“I’m sorry she left.”

Cisco glanced at Laredo and shrugged. What else was he supposed to do at this point? Melody had gone. She had made her choice. And perhaps—perhaps it was for the best.

“I’m needed here.” The words came out sounding rather dull. Cisco felt dull. He felt as though he could not even begin to try and show any kind of excitement or consideration for this meeting.

Laredo didn’t say anything else, and Cisco was glad. Laredo pulled the car up in front of the Brown Palace Hotel and Spa. The one hundred and twenty-five year old venue was one of the most prestigious in town. Fortunately for the Stockmen’s Association, they had enough pull in the old cow town to rate a standing invitation to this place.

The hotel’s graceful old facade gave way to the elegant front steps. It was strange. Laredo didn’t even seem to be impressed with the place anymore. The two of them had been coming here with their parents for events and meetings since they were in knickers. At the moment, Cisco could not help but wonder what Melody would have thought of the ornate wood detailing and the old-world elegance of the hotel’s famed interior.

Cisco followed Laredo toward the Club Room with its paneling and diamond-paned windows. The place was already packed with members and their plus ones. As soon as Laredo and Cisco entered, he spotted Darren and his fiancée, Maggie, as well as his adopted sister, Jesse, and Laredo’s—well, it was hard to know how to refer to Aria. The Hernandez family had known Aria almost all their lives. She and Jesse had been best friends since they were young. Now Aria was dating Laredo.

“What happened to Cisco’s date?” Jesse was the first one to not only smile but also to elbow him casually in the ribs. “Did she realize her mistake and run away?”

Funny. Or rather it was not funny since that was pretty much exactly what had happened. Jesse seemed to realize that she’d stepped in it. Her expression swapped from playfully aggressive to sympathetic.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I didn’t mean to poke a raw wound.”

Cisco managed to shrug. “Aren’t we here for a reason? Where’s Dad?”

Jesse jerked her thumb over her shoulder, and Cisco spotted Darren and Maggie with Joe Hernandez. “Maggie is doing her best to keep him from actually picking up a drink. I think she actually slipped him some nonalcoholic beer a moment ago.”

Cisco snorted. “He’ll know from the taste. I’m sure. Besides, are we certain it’s really the liquor talking?”

“Yes!” Aria’s response was emphatic. “Do not make me regale you with the tales of the last meeting where he got drunk and started pontificating and making accusations.”

“So, why do we let him come?” It seemed like a simple enough solution to Cisco. “Lock his ass up at home and be done with it.”

“Have you ever actually tried to force Dad to do something he doesn’t want to do?” Laredo wondered out loud. His expression was more disgruntled than Cisco had ever seen it. “I know you’ve tried to steer clear of family shit for the last few years, brother, but you need to realize that our father has become a problem that isn’t going to quit.”

Aria pointed her finger at Cisco. Her dark eyes were very intense even without the aid of cosmetics. In fact, she and Jesse were two of the only women who were not wearing cosmetics and fancy clothing. Cisco wished that Melody could have been here to meet these two very down-to-earth women.

“You,” Aria began in a voice filled with doom and gloom, “may very well have aspirations to be some kind of prosecutor or judge or something, but if you don’t get control of your father, you’re going to have problems. I’m talking Count of Monte Cristo epic!”

Suddenly, Jesse cut in with some comment about the book versus the movie and how it was entirely ridiculous that the entire story was based upon one silly prosecutor’s need to get rid of an unsuitable father, but honestly, the idea sort of stuck in Cisco’s mind. They were right. Joe Hernandez was becoming a bit of a problem for them all.

“Ahem,” Cisco said, trying to get the attention of the debating women. “Ahem, madam film critics?”

“The book was way better,” Aria sniffed. Jesse stuck her tongue out at her friend and swung her head in a mocking gesture. Then she grinned at Cisco and raised her eyebrows.

“Yes?” Aria prompted. “Did you want to propose an idea about your father?”

“Actually, I wanted to talk about why he’s started acting this way.” Cisco tried and failed to decide what would make his father turn. “He used to be very in control of himself. I remember him being an ass. I remember him being mean. But I do not remember him being anything other than sober while he was a mean ass. Do you get my drift?”

