stop her, even with all his badass Navy SEAL experience.

  “Hello love, Amber just dropped this bomb on us about how to help Alison, but she’s being very cryptic and seems to have some unexplained bruises.” He explained as he calmly held a still struggling Amber.

  Camille looked from Dalton to Amber and then back to Dalton. Her sky blue eyes narrowed on Amber’s arms that had become exposed during her struggles and then softened when her gaze settled back on Dalt’s. Camille moved slowly toward us and I wanted to elbow Dalton to hand me Amber so that we could avoid a bloodbath but my brother, the idiot, looked completely unconcerned about his approaching wife.

  Coming to stand in front of Dalton and Amber, she waited until Amber’s struggles ceased and Amber’s startled gaze met her own.

  “Me husband is a sweet man and fancies himself a Knight of sorts! Trust me, I have been swept up on this man’s horse. It’s best you stop struggling and allow him to assure himself that you’re okay, you’ll not win against that kind of nobility in a man.” Camille told a wide-eyed Amber. Smiling up at her husband, she kissed the man quickly on the lips and walked past us to the kitchen on her way back to the house she and Dalton shared on the back hill.

  Dalton stood a little taller as his little Irish wife left with a soft closing of the door. His smug look was replaced with a wince of pain when Amber’s shoe connected with his shin as she dangled in the air still locked in his arms.

  “Ow, dammit stop! I just want to make sure you’re okay Amber, geez.” Dalton complained as Amber continued to struggle.

  “Why is it so important that Alison not know it was you who gave her the land and why won’t you be here?” I asked wanting to figure out what was going on.

  “Because she knows I’m pissed after she took off in the middle of the night, breaking John’s heart and my guess is that she’s trying to make a grand exit into the sunset because she thinks she deserves to die alone!” Came a loud and pissed off voice from the staircase.

  I looked over my shoulder, Dalton turned with Amber still dangling off the floor, and we all stared up at a very pissed off Alison Collins.

  Ali

  Seriously? Dalton Hudson, you put her down right now before I make what Synclair does with a baseball bat look like a day at Disneyland!” I shouted wincing when my throat protested against the strain.

  I had woken up in Matt’s bed, after he’d held me all night long, alone. After stomping to the bathroom, I had actually convinced myself that everything was fine. By the time I pulled on the clothes that were left for me on the dresser, I was smiling from ear to ear at the thought that Matt Hudson and I were a couple.

  So how does my joyful morning end? By listening to Amber, whom I thought was my friend, go into great detail about how my ex-husband had possibly murdered my parents. If that wasn’t shocking enough, she planned to gift me this over the top property and then what? Did she really expect to wander off into the sunset, alone?

  Maybe I should be grateful that she cared! After all, she had disappeared into the dead of night with no contact number or even a note saying where she was going or how to reach her. I suppose I should be grateful she was even alive since she had basically fallen off the face of the Earth!

  “Sorry, Alison I can’t do that. I need to check out her arms,” Dalton told me with an apologetic look on his face.

  I shrugged and walked past Matt, who was wise enough not to say a word, up to Amber who was now hanging limply in Dalton’s grip. Without any hesitation, I grabbed her thin arm, pushed her sweater clear up to her armpit, and examined the blue and purple bruises.

  “How long has it been back?” I demanded as I ignored both Matt and Dalton’s puzzled expressions.

  Amber turned her head away, but I was not playing this game with her, not now. “Damn it, Amber, how long has the Cancer been back?” I asked again, this time there no softness to my voice.

  I had met Amber, in my doctor’s office in Henderson. I had been having a lot of spasms in my leg and needed to adjust the medication he had me on. Since I hated hospitals I told the nurses, I would wait to be called in the atrium. It was a little inside garden that was full of lush plants and had two benches so that you could really enjoy the peacefulness of the place. Normally, no one was there but upon entering my usual hiding spot I had come across a pretty, blonde woman crying. To make a long story short, she and I hit it off. She had come to Henderson to get treatment for a lump she’d found in her breast. Unfortunately, she had just gotten the news that it had spread to both breasts, and because she had delayed seeking treatment, they would now have to remove both of them. I tried to cheer her up with tales of women I knew that had done reconstructive breast surgery and how they got to pick just how big they wanted those new boobies to be.

  When she told me she had nobody to be with her during this operation and that everyone in her town hated her, I insisted she come to my Sanctuary so that I could help her. It was there that my neighbor John met Amber. Only, she didn’t tell us her last name, and we never asked. She did tell me the terrible things she had done to a family she’d grown up with, but she had never given out any names. Wait! How did John not know that Amber was his cousin’s ex-wife?

  “It’s not back!” Amber insisted trying to tug her arm out of my grip. I tried not to cringe at how small and frail her wrist felt in my hand.

  Dalton released Amber from his hold but didn’t move away from behind her, poised to grab her if she tried to bolt. Grateful, for the backup but not about to commend another Hudson male for his Neanderthal tactics, I gave a Dalton a hard stare.

  Unfortunately, he met my glare with one of his own, and I knew he wasn’t going to budge. “Listen, men,
I nor Amber are going to run screaming for the hills,” I gave Matt a pointed look hoping he realized I wasn’t kidding. “But she and I need to talk.”

  I didn’t wait for a response, and when Matt walked toward us, I put up one palm to stop his advance. I pulled Amber down on the sofa and waited while Matt and Dalton grumbled all the way to the kitchen.

  “I need answers, so before you launch into a huge story, just know if you run I’ll sic Dalton on you so fast your eyes will cross,” I warned when her eyes darted to the front door and back to me.

  Letting out a huge sigh, Amber sat back on the sofa and waited.

  “How much did you hear?” she asked avoiding my gaze.

  I shrugged, “Some…Okay, all of it. I’m not sure my mind has processed everything yet, so I need answers.” I told her.

  She nodded slowly, she raised her gaze to mine, and I swallowed the lump in my throat when I saw the dark circles and hollowed cheekbones.

  “When you told me the story about the guy you were in love with, that was Reece?”

  She answered with a nod. “Okay, then that makes the girl you were shitty to in college, Synclair and the Hudson’s are the family you’ve always wanted to be a part of but never were.” She gave me another nod.

  I let all the faces and stories match up in my head before I asked the thing that was really bugging me. “So how did John not know you were married to his cousin?” Yep, that was a showstopper.

  It had taken a few weeks, and Amber had definitely shied away from John’s company or help. But the man had been persistent. He had been staying at his cabin, recovering from a bullet and knife wound. Respecting his privacy, I never asked how he had gotten them, but I was sure it was on some cover of night mission somewhere. It was a side of my neighbor I had never seen. The evasive man was suddenly coming over for dinner nightly, staying to play cards or watch movies. He even came and helped with the animals. Nala, my lioness, had taken a liking to Amber. Maybe it was because Amber would sit outside the lion habit for hours just silently watching. I liked to think that Nala sensed the sadness in Amber and wanted to help.