Chapter 4 - The Ghost Who Came Back From the CanyonSilas Creed arrived in Blackwater at noon on Sunday.
He made no effort to hide.
That was the message.
For seven years, the frontier had believed him dead.
Now he rode down Main Street wearing a pale suit and black hat, surrounded by twenty armed men.
People fled indoors.
Dominic watched from the second-floor window of the hotel.
Chloe stood beside him.
“So that’s Creed?”
“Yes.”
Silas was older than Dominic.
Mid-forties.
Silver at his temples.
Handsome in the polished way wealthy predators often were.
He stopped beneath the hotel window and looked directly upward.
Then smiled.
“Dominic!”
His voice carried across the street.
“Been a long time.”
Dominic opened the window.
“Not long enough.”
Silas laughed.
“Still dramatic.”
“You sent someone to shoot me.”
“A misunderstanding.”
“You burned Chloe’s house.”
“Also unfortunate.”
Chloe stepped into view.
Silas saw her.
His smile changed.
“Eleanor’s daughter.”
Chloe felt Dominic tense.
Silas removed his hat.
“You look like your mother.”
“You poisoned her.”
A murmur moved through the watching townsfolk.
Silas’s expression did not change.
“Terrible accusation.”
“I have Harlan’s confession.”
“Dead men confess to remarkable things.”
Dominic’s hand rested near his gun.
Silas noticed.
“Easy.”
He smiled.
“I didn’t come to fight.”
“Then leave.”
“I came to negotiate.”
“With me?”
Silas looked at Chloe.
“With her.”
He produced a document.
“One hundred thousand dollars for Copper Ridge.”
Chloe nearly laughed.
“No.”
“Perhaps you misunderstand the amount.”
“I understand.”
“Your mother died owing three hundred dollars.”
Dominic moved before Chloe could react.
His revolver appeared.
Silas’s men drew weapons.
Twenty Moretti gunmen appeared on rooftops.
The entire street froze.
Dominic’s voice was ice.
“Mention her mother again.”
Silas smiled.
“There he is.”
“What?”
“The Dominic I remember.”
Silas looked between them.
“Careful, Chloe. He becomes possessive.”
Dominic cocked the hammer.
Silas raised his hands.
“I’ll return tomorrow.”
“No.”
“You will.”
He looked at Chloe.
“Because when you learn what Dominic did to your father, you’ll want to hear my offer.”
Then he rode away.
Chloe slowly turned.
Dominic had gone pale.
“What did he mean?”
Silence.
“Dominic.”
His eyes closed briefly.
Then he said:
“I was there the night your father died.”
The room seemed to disappear beneath Chloe’s feet.
“What?”
Dominic told her.
Seven years earlier, Silas had ordered men to pressure Thomas Bennett into selling Copper Ridge.
Dominic had gone along believing they intended intimidation.
When Bennett refused, Silas shot him.
Dominic tried to intervene.
Too late.
Then he helped cover up the killing.
Not because he approved.
Because he was afraid.
Chloe listened without speaking.
When he finished, she walked out.
Dominic did not follow.
That hurt worse.
She spent the night alone.
At dawn, she left Moretti protection and rode toward Copper Ridge.
She needed space.
Instead she found Silas waiting.
“I knew you’d come.”
Chloe reached for the revolver Dominic had taught her to carry.
Silas smiled.
“If I wanted you dead, sweetheart, you wouldn’t have reached the ridge.”
“Don’t call me sweetheart.”
“Your mother said the same thing.”
Chloe’s hand tightened.
Silas offered her papers.
Proof.
Dominic had indeed been present.
But another document revealed something unexpected.
After Thomas Bennett’s death, Dominic had secretly paid Eleanor Bennett every month for six years.
Anonymous money.
Most had been returned unopened.
“Why?”
Silas shrugged.
“Guilt.”
Chloe looked at him.
“You’re showing me evidence that makes Dominic look better.”
“I’m showing you that guilt makes men predictable.”
Silas stepped closer.
“Dominic has one weakness.”
“What?”
“You.”
Chloe laughed bitterly.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I watched him lose an empire once because he refused to kill me when he had the chance.”
Silas’s smile faded.
“He won’t make the same mistake twice.”
Chloe understood.
“You’re using me.”
“I’m offering you freedom.”
“From Dominic?”
“From all of us.”
Silas gestured toward Copper Ridge.
“Sell me the land. Take the money. Go east. Boston. New York. Europe. Anywhere.”
“And if I refuse?”
Silas smiled.
“Then Dominic dies trying to protect you.”
Chloe rode back to the ranch before sunset.
Dominic waited at the gate.
He looked furious.
“You left without guards.”
“I needed to think.”
“You met Creed.”
“Yes.”
Dominic’s anger vanished.
“What did he do?”
“Talked.”
“What did he give you?”
She handed him the documents.
Dominic read them.
Then looked at her.
“I should have told you.”
“Yes.”
“I was a coward.”
“Yes.”
“I can’t change that.”
“No.”
He accepted each answer without defense.
Chloe hated how much that mattered.
“Did you send my mother money?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t know how else to live with myself.”
“She never accepted it.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because apologies made with money are usually insults.”
Chloe stared at him.
“I don’t forgive you.”
“I know.”
“I may never.”
“I know.”
“But I believe you regret it.”
Dominic’s eyes lifted.
“That’s not forgiveness.”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“But it’s something.”
That night, Chloe slept in Dominic’s bed.
Not because she had forgiven him.
Not because everything was healed.
Because life on the frontier had taught her something brutal.
Tomorrow was never promised.
And sometimes two damaged people were allowed one night without ghosts.
At dawn, Chloe woke alone.
On Dominic’s pillow lay a note.
Gone to settle Creed.
Stay at the ranch.
Chloe stared at it.
Then cursed.
She dressed, loaded her revolver, and marched downstairs.
Leo was waiting.
“He told you to stop me.”
“No.”
“Then why are you here?”
Leo handed her a rifle.
“He told me to keep you safe.”
Chloe took it.
“Those aren’t the same thing.”
Leo smiled.
“Beginning to understand why he likes you.”
May you like
They rode after Dominic.
And by noon, the war for Copper Ridge had begun.
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