“How much will his services cost us?” Zeke’s question was resigned and still a bit skeptical.
Ryleigh walked slowly into the office and settled onto Zeke’s lap, one arm slung over his shoulder. “When I’ve worked with him in the past he took a percentage of the first monies received. So let’s say you decide to lease the minerals on Harding Ranch,” she flashed a smile at a surprised Zaria, “then he’d take ten percent of their first payment you get and that’s it.”
“That’s it?”
She smiled smugly. “That’s it.”
“Might be a good lawyer, but he sounds like he knows squat about business.”
“Not really,” she shrugged, “your first check will likely be at least a few hundred grand and ten percent of that is nothing to laugh at, my dear skeptic.” She laughed when his eyebrows shot in the air.
“So who is this angel of the law you speak so highly of? I hate him already.”
Zaria and Ryleigh both laughed, he grunted at them. “His name is Jake Olson and he’s based out of Bozeman.”
Zaria paled. No it can’t be. It can’t possibly be him. There could be plenty of Jake Olsons out there, she told herself. That was a name she hadn’t heard in a decade and it was a name she could go the rest of her life without hearing again. Jake was her high school sweetheart, the boy next door. He was her first lover, her best friend and he was Zach’s father. Only he didn’t know it. He’d left Beloved without a backwards glance or a forwarding address long before she knew she was pregnant. She tried to shake off those melancholy thoughts, irrational hope swelling within her that this was a completely different Jake Olson. “H-h-how did you find this lawyer?”
Ryleigh leaned against Zeke’s chest and lifted a shoulder. “We’ve worked a few of the same cases together in the past so I know he does this type of work. I sent him the same information I gave you because I didn’t want to leave Beloved without making sure you had what you needed to fight Peters.” Zeke smiled and squeezed her tight around the middle.
“We appreciate that, don’t we, Zaria?”
“No! No we do not appreciate it! At all!” She slammed her hand on the table, eyes blazing fire at Ryleigh.
She stood from Zeke’s lap, tears shining in her eyes but refusing to fall. “Right. Okay,” she hooked at Zeke. “I’ll just be upstairs.”
Zaria watched in horror as Ryleigh fled the office, the soft sounds of her footfalls fading up the stairs. “Zeke I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not me who needs the apology Zaria.”
She nodded, “I know Zeke, I know. I don’t know what came over me. I just heard Jake’s name and I freaked.”
“I know,” he nodded and patted her on the back. “But it might not even be your Jake. If it is, it doesn’t matter since he doesn’t know about Zach, right?”
She cut a devilish glare at her brother. “You don’t know anything Zeke, anything at all!” She stormed out of the office, out of the house and into the cool Montana evening.
Chapter Two
“Ryleigh can I come in?” Zaria stood on the other side of the door to the suite of rooms Ryleigh shared with Zeke, tears in her eyes.
Ryleigh opened the door and gasped at her friend’s tears. “What’s wrong Zaria?” The door opened wider so Zaria could slip in.
“I’ll just give you girls a few minutes alone,” Zeke said and closed the door quietly behind him.
“Have a seat,” Ryleigh told her and climbed on the bed, hugging a pillow close to her chest.
“Ry, I’m so sorry for my outburst earlier. I don’t know what came over me.”
She raised an eyebrow as if to say, try again girl, and said, “You don’t? Because it kind of seems like you do.”
Zaria had the grace to flush. “Okay well maybe I do know,” she said, “but damn Ry I haven’t heard that name in forever. Never thought I’d hear it again, actually.”
Green eyes wide, Ryleigh asked, “You know Jake?”
Zaria nodded and shared her whole sordid history with Jake Olson with Ryleigh. She told her how she met Jake when she was fourteen years old, “I punched LeRoy Bobbins in the face for picking on Jake and calling him a ‘damn Yankee,” she laughed with tears in her eyes. “He told me he didn’t need no stinkin’ girls fighting his battles. Can you believe that?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “Well I couldn’t so I punched him in the stomach and stomped away.”
