“No, Gavin,” Lila said urgently, reaching out to grab hold of his arm with both hands. “She’s not worth it. She’s not worth anything,” Lila said, looking at the woman who’d given birth to her.
“The only thing good thing you ever did was give me up and I’m sure you got your money’s worth for that, didn’t you?” Lila asked.
She knew from the look on her mother’s face that she was right. She’d often wondered if Clay had paid her mother off and now she knew. Nausea filled her at how close she’d come to being stuck with this woman. How long would it have been until Abigail had sold her to some sick asshole?
“Go home and don’t come back,” Lila told her with disgust.
“I don’t think so.” The big man stepped towards them and suddenly Colin and Trace stepped out from the trees, moving towards them steadily, flanking Lila and Gavin.
“Oh, I think so, buddy,” Trace snarled. “Stand back.”
“Lila, get in the truck,” Gavin told her.
She turned immediately and walked away, ignoring Abigail’s calls. Sitting in the truck, she waited for her men, her stomach bubbling with the need to throw up. Sweat ran down her back, her hands shaking as adrenaline flowed through her.
Trace turned back to look at her worriedly. He sent her a smile even as Gavin’s whole body stiffened and Colin braced himself as though expecting someone to attack. She couldn’t hear what they were saying but their body language spoke volumes. Her men were furious and Abigail—Lila shivered as she made eye contact—was absolutely livid.
Suddenly the man with Abigail let out a loud roar and stepped forward, his meaty fist raised. Gavin strode forward to meet him, and as Lila watched, breathless, easily blocked his punch with his arm, before quickly following up with a punch to the large man’s gut then a quick uppercut.
The older man fell back, holding his hand up to his nose. Her mother stepped forward, fluttering around him as he waved her off with a snarl. Gavin said something more before he, Trace and Colin turned and came back towards her.
Gavin hopped into the driver’s seat as Colin and Trace climbed in the back.
“What did you say to him?” she asked as Gavin spun the truck around and took off. His knuckles were white where he clasped the steering wheel tightly. “Do you think they’ll leave?” she asked.
“Oh, they’ll leave,” Colin answered her. “Jake will make sure of that even if we didn’t. Before we came I called the Banning brothers and told them that they had a couple of trespassers hanging out on their land. They’ll be here with Jake shortly to escort your mother and her companion out of town. Nobody is happy with the threats they made, we look after our own.”
Gavin reached over and grabbed her hand, squeezing tight. “Don’t worry, baby girl, you won’t ever see them again. I promise.”
Relief made her light-headed and she closed her eyes.
“We told them that they would never get a cent out of us, no matter what they did,” Gavin told her. ?
??I also made it abundantly clear that should they ever approach you, call you, write to you then I had a number of ways of getting rid of bodies.”
“They believed you?” she asked incredulously.
Gavin stopped beside Trace’s truck and turned to look at her, his eyes cold and deadly. “Baby girl, I meant every word. No one threatens the people I love.”
“They knew it too,” Colin added as he undid his seatbelt. “They won’t be bothering you again.”
“But if they ever do then you tell us straight away,” Gavin added, his face so intense that she couldn’t deny him even if she had wanted to.
“I promise.”
Colin and Trace climbed out and got into Trace’s truck.
“Okay, baby girl,” Gavin said, running his thumb over her knuckles. “Let’s go home.”
Chapter Twelve
Every time she stopped moving, she started thinking again. It was driving her insane. Over and over in her head, Lila heard her greedy, self-involved mother telling her how much she ever regretted having her.
Lila rubbed her head, trying to get that woman’s voice out of her head, but nothing helped. Nothing except keeping busy. She stared around the house, but there was nothing left to do. She’d done all the cleaning, washing and ironing. She’d even ironed the men’s underwear for goodness sake.
She needed to get out of the house, surely that would help. Get some exercise. She put on some long, tight pants and a t-shirt before heading out of the house. Entering the cool, dark stables, she looked around for Ron. Shrugging when she couldn’t see him, she saddled Sunshine herself.
“This is what I needed, isn’t it boy?” she said, patting Sunshine five minutes later as they moved towards the hilly area of the ranch. The peace of the day soothed her. What did she care what that old bitch said? She wasn’t her family. She may have given birth to her but Clay had raised her.