Chapter 7

7

It took three days for the crime scene tape to come down and the TSP to clear the dumpsite. Everyone was saying that was exactly what it probably was. There had been no other reason for her to be dumped on their property, except for how remote the location had been.

She had been identified as a twenty-three-year-old prostitute from Houston. That was all Gene knew. That, and his family and Chantal’s were in the clear.

Life could get back to normal again.

He didn’t feel normal.

That woman had had her entire life ahead of her—only to have it cut short the way she had. To leave nothing behind but bad memories.

That rocked Gene, in more ways than almost anything ever had before. He’d had traumas in his life. Bad things that had happened. A former foster kid his parents had taken in, then given a job several years later, had taken Gene’s youngest sister and forced her into his car when he’d been high.

The guy had been angry he and his pal Kevin Chase had been fired for stealing. They’d tried to take thirteen-year-old Genesis and nine-year-old Greer for revenge.

Gunn had managed to rescue Genesis from the guys, but Grady had been too far from the house and hadn’t been able to get to Greer in time. She’d been in the backseat with that guy while the guy’s friend had been driving. Both men had been high as a kite.

Gene had been coming down the mile-long driveway at the time, not knowing of what was going on. With those bastards barreling down toward him, with Grady on their rear trying to get their baby sister back.

No one had been close enough to help Greer that day.

Gene hadn’t seen the bastards’ car until it was too late.

He’d hit it. Head-on. Grady had barely missed hitting them, too.

Gene had watched as his baby sister was thrown from that damned car. He relived that moment in his dreams far too often to think about.

Gene had climbed out of the broken cab of the truck he’d been driving, praying harder than he’d ever prayed in his life. He’d gotten to her side and been convinced she was dying. He’d been almost twenty-four then, the same age she was now. He would never forget that moment.

Greer had grown up into a real handful; he adored her. She was happy and healthy and whole now.

They had gotten lucky. Kevin Chase hadn’t. The guy had been killed on impact.

Gene had had his cell phone in his pocket. The ambulance had been close that day. Gene and Grady had done their best to keep their injured baby sister alive until help got to her.

He would never forget how helpless he’d felt seeing her like that.

The ranch was only seven minutes from the hospital. The stars had aligned.

Greer had ended up with a shattered left leg and a concussion. Swelling on her spine that had taken months to heal. She’d been in a coma for three days, and transferred to the larger hospital in Finley Creek.

He’d never prayed so hard in his life as he had during those four days. It had taken him a long time to accept that he hadn’t been the one to cause what had happened. He’d not been the one on the wrong side of the driveway or high as a kite or the one kidnapping a nine-year-old.

But the trauma had stayed with him a long, long time.

He still had nightmares about that day. He’d accepted that he probably always would.

He’d pulled away from the family for a while after that, though. He hadn’t really realized that until he’d had Calvin.

He’d always regret that. He’d tried damned hard not to let trauma keep him from the family that loved him again. He was still trying to rebuild relationships with his brothers—and especially with his sisters now. He’d pushed the girls away a bit after Greer had been hurt. To protect himself or something. He hadn’t realized that until recently. He was still trying to figure it out.

Finding a dead woman was damned traumatic. For him... and it was probably more so for Chantal. He was worried about her, no denying that.

He was going to find her and make sure she was okay. He’d been thinking about her, and what he had let happen between him and her through the years, and not exactly liking what he had done.

He should have talked to her after Mandy. Apologized. Tried to fix things. He’d known Chantal her entire life. Cared about her just as much as he had his sisters, once.

He didn’t like the distance between them now at all.

But he didn’t know how to fix it.