She told Ryleigh how he’d come up to her the next day at school and apologized for being such a goober. “We became friends after that, best friends. We hung out, rode horses and spent time out at the creek between our properties. Four months after that, we were dating.” They had been dating for about a year when his parents split up. “I was a mess, thinking that of course he’d moved with his father to California, but he didn’t.” He stayed in Beloved with his mom but they moved to town and it hadn’t stopped them from seeing one another. If anything it gave them more privacy because his mom worked long hours to support them. “We fell in love,” she winced at the dreamy sound in her voice, “we learned each other’s bodies and on his sixteenth birthday, we lost our virginity together.” It was a glorious time for Zaria. He was her first love, her first everything. “And then everything went to shit. We were all set to go to UM together and then two weeks before graduation, two weeks, he tells me he’s going to California without me. He didn’t say why he was leaving or anything just that he was leaving. I was devastated.” She swiped a few stray tears from her eyes, the memory still squeezing her heart to bursting. “Six weeks later I found out I wouldn’t be going anywhere. I was pregnant.”
“Oh Zaria!” Ryleigh hopped off the bed and gathered Zaria in her arms. “That’s terrible.” She kissed her hair as the tears fell. “He still doesn’t know?”
Zaria heard the concern in her friend’s voice and she relaxed. She didn’t want to be judged for her choices. She shook her head, “I haven’t seen or heard from him since he left.”
“Oh my goodness I’m so sorry Zaria.” She hopped up. “I’ll call him and tell him not to come. God how could I have been so stupid?”
“Ry don’t worry about it. There was no way for you to know. Besides now that he knows Triple Z is in trouble, I doubt you could keep him away.”
***
Almost a week later Annabelle walked out on the porch to greet the driver of the unfamiliar black car gliding up the driveway. She waited, towel draped over her shoulder and she gasped as the man unfolded himself from the low vehicle. “Jake Olson!”
He turned at the sound of his name and those heart stopping dimples appeared at both corners of his mouth. “Annabelle Reilly,” he walked towards her, briefcase in hand, “you are looking as lovely and as young as ever.”
Annabelle blushed and waved him in to her arms. “Come on you charmer and give this old girl a hug.” He came willingly and gave her a good squeeze. “Ah, that’s better. You’re the lawyer coming to help us?”
He nodded as she guided him inside the house he hadn’t been inside of in more than a decade. The walls were still the same cheerful buttery yellow he remembered, the furniture was country chic and comfortable. Despite the years everything was still in excellent condition. “The place looks just as I remember,” his voice was full of awe.
“Thank you Jake,” she pushed him into the kitchen. “You have a good memory. Come on in the kitchen and we can have some coffee and crumb cake.”
“I do remember you have the best crumb cake in Montana.”
She looked at that smile. “You’re still a charmer,” she patted his cheeks. “So tell me son, how’d you come to be a lawyer?”
Jake looked at Annabelle’s warm gaze. There was no hint of judgment, just understanding and interest. “Well I wanted to become a fancy big time criminal lawyer and that’s why I went to law school. But after getting off a drug kingpin and a suspected multiple murderer, I couldn’t sleep. Literally.” He sipped his coffee and took a moment to gather himself. “Then mom got sick and I
came back to Montana. I was looking for a new specialty and that’s how I met Ryleigh.” He laughed. “She’s a spitfire and she worked harder than the lawyers did to get information on those guys.” When her packaged arrived two weeks ago and he saw Triple Z, there was no question of whether he would help.
“Well I’m glad you’re here to help.”
You’re probably the only one, he thought with a bitter smile.
“Grandma, Aunt Ryleigh sent me to get us a snack. She said we can’t watch a movie without a snack and I volunteered to come get the snack because Uncle Zeke says she could have smoke in her lungs.”
The boy didn’t even take a breath and Annabelle smiled lovingly at him. “Sure honey, there are sandwiches, chips and pickles on two plates in the fridge.”
