hands gripping his suit jacket.
“You will apologize to your daughter. Now,” Tucker hissed.
Colton’s hand on my shoulder tightened, but he didn’t move.
“She has to marry him or I’ll be ruined. He’ll take over the company,” my dad replied instead, breathing hard. His color was high, a vein bulged in his temple.
“I don’t give a shit about you. Apologize or being ruined will be the least of your problems.”
Tucker was fierce. A little scary. And he was defending me. It was really exhilarating.
“This is quite a family reunion.”
I turned at the sound of the voice. A man had come in the room without our noticing, closed the door behind him.
Tucker let go of my dad—who slumped down the wall before he got his feet beneath him—and walked toward the man, pointed at him. Tucker was tense, his entire body ready for a fight. “You were at the Seed and Feed.”
My eyes widened in surprise as I studied the stranger. The man barely blinked at Tucker’s aggressiveness, so he was definitely a lawyer. He wasn’t surprised by the anger, nor by Tucker’s presence. This guy was cool as a cucumber while my father was sweating bullets. In his thirties, he had dark hair and wide-set eyes. In a navy suit, he looked like he could be any of my father’s executives. But he did look familiar. The fact that Tucker recognized him as one of my customers had me really thankful they’d come into the store and stalked me all that time.
“You bought a salt lick and a pair of leather gloves,” I replied finally. “You look a lot different wearing jeans and a t-shirt.”
“Good memory,” he said, offering me a thin smile.
“How’s your horse like the salt lick?” He just offered me a thin smile at the sarcastic comment. He probably didn’t even know which end of the horse was front. “You’ve been watching me.”
Tucker’s hands clenched in fists at his sides. While he glanced at my father, his focus was on mystery man. It was obvious who had all the power here. Who could really hurt me.
Clearly, he wasn’t sure who to deck first. With Colton’s hand on my shoulder, he was probably ensuring I didn’t punch the guy. After the way I’d wanted to go after Roger to protect Kaitlyn the first time I’d met Tucker, he couldn’t be too careful.
I turned to my dad. “You had this guy, what? Seeing if I’d fail? Share the details of my dating life?”
“Oh, I don’t work for your father,” the man replied, voice confident. He looked completely unruffled, unlike my dad. “But I kept him updated on your activities. I have to admit, you have more… fire than I expected. Two men in your bed. Not bad for a pawn for the big boys.”
The big boys I assumed were Perry, my father and every other executive who’d assumed I was just a dumb piece of arm candy. And as for being a pawn… that was why I’d walked away. I just didn’t realize how much they planned to use me for their own gain. A country club wife was one thing, but extortion and blackmail?
“You work for Perry,” Colton said. He’d never laid eyes on Perry, never even seen a picture, but he had him pretty well figured out.
“Oh shit,” I whispered.
The man gave a slight nod. “Impressive, Mr. Ridge.”
Colton smiled coldly at the man. “Oh, us rednecks sometimes can rub two thoughts together and come up with an idea.”
“Why does Perry want Ava so much? And if wants her, where the fuck is he?” Tucker asked.
I stepped closer to the mystery man, who hadn’t offered his name. It was irrelevant to me. “I can answer that. Please correct me if I’m wrong.”
The guy nodded once again.
I crossed my arms over my chest, tapped my toe on the carpet. “The evidence against my father will send him to jail and most likely shut down CFG. At least hurt its reputation enough where business will go elsewhere. I assume the elsewhere is a company Perry’s started somewhere across town. He doesn’t just want to ruin my father’s business, he wants to ruin my father. By marrying me, he also gets the Carter fortune.”
“Very good, Miss Carter. Perry said you were smarter than you looked.”
I bristled at that, but didn’t let it show. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard something similar, but knowing Perry wanted to marry me and felt that way…
“If I say no, will Perry blackmail me next?” I asked.
“You are fucking two men.”