Page 18 of Bad Decisions & Back Roads

I’d had no choice.I wouldn’t be standing here—wouldn’t be alive—if I’d stayed.

The menace came off him in waves.His hate was etched into the deep lines of his face and set with the bricks of a hard life filled with disappointment and struggle.I’d spent years trying to understand why he was this way before giving up.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

My fingers tightened on the duffle bag.“I’m getting some things for Misty.”

His eyes dropped to it.Then rose back to my face.“You have no right to kidnap her from us or to steal things that don’t belong to you.She has a place here.A duty.”

Kidnap.

Something hot flared up, cutting through the fear.“She has cancer,” I shot back.“Can you say that out loud?Your daughter is dying.She’s not going to work herself into the ground for you while it happens.She can already barely make it out of bed.”

“That’s what a McClary does.”He took a step closer.“We work until we die.”

My pulse kicked up.“She needs treatment.Care.That’s what I’m giving her, what you denied her.”

He stepped closer.Too close.Every instinct I had screamed at me to move and put space between us, but I locked my knees, forcing myself to hold ground.

“She belongs here,” he said, voice dropping.Meaner.“Unlike you.”

His hands shot out.He grabbed my wrists before I could react, fingers digging in hard enough to bruise, yanking me forward like I weighed nothing.The heavy bag slipped, thumping against my leg.

My breath hitched as he hauled me in close.I could smell sweat, dirt, and something sour.

His spit hit my cheek when he spoke.“If she’s abandoning her family, then you’ll step up.I expect free veterinary care for every animal on this farm.”

The old fear surged, hot and choking.Something else familiar rose with it.My need to defy him and hurt him back.

“No,” I said, my voice shaking.“Go to hell.”

The words hung there.For a split second, his expression shifted to surprise, then something uglier.His hand came up.

I deflected the blow, the impact stinging up my arm.Instinct took over.I drove my palm into his chest hard enough to shove him back.He stumbled, hitting the side of his truck with a grunt.A flicker of satisfaction sparked inside me.Those self-defense classes had paid off.But that sparkle died just as fast.I knew exactly what came after that look in his eyes.

He lunged.

I didn’t get out of the way fast enough.His hands slammed into me, driving me back into the veterinary truck.The impact stole the air from my lungs in a sharp, panicked rush.

“You took a job with the Hursts,” he snarled, crowding in and caging me against the metal.

My heart raced so hard it made my vision pulse.

“You’re going to give me information,” he went on.“Everything they’re doing.You’re going to make sure I win this lawsuit.I’m going to take everything from them this time.”

“No.”The word scraped out thin, breathless.

He leaned in closer, his grip tightening just enough to hurt.“If you don’t, I’ll cut off Misty’s health insurance.”

My stomach dropped.

“You think those chemo treatments pay for themselves?”His mouth curved, slow and cruel.“You able to cover that, sweetheart?”

I couldn’t breathe.

He shoved off me like I was nothing, a laugh breaking out of him like this was all a joke.

“Get the hell off my property,” he said.“I’ll be in touch.”