“Thanks Grandma, you’re the best.” His gaze finally turned to the stranger at the table. “Are you the lawyer?”
Jake nodded but no words would come. He took in the boy’s appearance, put him at about ten or eleven years old. His hair was black like Jake’s with those familiar blue eyes staring back at him. They could be Reilly eyes or Olson eyes, he wasn’t sure but he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He sat back, a brick settled in his stomach and pushed away the crumb cake. “I am,” he finally said on an exhale.
“Zach where are you,” Zaria rushed into the kitchen and stopped so fast she practically skidded. Her eyes went to her mother and settled on Jake with a gasp of surprise. Just as quickly she schooled her face into a mask of indifference. “Zach go wash up, we’ll be having lunch soon.”
“Mom,” he whined, “Aunt Ryleigh and I are about to watch a movie.”
“The movie will still be there after lunch Zach.” She watched him stomp off, annoyance written all over every step and grunt as he climbed the stairs. She turned the opposite way and headed out the back door.
Jake excused himself from the table, granting Annabelle a small smile before following Zaria. “Hey, wait up.” She looked over her shoulder and turned without a word, walking towards the stable. “Zaria!”
“I’m busy Jake. You can talk to Mama and Zeke about the legal matters.” She picked up her pace, eager to get beyond his reach even if it meant running away like a frightened rabbit.
“You know good and damn well that’s not what I want to talk about.”
“Well we don’t have anything else to talk about so as I said, I’m busy.” She slipped inside the stable, hoping to saddle up her horse and get gone before she had to face him again.
“Dammit Zaria you know what I want to talk to you about.” He caught up to her and grabbed her bicep. “Stop.”
She stopped struggling but she said nothing and yanked free of his grasp. Her blue gaze settled on him as soon as she turned, taking in his features. Damn but the years had been kind to Jake Olson. He was still gorgeous with his slightly too long black waves, eyes as blue as the Montana sky, still fit and trim after a decade sitting behind a desk. It wasn’t fair. He could have at least lost a few teeth or maybe grown a bald spot. Nope, he was still sexier than any one man had a right to be.
“Is there anything you want to tell me?”
“No.”
He groaned as if in pain. “Okay. Is there anything I should know?”
“Everything you need to know to proceed, Ryleigh can help you with.” She grabbed the saddle and walked inside where Bee’s Bonnet waited for her.
“Ah, woman you’re enough to drive a man to drink!”
“The nearest bar is all the way in town, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“Is he mine?”
Trust Jake to get to the heart of the matter. Her shoulders wanted to fall but she wouldn’t allow it. “No Jake, he’s mine. I had him and raised him. His father isn’t in the picture.” There. That sounded calm and noncommittal.
“Why didn’t you say anything Zaria?”
She whirled on him then. “What was I supposed to say, or better yet how was I supposed to say it? Should I have told you when you walked away from me and never looked back or I know, I should have called when I was almost dying to bring my son into the world? Yeah how inconsiderate of me.”
“I had a right to know!”
Her arms crossed over her chest. “Yeah well I didn’t know how to contact you, did I? You made sure of it and that told me everything I needed to know.”
“It wasn’t that simple.”
She heard the crack in his voice but she ignored it. “Yeah well neither was finding out you were going to have a baby a month after you graduated from high school.”
Jake sucked in air, he couldn’t breathe. She found out after he left for California. I’m an ass. He couldn’t let her off the hook so easily. “And in all the years since?”
“Jake it wasn’t my job to track you down. You left and you didn’t look back so why are we doing this? You don’t care about me or Zach, we’re fine. Let’s just do this meeting and we can both get back to our lives.”
“But,” he had no idea what to say. He had a son and he wanted to be involved in his life, but he wasn’t sure it was a good idea after all these years.
“But nothing Jake. You’ve been gone for a decade and you’re only here now by accident so let’s not make this more than it is. Your life is hours away so please, don’t. Just don’t.” She turned and walked away.
“I’ll meet you back in the house shortly Zaria for our meeting. But don’t think for one second this conversation is over.”
