Page 39 of Wilde Hearts

“I feel like this is my fault. You wouldn’t have hired that little punk in the first place if I’d just come home.”

“Son, it wasn’t your fault. Are you talking about Ryan?”

“Yes.”

“Ryan’s a good kid. Just talk to him, he’ll tell you he didn’t have anything to do with it. How in the world would he have even been able to get the money?”

I glanced up from where I was cutting the apple. My father didn’t know Ryan was missing. Fuck. I was going to have to be the one to break it to him.

“Dad…Ryan’s gone. He left.”

“What do you mean, he left?”

“He’s not here. I checked the cabin where he was staying and everything of his is gone. Turns out, he paid someone to come each day and check on the animals. Did you see him the day of your heart attack?”

Leaning back in the chair, Dad said, “He was on vacation. Your mom texted him, and he said he’d take care of everything and that we shouldn’t worry. I thought that meant he was coming back to the ranch.”

I shook my head. “He’d already taken off with your money, Dad.”

He slowly shook his head. “But how?”

“I called the bank, and they informed me that Ryan was on the account.”

Dad’s eyes went wide. “What?”

“They emailed me a form that you had signed, giving permission to add him to the account. I’m going to guess he somehow slipped it in with other papers for you to sign.”

His eyes closed. My father was pretty well known for just signing things and not reading them. My mother was forever getting on him about that.

“I treated him like a son. He ate dinner with us every night. I trusted him.”

I tried to ignore the pain building in my chest over that confession.

He glanced at me. “You’re sure he took the money?”

I nodded. “He transferred it from the account four days before your heart attack.”

“That’s when he left on vacation…but I’m guessing he packed up all of his things, stole my money, and took off.” Letting his head drop, my father took in a few deep breaths.

“Dad, don’t get worked up about this. I told you, everything’s taken care of. There’s money in the bank and all your bills have been paid. Not just the business bills, but all the household bills, too. You and Mom do not have to worry about anything except your healing and getting better.”

When he looked up, a tear was moving down his cheek. I hadn’t seen my father cry since Grady died.

I dropped the knife on the counter and made my way over to him. Dropping to my knees, I took his hands in mine. “Dad, please don’t be upset. Please.”

He squeezed my hands. “Thank you, Colt. Thank you for taking care of us.”

“Dad, it was nothing. It’s the least I could do. I’m so sorry I left you and Mom. I’ll never be able to make it up to you both.”

“That’s nonsense. You saved this farm, Colt. I have some stocks, of course, but I’d been trying to build up our savings. Now you’ve saved us from ruin.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t do any such thing.”

He sighed. “Let’s keep this between us, please. Your mother doesn’t have to know how stupid I was. She’ll never let me live it down.”

I grinned. “I have a feeling she’d let it slide. But I agree, she doesn’t need to know. We’re a clean slate now, Dad. I’ve got everything covered from this point on. You’re in full retirement mode.”

“Now, I don’t know about that. I don’t want to be sitting around getting old and fat.”