Page 36 of Wilde Hearts

I closed my eyes and pushed a hand through my hair. No wonder my father had a heart attack. That was a lot of money for my parents.

“Colt…I have some money saved. I can help with this.”

Staring at her, I felt warmth spread across my chest. “That’s very kind of you to offer, but I’ve got money saved up. I’ll fix this. First things first, though. I need to find out who he owes money to.”

“Already did that,” Gatlin stated, as he reached for a piece of paper and handed it to me. “Ensley called me yesterday when she found this, and we spent much of last night figuring things out. We had to get into your father’s information, so I hope you’ll forgive us for that.”

I waved off his concern. “No, I appreciate you guys doing this. I guess this was what he wanted to talk to me about before I came out here.”

“Jacob?” Ensley asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, he said he needed to talk to me before I came out here, so I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Glancing over the list and quickly adding up the numbers, I realized what he owed for some expenses for the ranch wasn’t that bad. “I’ll get some money into his account today.

“I can reach out to these people and let them know you’ll be taking care of the outstanding balances as soon as possible, if you’d like me to,” Gatlin offered.

Exhaling, I nodded. “If you wouldn’t mind, Gatlin, that would be great.”

Ensley added, “And I reached out to your dad’s clients and got them all rescheduled with you. I also changed his password for his online bank account. I hope that was okay.”

I nodded as I stared at the desk. “Yes, thank you, Ensley.”

When she placed a hand on my arm, I looked at her.

“Are you okay, Colt? This is a lot of money.”

“Yeah. I’ve got a good amount of money put away. It’ll be fine.”

She looked relieved. “That’s good to know. I think you need to talk to your father. I’m sure this is weighing heavily on his mind.”

All I could do was nod once again.

This was my fault. He wouldn’t have had to hire someone if I’d been here. Another thing to add to the growing list.

Gatlin cleared his throat. “I’ll head back to the ranch and start on this.”

I glanced over. “Thank you, Gatlin. I’ll owe you for this.”

He took the list I handed back to him. “I’m not doing it for you, Colt. I’m doing it for Jacob and Lynn, and for my sister. She loves your parents.”

Feeling suddenly more tired than I had ever been, I nodded. “I know she does.”

Gatlin said his goodbyes to his sister and walked out of the office. The room suddenly felt too small. I quickly made my way out, down the aisle of the barn, and outside. I leaned over, braced my hands on my thighs and drew in a few deep breaths, trying to avoid throwing up.

I felt Ensley before she even said anything.

“Are you okay?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “This is all my fault.”

“This isn’t your fault, Colt.”

Standing, I spun around and gaped at her. “How can you say that, Ensley? If I’d been here, my father would never have hired that fucking prick! Let me tell you, if I find out that little fucker stole from my father, I’m going to tear him apart.”

She smirked. “You’re going to have to fight Gatlin for that honor. He’s already called an old college buddy. All he’d tell me about him was that this was right up his alley. I don’t know what that means, but I’m guessing he’s going to track down Ryan.”

I scrubbed both hands over my face. “Fuck! This is such a mess.”