My phone vibrates.
Smiling apologetically, I take it out of my pocket and hold it up. “Campaign business.”
Everyone nods sympathetically. They always do.
I slip through the French doors onto the terrace and open my messages.
Unknown
Customer in Amarillo didn’t check in.
Found dead in motel room.
Throat cut. Clean.
I read it twice.
Then a third time.
Well, this is annoying.
That’s three—three buyers dead in two months. All in Texas.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think Jake Callahan has something to do with this, but I know he and his team haven’t left Blackthorn Ranch since they moved in over two months ago. I’ve been watching them.
No, this reeks of Mandy Reed. That bitch has been causing me trouble since she and her sister were picked up thirteen years ago.
I delete the message.
Most victims spend the rest of their lives running. Mandy decided to turn around and bite. I almost respect it.
Almost.
The problem isn’t the bodies. The problem is uncertainty. Men like my customers aren’t afraid of violence. They’re afraid of becoming the target.
Fear spreads.
Fear costs money.
And Mandy Reed is becoming expensive.
I take a sip of bourbon, staring out into the night.
The Jenna Morales situation was already a disaster. Wrong girl, wrong target—wrong everything. My men grabbed her thinking she was Mandy. By the time I learned otherwise, the situation was already compromised.
The van, the cleanup, the dead ends—all of it unnecessary.
Sloppy work irritates me.
I resist the urge to throw the glass, despite my annoyance—and my annoyance is high. Mandy is still out there, still killing buyers—still costing me money. And the Reyes family is getting impatient.
The Circle H problem was supposed to be solved months ago.
Instead, Emma Hayes is still sitting on that land, pregnant and stubborn, while Jake Callahan turns Blackthorn Ranch into a private military compound.
I think about the call I got yesterday from that Reyes upstart. Friendly. Polite. Interested. But I heard the threat underneath the feigned camaraderie.
I need to secure the Circle H. I can’t complete the route I sold the Reyes on without it.