The Cain Casey Series

—not you. Whatever his reasons were, they were all about him. You gave Aunt Marie a life she loved and enjoyed. It isn’t your fault it was too short.”

“You’re growing up to be as wise as she was. Thanks, Hayden. Your saying all that means the world to me.”

Cain stayed silent about Hannah, not wanting to add to the emotions of the day. She often had to put business first, and that necessary callousness probably added to Emma’s decision to leave. But sometimes she couldn’t ignore her responsibilities, no matter how much she wanted to.

She just hoped they weren’t making her incapable of the type of love she had given to and received from Emma. Though that love had caused her to make one of the biggest mistakes of her life, it had also given her one of her life’s greatest joys—Hayden.

*

“Come on in the house, Emma. You’re going to freeze out here if you stay any longer.” Ross put his hand on her shoulder. “Why don’t you go get cleaned up, and we’ll run over and pick up the butterbean?”

“I’ll get her in the morning, Daddy. Thanks anyway.” Emma didn’t move and wanted more than anything for some higher power to give her one wish. If she got it, Cain and Hayden would drive back up so she could make things right with them.

“Maybe she’ll be just the thing you need to cheer you up.”

A door slammed in the distance, and several cars pulled in. Kyle had changed and was ready to catch the plane waiting for him and his team at the small airport sixty miles away. He wanted to be in New Orleans before Cain so he could start planning. “Thank you all for your help. With what we got, we’ll be able to nail Casey to the proverbial wall.”

“Get off my land.”

“Come on, Ross. You’re making out all right here. I see you started using the line of credit we set up for you.” Kyle pointed to the barn, talking about the feed he’d witnessed Cain and Hayden help stack up.

“I don’t think you heard me. Get off my land now. And for the record, as you’re so fond of saying, agent, I didn’t touch a fucking cent that belongs to the government.”

“Hit the lotto, have you, Ross?”

Kyle sounded so condescending Emma wanted to slap him.

“Better. Cain and I became partners. The feed in there belongs to her, and she was nice enough to let me feed it to my cows. Now get out of here.”

“As soon as we’ve packed the equipment.” If Ross had become so chummy with Casey in the few days she was here, he would go down with her if he tipped her off to their presence. “Ross, I’m only going to ask you this once. Did you mention any of this operation to Casey?”

“No.”

“Are you sure about that, old man?”

“No, I didn’t mention any of you scum and what you were here for.”

“Good. Keep it that way, or you’ll find your own name on one of those indictments I’ll be getting in the next few weeks.”

What you should have asked, Agent Butthead, was if she mentioned your being here. Then I would’ve had to say yes, maybe. Ross laughed a little as he helped Emma to her feet and moved her into the house. He watched from the window as the agents carried monitor after monitor and other weird-looking equipment out of his barn. If only Kyle would take his head out of his ass and use it, he would have wondered about how easily the end had come after such a long road of trying, thought Ross. No way would he feel sorry for whatever happened to the man.

“Daddy, I don’t know what to do now.”

“Emma, I’m your father and I love you, but we’ve had this talk. I didn’t agree with all this, and I was the only one in the house who thought about what could go screwy with this plan. I’m not going to sit here now and tell you what you did was wrong. The nights you sit up wishing you could take it all back will take care of that. You’d better start thinking about your next move, though. Hiding here listening to the wind and your mother isn’t going to take you back to where you obviously want to be.”

Carol wiped her hands on the dish towel as she stood right outside the door and couldn’t believe her husband. “What are you trying to do, Ross?”

“I’m not blind, Carol. I could see the way Emma looked at the woman while she was here. You pulled her back here with all your holier-than-thou speeches, making her feel guilty about every one of the choices she’s made in her life, and she’s been miserable. Cain deserves to know about Hannah.” He turned to Emma. “And if you leave now, it might not be too late.”

“You run again, Emma, and don’t come back here if she throws your worthless hide out this time. You can go back to that spawn if you want, but you aren’t taking Hannah with you.” Carol grabbed Emma by the arm. As a mother she had been cursed with Emma, but she saw another chance with Hannah.

“She’s my daughter, Mother. Try and remember that. If I go back, do you think for one minute I’m leaving her here with you? You need intense psychiatric help if you think I’d give you the chance to make my little girl feel bad about who she is and where she comes from. That pleasure on your part will end with me. Hannah deserves to be happy, so if that means me letting her live with Cain and Hayden, that’s what I’m going to do. You’ll never get the opportunity to poison her mind with that garbage you call religion.”

Carol turned around and raised her fist toward her husband. “You, this is your fault. Soft, you said when Emma was growing up. We shouldn’t be so hard on her, you said. Well, this is what happens when you’re soft with your children. They get taken by the first devil to come along. And did I hear you say you took money from that woman?”

“Shut up, Carol. This is Emma’s life, not yours. You can’t ruin someone else’s life by stealing their chance to be happy. She’s our daughter. She deserves better than your hate and constant judgment.”

The fist opened, and Ross felt his head fly back from the force of the blow. “I want you to get out.”

He put his hand over the heat on the right side of his face. “No, Carol. One of us is leaving, but it won’t be me.