Page 28 of July’s Cowboy Dallas

I knew how to document injuries, mismatched brands, bad paperwork, and unsafe stock. What I didn't know how to document was the exact moment a man stopped being safe because he tried too hard to protect me. Or how a woman was supposed to stop wanting a man in the same breath she was furious with him. There was no form for that.

My phone buzzed.

Holt.

I sent him a single text.

Me: Stock office. Now.

Then I sat back and waited.

Holt arrived with Roy ten minutes later.

Roy spoke before I could. “This is getting out of hand.”

I looked at him. “Is it?”

“A few mixed-up tags and suddenly everyone's acting like there's a crime.” He gestured at the evidence bag like it offended him. “You're letting this become personal, Sadie.”

“Personal,” I repeated.

Holt crossed his arms. “What Roy means is that pulling six animals the day before the Fourth of July Rodeo sends a message. People are talking.”

“People should be talking,” I said. “Someone forged veterinary certifications, swapped stock, and used the Hollister name to do it. That's not personal. That's fraud.”

Roy's jaw tightened. “Funny how every problem you find seems to come with Dallas Miller standing beside you.”

Was I supposed to apologize for that too?

Holt looked at me differently. Like Roy had made a point worth considering.

I kept my voice steady. “Dallas found evidence at the Miller pasture. Stock was held there without his knowledge before being moved to the rodeo grounds. The questionable animals I pulled? They match that timeline.”

“And you trust his version of events?” Roy asked.

“I trust the evidence.”

“Which he brought you.”

I stood. “Are you questioning my professional judgment, or are you trying to imply I'm compromised because a friend helped me do my job?”

Roy opened his mouth just as the door opened behind him.

Dallas walked in. He didn't look at me, but my pulse jumped anyway. I was furious with him and my body still cataloged him the second he came through that door. He had dust on his jeans, but his jaw was set. Wrecked and steady at the same time.

He looked at Holt. Then Roy. “I need to tell you what I found.”

Roy squared his shoulders. “We've already heard⁠—”

“Not from me, you haven't.” Dallas's voice stayed level and calm. But there was something underneath it I hadn't heard before. “I went to the Miller pasture after Cody mentioned stock being held there overnight. I found a Hollister stock tag tangled in the fence wire. Numbers match certification 47-B—one of the animals Sadie pulled. The gate chain was looped wrong. Same careless half-loop I've seen Roy use around the Hollister pens when he's in a hurry.”

Roy went very still.

“The tire tracks match a loaded Hollister trailer,” Dallas continued. “And there were fresh signs of stock being moved recently. Someone used my family's land without permission to hold animals before moving them to the rodeo grounds.”

Holt's expression didn't change, but his attention swung to Roy.

Dallas looked at me then. “Sadie was right to pull the stock. And I was wrong not to tell her before I went out there.”