Jesse cleared her throat. She was wearing a low-key gray dress that emphasized her athletic figure. She looked classy and absolutely as though she belonged to the new generation of ranch owners. “I think it has something to do with my parents, and so does Cal.”

Cisco would not have immediately believed Jesse’s opinion, but when she added the weight of his eldest brother, Cal, to the mix, it was hard to argue. Cal knew their father better than anyone else because he was the oldest. He had been eighteen when Jesse’s parents died and she came to live with them. There was no telling what things Cal had seen and heard over the years.

“Do we have any hard evidence or any sort of direction on that?” Cisco wondered. “Think about it. What could Dad have done that would make him feel as though he has some kind of obligation to Jesse?”

Aria actually laughed. “Please. What kind of obligation requires you to make sure a young woman never takes over her inheritance lest she discover some truth you believe is hidden out there even though nobody else has seen it?”

“Cal believes,” Jesse murmured. “I don’t know what he saw when he was younger. But he’s only just started to admit to me that there are things I don’t know. For years everyone told me I was being paranoid.”

“Nice,” Cisco snorted. “So, for years they all tell you that everything is fine and you’re blowing it out of proportion only to admit nearly a decade later that, oh yeah, you were totally right.”

“It’s actually kind of validating in a certain light,” Jesse mused. “Now, can we get back to Joe Hernandez? They’re starting the meeting.”

Laredo gestured to a table. “Let’s all sit there. We’ll have Maggie and Darren bring him over, and then, since the table is in the back and there will be nobody around to listen, it won’t matter what he says.”

“Great plan,” Cisco muttered. He moved to a chair that gave him a clear view of the front of the room. That was when he spotted Paul Weatherby with his mousy little wife. “And there is rival number one and our potential problem.”

Maggie and Darren did their job and brought Joe Hernandez to a table full of Hernandez relations who would hopefully buffer any kind of comments that Joe made. Still, there was a lot of tension around the table. Cisco’s life did not necessarily depend on the stock contract being won by the Hernandez Land & Cattle Company. It was almost surreal to see the rest of them sitting there sweating bullets as they tried to pretend that everything was fine.

“Weatherby is approaching!” Darren hissed. “Laredo, go get your ass out there and divert!”

It was like running football plays. No doubt that’s why Darren was so good at it. The former professional football player had even done a season with the Broncos before settling down to fall in love and teach gym to elementary school kids.

Laredo leapt into action. Cisco could actually feel the animosity rolling off of Aria as she watched her boyfriend/whatever engaging Weatherby in a conversation that took him away from the Hernandez table.

“So, you hate Weatherby as much as the rest of us, hmm?” Cisco whispered to Aria. Then he turned to their father. “Did you tell Laredo and the others about my theory on why Weatherby wants the Farrell ranch?”

“Huh?” Joe Hernandez swung around to face Cisco, and he suddenly had the very odd feeling that he was looking into the face of a man he did not know.

Jesse reached across the table and grabbed Cisco’s forearm. “What did you say?”

“I’ve been having some issues with Weatherby myself,” Cisco murmured. Then he reconsidered. “Actually, he’s been harassing a friend—the woman I was trying to bring with me tonight—he’s been trying to buy the ranch her grandparents left to her.”

“The Farrells?” Aria squeaked. Her dark eyes were wide with shock. “Are you kidding me?”

“They were in a nursing facility for five years before they passed on.” Cisco was now speaking slowly and in a very low tone of voice. He was shocked that his father had not relayed any of this information along. What was going on with Joe? “We believe Weatherby has been using the land without paying for the lease. It’s hard to say if the dirty one is Paul or the other estate attorney. They’re both cheating bastards.”

“But that makes total sense!” Aria said to Jesse. The two women were staring at each other as though the whole sky had opened up with the answers to their problems. Aria was actually bouncing in her seat. “That’s where he’s been hiding the stock!”

“Did Dad honestly never tell you any of this?” Cisco felt shell-shocked and very off-balance. He turned to his father. “Dad. Look at me. Why didn’t you tell Laredo? You were supposed to tell Laredo and Cal.”

“Tell ‘em what?” Joe growled. He sucked down another drink and glowered at Paul Weatherby.

“Dad.” Cisco touched his father’s arm. “What in the hell is the matter with you? I thought Hernandez business was the most important thing on the planet. Why are you ignoring it?”

