Chapter Twenty-Three

Collin

“You aren’t actually thinking of going through with this,” I said, more as a statement than a question.

“What other choice do I have?” she asked. Her cheeks were stained with tears, and her voice warbled. “They will ruin me if they can.”

“Why, though? And who? It doesn’t make sense.”

“The production company. It has to be,” she said. “They don’t want me firing them. They sank a lot of money into me and this show, and now they want to get what they paid for. Isn’t it obvious? They will blackmail me if they have to in order to get what they want.”

“You can’t give in to them,” said Owen, who had come back into the room unannounced.

“You heard what happened?”

“I overheard the last part. I don’t know what it’s about, but I know someone is blackmailing her over something she doesn’t want people to see.”

“Oh my God,” Brandy said. “This is so horribly embarrassing. I can’t. I can’t deal with this.”

“What is it?” Owen asked. “I won’t judge. Honestly. What is it they have on you? Nudes?”

“Worse,” I said. “The reality show people put a hidden camera in her office. It… caught us.”

“Oh. Both of you?”

I nodded.

“I see. Well, now they done made it my problem too.”

“What?” Brandy asked.

Owen looked to me, and I nodded.

“When someone messes with one of the Galloways, they mess with all the Galloways. It was how we were raised. If one of us got into a fight, the others would make sure it was a fair one. We wouldn’t cheat for each other or give each other unfair advantages, but we sure as hell weren’t going to let anyone get one on one of us either. And when someone did one of us wrong, they made an enemy of all of us.”

“Not too many people like being my enemy,” Owen said. “It has a sobering effect on most folks. Folks not named Anderson, anyway.”

“They’re too damn dumb,” I muttered. “Listen, I’m on that recording too. Which means my brothers are going to be as hopping mad about it as you are. Now I know it’s a bigger deal for you, but I’m trying to tell you you have backup. We will help.”

“How?” she asked. “They want me to come alone. I can’t have backup.”

“We could hide in the car,” Owen said. “If we brought your truck, we could hide in the cab. It’s got a bunch of room up there in the backseat.”

“He’s got a point,” I said. “We can duck down and pull some canvas over us and we’d just look like any old pile of junk I usually have in there.”

“I’ll fit. I’ll make it work.”

“We might just be able to follow her,” I said. “The truck stands out. We can trail at a distance. Or I can hide in the back and you can trail it. That way we have our bases covered.”

“Stop, stop!” she said. “If they catch you, they will ruin me. Immediately. They have no reason not to. I have to do what they want. I have to go alone.”

I grimaced. She was wrong, but she was the one who had to make the call. I had to convince her.

“Maybe we could call the state troopers,” Owen said. “I know a couple of them from doing security at our events.”

“What if the Andersons have something to do with this?” I asked. “Eugene already threatened her. What if it’s him? You know he would catch wind of the troopers immediately. It’d spook him early, and we both know he’s both dumb enough and vindictive enough to just release what he’s got to hurt people without any other gain.”

“True,” Owen said. “Yeah, that’s true.”

“We have to think this through. Fast,” I said.

“Should we call Luke?”

“No,” I said. “Luke is busy. He can’t get back here from Dallas in time anyway. You should text him and tell him to head home as fast as he can, though. He’s going to want to be here for whatever happens after.”

“Good call,” Owen said.

“And text Logan too. He’s in town but probably at work. We need all the Galloways on standby.”

Owen nodded, and I knew he would do what I said. Partially because this was as much my situation as it was Brandy’s, but also because as the second oldest, when Luke wasn’t around, what I said went. Dad instilled in us that someone always had to be the one to make a decision and everyone follows it. And that someone should be the eldest of us. Luke took it seriously and had really evolved into being that man.

The rest of us were comfortable in our own places. None of us felt like children under Luke, but we all took direction from him. More like a coach for a football team than a patriarch. We listened to him because we knew that out of all of us, he would put the most thought into what was best for everyone. And he wouldn’t let us down.

But without him there, it fell on me, and I found, as I usually did in these situations, that leadership came naturally. It wasn’t something I craved or sought out, but it was something that when presented, I took on without a second thought and succeeded with. Just like in the desert, I was in charge, and people listened until I told them to listen to someone else.

Brandy was having a harder time with it, though, and I didn’t blame her. She was absolutely terrified of those images getting out. While I had no problem with the world at large knowing we were together, I wasn’t happy about anyone other than me seeing her in no clothing. The fact that whoever had the footage already had made me so angry I could spit. They had no right to view her that way, not because I would be jealous of anyone who’d ever seen her, but because they did so through a hidden camera.

I wasn’t the jealous type. But I was the type to defend my woman’s honor. And as of last night, she was officially my woman.

I paced for a few minutes, trying to think each scenario through. Occasionally, Owen would update me on what Luke or Logan said. Luke was asking what I wanted to do but also noting that the four of them were heading home immediately. Even in this situation, Luke understood that I needed to call the shots.

“I think I should text them back,” Brandy said. “And see where they want to meet.”

“Smart. Do it.”

She nodded and typed into her phone for a moment, and then waited. Those moments of waiting were like torture. Owen busied himself in the meantime by putting away the mountains of food. I munched on an apple absentmindedly, but Brandy was understandably not hungry anymore. She was drinking water like she was dying of thirst, however.

Finally, her phone buzzed, and she pulled it to her face.

“Okay, there’s an address,” she said. “Powhatan Country Club, Gutierez, Texas?”

“I know where Gutierez is,” Owen said. “It’s a tiny little place just off the main road if you’re heading to Dallas. About an hour or so from here.”

“All right,” I said. “So we have to find the country club that’s there. That’s all. Easy.”

“What are we going to do?” Brandy asked, her voice soft and distant. It was full of despair, and I wanted desperately to fix the problem for her. The light in her eyes had vanished, and I hated that for her.

“We are going to get in the truck and hide. Then we are going to go to the shop, and you’re going to put some baking equipment in the back of the truck to make it look like it’s just a pile of junk. Then we are going to drive to Powhatan Country Club and play it by ear.”

“Okay,” she said. “I trust you.”

I nodded. As she walked away, heading up the stairs to gather some of her things, I motioned for Owen to come closer.

“Make sure you give everyone this address,” I said. “And I have one more favor to ask you. But it’s extremely important, and if you say no, I will understand. Got it?”

“Yeah,” he said. “What is it, boss?”

“I don’t trust myself,” I said. “It’s too close. I might make decisions that are based more on emotion than necessity, understand? So I am asking you to go into the office and open the safe…”

“Say no more,” Owen said. “I understand.”

“Just… just in case,” I said. “I hope to God it won’t come to that, but I’ve never been blackmailed before. I don’t know. Just be safe.”

“You know I will,” he said.

I nodded. “I trust you, Owen.”

“Thanks, Bubba,” he said. “Now let’s go see how wildly uncomfortable we are going to be for the next hour and some change.”