Chapter 3 - A Woman No Longer InvisibleThe captured gunman lasted until morning.
His name was Abel Knox.
He had worked for Creed for six months.
He knew almost nothing about the larger organization, but he knew enough.
Creed had returned.
He had men hidden inside three towns.
He controlled a railroad company through intermediaries.
And he wanted Copper Ridge before the first winter snow.
“Why?” Chloe asked.
Abel laughed through swollen lips.
“Because whoever controls that pass controls everything moving west.”
Dominic leaned against the barn wall.
“And Bennett?”
Abel’s smile disappeared.
“Creed said the girl was supposed to be dead years ago.”
Chloe went cold.
Dominic’s voice became dangerous.
“Explain.”
“Her father was the problem. Creed figured once Bennett died, the widow would sell.”
“My mother didn’t.”
“No.”
Abel looked at Chloe.
“So they waited.”
“For what?”
“For her to die too.”
The words struck harder than any bullet.
Chloe remembered her mother’s illness.
Frontier fever.
Six weeks.
The doctor had called it unusually aggressive.
Dominic apparently reached the same conclusion.
“Who treated Eleanor Bennett?”
Chloe answered.
“Doctor Harlan.”
Leo cursed.
Dominic looked at him.
“What?”
“Harlan owns stock in Creed Western Rail.”
Silence.
Chloe felt sick.
“No.”
Dominic approached her.
“We don’t know anything yet.”
“You think my mother was poisoned.”
“I think we investigate before deciding.”
But she saw the truth in his eyes.
He suspected exactly that.
They returned to town that afternoon.
Doctor Harlan was gone.
His clinic had been emptied overnight.
Someone had warned him.
Chloe stood inside the abandoned office staring at bare shelves.
“Someone knew we were coming.”
Dominic nodded.
“Which means Creed has eyes inside my organization.”
That realization changed everything.
Dominic could no longer trust his own men.
And Chloe could trust nobody.
Over the next week, Moretti Ranch became a fortress under siege.
Nobody entered without being searched.
Nobody left without permission.
Dominic slept little.
Chloe slept less.
Yet something unexpected happened.
She stopped being afraid of him.
Not because Dominic became less dangerous.
He did not.
She simply began noticing the man beneath the reputation.
He paid his ranch hands on time.
He remembered their children’s names.
When a stable boy broke his wrist, Dominic personally sent for a doctor.
When a widow arrived asking for money her dead husband had been owed, Dominic doubled the payment.
“You’re confusing,” Chloe told him one evening.
They sat on the veranda while a thunderstorm formed beyond the mountains.
“How?”
“You’re supposed to be terrible.”
“According to whom?”
“Everyone.”
“Everyone is often stupid.”
She smiled.
“You kill people.”
“When necessary.”
“That isn’t exactly comforting.”
“It wasn’t intended to be.”
She studied him.
“Have you killed many?”
Dominic looked toward the horizon.
“Yes.”
“Do you regret it?”
“Some.”
“Which ones?”
“The ones I remember.”
She expected nothing more.
Instead he continued.
“My father taught me that violence solves problems.”
“And?”
“He was right.”
Chloe frowned.
Dominic looked at her.
“He neglected to mention that violence creates new ones.”
The honesty surprised her.
Before she could answer, Leo appeared.
“We found Harlan.”
“Where?”
“Silver Creek.”
Dominic stood.
“Alive?”
“For now.”
They rode that night.
Harlan was hiding inside a boardinghouse under another name.
Dominic dragged him into an abandoned church.
Chloe insisted on being present.
“You shouldn’t hear this,” Dominic told her.
“She was my mother.”
“That’s precisely why.”
“No.”
Dominic stared at her.
Chloe did not move.
Finally he nodded.
Doctor Harlan confessed after twenty minutes.
He had poisoned Eleanor Bennett.
Slowly.
Small doses of arsenic disguised as fever medicine.
Chloe stood completely still.
The doctor wept.
“Creed threatened my family.”
“My mother was your patient.”
“I know.”
“She trusted you.”
“I know.”
“You watched her die.”
Harlan covered his face.
Chloe walked outside.
Dominic followed.
She vomited beside the church steps.
Then she sat in the dirt.
No tears came.
That frightened her.
Dominic crouched beside her.
“Chloe.”
“I should feel something.”
“You do.”
“I feel empty.”
“That is something.”
She looked at him.
“Kill him.”
Dominic said nothing.
“Kill Harlan.”
Still nothing.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because tomorrow you may wish you hadn’t asked.”
“I won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“He murdered my mother!”
“Yes.”
“Then kill him!”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“No.”
Chloe stared.
“You kill men constantly.”
“When I choose.”
“Why not him?”
“Because you are asking me to carry out your grief.”
She stood.
“You don’t get to lecture me.”
“I’m not.”
“You think you’re better than me?”
“No.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“I think you’re better than me.”
The words stopped her.
“If I kill him tonight because you asked, then part of that death belongs to you.”
His voice softened.
“I won’t give you that burden while you’re angry enough to mistake vengeance for healing.”
Chloe hated him for saying it.
She hated him more because somewhere beneath the rage, she knew he was right.
Harlan was delivered to the territorial marshal with a written confession.
Three days later, he was found dead in his cell.
Poisoned.
Silas Creed was cleaning up loose ends.
That evening, Chloe found Dominic in the barn.
“You were right.”
He looked up.
“About what?”
“Killing Harlan.”
Dominic said nothing.
“I wanted him dead.”
“I know.”
“I still do.”
“I know.”
“But I’m glad it wasn’t because I ordered it.”
Dominic nodded.
Chloe moved closer.
“Why do you care what happens to me?”
“You saved my life.”
“That answer stopped being convincing days ago.”
He looked at her.
Something changed between them.
Quiet.
Dangerous.
“Chloe.”
“What?”
“You should go inside.”
“Why?”
Dominic’s eyes dropped briefly to her mouth.
Then returned to her eyes.
“Because I’m trying very hard to remain honorable.”
Her breath caught.
“Are you?”
“Barely.”
She should have stepped away.
Instead she whispered:
“Maybe I’m tired of honorable men.”
Dominic kissed her.
Not gently.
Not carelessly either.
It was the kiss of a man who had spent days refusing himself something and had finally lost the argument.
Chloe grabbed his coat.
For several seconds, the world disappeared.
Then Dominic pulled away.
His forehead rested against hers.
“This is a mistake.”
“Probably.”
“You’re under my protection.”
“I didn’t ask to be.”
“You’re grieving.”
“I’ve been grieving for months.”
“You don’t know me.”
Chloe looked into his eyes.
“I’m beginning to.”
That seemed to frighten him more than anything else.
Outside, somewhere beyond the ranch fence, a rider watched them through field glasses.
May you like
Then he turned his horse east.
Toward Silas Creed.
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