Cole Walker reached for his phone in his front pocket. They wouldn’t stop the calls until he answered. When he’d promised to do anything his family wanted, he’d been in a panic because he hadn’t wanted anything to happen to Bella.

He’d known they would call, but he hadn’t thought it would be only two weeks after he’d called his eldest brother and asked to use the plane. That was the first time in eight years that he’d heard his brother’s voice. Bryson had said he could use the plane, but he’d owe his brother a favor. Nothing in the Walker family came for free.

Bryson ran Walker Oil. Cole assumed his brother wasn’t doing things aboveboard. Ian sure as hell knew his father was corrupt. The second he heard Cole’s father had taken money to shut down a school program, he’d lost all respect for him.

Cole’s mom had turned a blind eye to his father's dealings. As long as she kept the lifestyle she was used to, she didn’t care what he did. Cole hadn’t even thought of her as his mom when he was growing up. He was raised by nannies. His mom couldn’t be bothered to take care of her kids. Nathen, his other brother, had become sick when his parents were overseas, and his mom wouldn’t cut the trip short, so Nathen spent six days in ICU without his mom. Cole never understood how his two older brothers had stayed around to deal with his parents.

Bryson seemed to be calling in his favor. It had been the fifth time he called in the past five hours. He’d left voicemails, but Cole had chosen not to listen to them. Cole guessed it was time to pay up.

He leaned back in his Range Rover and looked at the house he’d just purchased. He wanted to look inside and give Ian and Bella an update. They’d purchased the house sight unseen. The price was lower than the lot, so if all failed, they would tear the house down.

Bryson’s name flashed across the screen. Cole swiped his finger to get the conversation over with and see what he’d sold his soul for. “Bryson.”

“About time you fucking answered. You need to answer when I call.” Bryson expected everyone to jump when he spoke. It was one of the reasons they didn’t get along.

Cole pinched the bridge of his nose and took a few calming breaths. “What do you need, Bryson?”

“You are to be at family dinner this Sunday.”

Attending a family dinner wasn’t what he’d expected Bryson would demand. Cole hadn’t talked to anyone in his family in eight years, including his parents. He didn’t want to see any of them.

“Is this the favor? If I show up to family dinner, you won’t ask me to do anything else?”

“No, we will discuss your favor after family dinner. Be at Mom and Dad’s Sunday at seven.”

Before Cole had time to respond, Bryson clicked the phone off. Fuck. One dinner. He could do this.

He had six days to figure out what to do with his family. Cole walked up to the condemned house they’d just purchased at auction. When he opened the door, he was hit with a smell so strong he thought he would throw up. It smelled like a mixture of crap and vomit.

Using his shirt, he covered his nose and headed into the house. Poop was smeared over the walls in the living room. Trash lined the floor, and he had to step over a pile of needles. The house seemed to be a crack den. He reached for his gun in his holster. Cole never left his house without his Glock.

Each room he walked through was lined with trash and human fecal matter. He couldn’t understand how someone could squat in that house. When he entered the last room, he stopped in his tracks. A woman who was skin and bones and covered in dirt was pointing a gun at him.

“Ma’am, please lower the gun, and we can talk.”

“You won’t take me back.”

He didn’t have time to ask questions before she fired the gun in his direction.

Cole’s story is coming in 2019. Make sure to sign up for my newsletter so you don’t miss a New Release.