***
“Our best option is to fight back,” Jake said, looking around the large wooden kitchen table at each person seated there.
“What do you mean by that, exactly?” Ryleigh had taken on the role of unofficial spokesperson for the Reilly family. She didn’t want an argument to erupt that wasn’t relevant to Track Peters or their current problems with him so she intervened any time Zeke or Zaria would have spoken up.
Jake smiled at Ryleigh’s efforts to protect him. “What I mean is that while we get an investigator to look into the arson and the falsified autopsy report, I will find someone who wants to lease the mineral rights on Harding Ranch.” He let his words sink in. “There’s nothing Peters can do about that, so that’s where we’ll start.”
“And what about the damage to Triple Z?” Zeke wasn’t hostile outright but Jake felt it radiating off of him in waves.
“Unfortunately we can’t do anything to get you compensation for that until it’s been proven that he was behind it.” He sighed heavily. “But Zeke the money from leasing the rights over there will help you make any repairs or updates you need and then some.”
The fight left Zeke and he deflated a bit. “Okay fine. Do you have any suggestions about preventing this in the future?”
Jake smiled, “As a matter of fact I do. Are those old trees still out there along the fence that splits the ranches?” At Zeke’s nod and Annabelle’s smile he continued, “I think we put up some motion sensor cameras since that’s almost certainly how the perpetrators are getting on the property. It’ll cost some money but there’s a guy who does this in all conditions, which means we could get him out here at night to install them.”
Ryleigh rewarded him with a heart stopping grin. “That’s fantastic Jake!” She looked around the room, “They won’t know they’ve been installed so they can’t lay low or take’em down.”
At least somebody is impressed with me, he thought bitterly. “Okay then I’ll get started on that and let you know how it’s going.” They each nodded and stood, stretching bodies stiff from ranch work. Zeke and Ryleigh went outside and Zaria headed upstairs to check on Zach. Annabelle refreshed her coffee and his, taking her seat at the table again.
“Have a seat Jake and tell me what’s on your mind.”
He smiled. “That obvious, huh?”
“Well I’m sure you’ve had quite the shock but as usual, you’ve handled it like the great man I knew you’d become.”
Her words made him blush. He wasn’t a great man, far from
it. He was a coward and apparently a deadbeat dad. “I’m really not Annabelle, but thank you for saying so.”
Leaning over with a smile, she patted his cheek. “Of course you are. You made some mistakes but I reckon you’ll try to fix them now. Am I right?”
Jake sighed heavily wondering if there was a way to fix it.
“There’s always a way to fix things. There are few things in this life that can’t be fixed with a little effort.”
“Maybe that’s true but this isn’t a broken fence or a few angry words. I have a son I knew nothing about it. All these years he was here, living and breathing and laughing and I didn’t know anything. Shouldn’t I have felt it?”
Annabelle let loose a light amused laughed. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you? Now that you do know, I doubt you’ll ever forget.”
His laugh held little humor. “I don’t suppose I could even if I wanted to.” He finished off his coffee and sighed. “Tell me Annabelle, what can I do? Is there a way to make this right?”
“First you need to decide who you need to make it right with and then you’ll have your answer. Just give it some time and you’ll figure it out.”
That wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear but it was probably the wisest advice he’d get. There was no question he wanted a relationship with his son, Zach. Just saying the name brought a smile to his face and he knew his life would be better with that little spitfire in it. As for Zaria, well he had no idea how to go about reconciling anything with her. The way he’d left her all those years ago was unforgivable, even more so now that he had new information. The best he could hope for was a civil relationship for the sake of their son.
He stood and gathered his papers in his bag. “Thanks Annabelle,” he bent down to kiss her cheek. “You were always the best. Still are. Goodnight.”
Chapter Three
BILLIONAIRE ROMANCE: The Unforgettable Southern Billionaires: The Complete Collection Boxed Set (Young Adult Rich Alpha Male Billionaire Romance) Page 149