“That fucker killed her,” Joe Hernandez said beneath his breath. “You don’t know it, but he did. Just as though he’d shot her in the head. He killed her. He killed my Amelia.”

Cisco could feel Jesse’s shock from across the table. She wrenched her head around to stare at Joe. “What are you talking about? My mother? Joe, why are you saying that Paul Weatherby killed my mother?”

“Huh?” Joe seemed to shake himself out of some kind of trance. “What are you talking about, girl? I never said a damn thing about your mother. I barely knew her. Rawling was my best friend. I wouldn’t have touched Amelia.”

Jesse fell back in her chair. She was pushing herself so hard at the padded backrest that Cisco heard it creak with the pressure. There was no doubt in Cisco’s mind that he had heard his father claim that Paul Weatherby had something to do with Amelia Collins’s death. Then Joe had recanted and made it worse by somehow sounding defensive about Jesse’s mother.

“I need some air.” Jesse jumped up from her seat and left the room.

Aria didn’t bother to wait. She followed. This left Cisco sitting alone with his father at a table meant for eight. It felt like the story of his life. All of the answers just out of reach when he needed them the most.

“Dad,” Cisco said, forcing himself to be calm. “Dad, please tell me what you meant about Amelia Collins. What does Paul Weatherby have to do with her death?”

“Why are you getting mixed up with the Farrells and their ranch?” Joe turned and pegged Cisco with a glare from his red watery eyes. “You don’t need to be mixed up in that crap. The Hernandez family doesn’t mess with the Farrells. You got that? Those Farrells were always on good terms with Weatherby.”

Cisco tried to stay calm. There was too much going on here. There was too much to wonder about all at once. He had to stay focused. “Dad, do you think the Farrells knew that Weatherby was using their land for free while they were in the nursing home.”

“The Flying W don’t take handouts,” Joe said distractedly. “Weatherby is a murdering SOB, but he pays his own way.”

“What?” Cisco could barely stifle the urge to shake his father. “So, the man is a murderer. In fact, you think he had something to do with Rawling and Amelia Collins’s deaths, but you’re saying that he wouldn’t have used the Farrells’s ranch for free? Like somehow that is crossing the line. Are you hearing yourself?”

Cisco was just about at his wit’s end with this man. Joe Hernandez was a bully. He had come to Cisco’s office multiple times to make trouble, and now he was sitting here in public like some crazy drunk. It was almost like an act. Or something else.

Like some weird version of PTSD.

Cisco thought about the very minimal psychology classes he’d taken in school because it was something they recommended any good family lawyer pay attention to when he truly intended to work with a plethora of people going through abuse cycles, grief, and the tricky business of dealing with clients who most certainly possessed personality disorders. There had been a lot of information in that class specifically related to what happens when someone has PTSD and must deal with things called triggers that call up a specific memory or incident.

“Dad, what aren’t you telling us?” Cisco asked quietly. Laredo, Darren, and Maggie were returning to the table. It was now or never.

For just a moment, Cisco did not think that Joe Hernandez was going to answer. Then he cocked his head and looked straight at Cisco. “Paul Weatherby was there that night. The night that my Amelia died. He could have helped us, but he didn’t. I will always blame that bastard for what happened. Always.”

Cisco could not speak. He could do nothing but sit and absorb what his father had just said. Jesse and Aria hadn’t returned. Laredo sat back down with Darren and Maggie. And before Cisco could even begin to decide what to do with this information, the president of the Colorado Stockmen’s Association dropped a bomb that would stop time for the Hernandez Land & Cattle Company.

“Excuse me, excuse me!” The man tapped the microphone, and it let out the usual ear-splitting shriek. “I know you all expected to hear the announcement for assignation of the regional stock contract at tonight’s meeting. But given the current doubt surrounding the two top contenders for this prestigious contract, we have decided to withhold the decision until further investigations into theft and fraud can be completed. Thank you. Thank you all for coming. That will be all.”

“That was it?” Maggie whispered. “The only reason they had this meeting was for that announcement?”

Laredo nodded. His expression was grim, and his jaw was so tight it looked as though he were chewing nails. “That was indeed it.”

Cisco kept his mouth closed. Perhaps there was no reason to act on this now. Or ever. Or perhaps it was just one more pit stop on the Hernandez road to ruin.