She sighed.
“I vowed when I left that I’d never set foot in that hellhole again, but this situation calls for desperate measures. They value money and power, and I am their threat to all of that. Yes, I can make them very afraid.”
“Where’s Jesse?” Bowie asked.
“In his room, watching cartoons.”
“Then I’ll go change,” he said.
*
As it turned out, all three of her daughters-in-law came, too. They settled in with Jesse, who was delighted his nephew, Johnny, was there to play with.
“We won’t be long,” Leigh said, as she thanked them for coming to help, and then gave her sons’ appearances the once-over, just as she used to do when they were young.
They were all dressed in suits, or sports coats and slacks. Samuel’s hair was in a braid. Aidan and Michael had pulled theirs back at their napes. Bowie had left his down in honor of his father. She seemed satisfied with how they looked.
“You look pretty, Mama,” Samuel said.
Leigh smoothed a hand down the back of her hair and picked a tiny piece of lint from the front of the little black dress she was wearing.
“I know you’re wondering why I asked you to do this. We’re going to pay an unannounced visit to the Wayne family. Partly, I want them to see the beautiful sons Stanton and I made. I want them to know they did not beat us down, do you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am, but what are you going to do?” Samuel asked.
“I am going to put the fear of God in every one of them.”
Samuel nodded.
“Good. I’m happy to do my part to make that happen,” Michael added.
“Let me know if I need to growl at them, Mama,” Aidan added.
There was a moment of confusion among the brothers until Leigh suddenly threw back her head and laughed.
“I’d almost forgotten about that,” she said. “The year you were a dog. I didn’t think you’d ever quit that.”
Bowie grinned.
The other brothers laughed, too, now that she’d reminded them.
“You were four. I thought something was wrong with you, but your daddy just laughed and said you were being a boy, and he was right,” Leigh said, and then the smile slid off her face as she drew a quick, shaky breath. “Damn them for taking him away from us. Let’s go while I’ve still got my wits about me.”
Moments later they were loading up in two vehicles, and then they were gone.
*
Because of the hot phone sex she and Andrew had shared last night, Nita woke up in a mood of euphoria. It lasted most of the day, until the family began coming home for dinner. At that point the mood in the house quickly darkened.
Blake and Justin were arguing when they entered the mansion. It escalated to a shouting match, which Jack brought to an abrupt end.
“What the hell is wrong with you two?” Jack asked.
When they both started to talk at once, he stopped them again. “Justin, what is your problem?”
“Your golden boy sent me to do a job this morning, which I did. I turned in my report, and he doesn’t like what I had to say, which is stupid as hell, because I only did what he wanted.”
Jack shifted focus to Blake. “Did you send Justin on a job?”
“Yes, but—”
“Did he do it to your satisfaction?”
Blake shoved a hand through his hair in frustration.
“I guess, but when the investors asked him if we’d be interested in buying into the resort at a different site, he told them he doubted it, but that he’d run it by the family.”
Jack frowned at Justin.
“Why would you give them such a negative impression?”
Justin threw up his hands.
“Oh, hell...I don’t know...maybe because of all the money we pumped into the project in the first place to make sure they could proceed on the first site.”
Blake frowned.
“But you already know we don’t have what we promised them. Keeping an interest in the project is the only way we’ll ever recoup what we’re going to lose when they officially call a halt to their plans here.”
“Exactly how much did we spend accumulating the land they wanted?”
Blake shrugged. “I don’t have the exact figure.”
“I do,” Justin said. “Wayne Industries, through the lending institution we own, is the proud owner of millions of dollars worth of mountain, part of which we bought up without issue, and the other part we got when we bought up the loans from the bank and foreclosed on the owners. An investment in a resort of that quality would have been worth it. But the land we own is no longer suitable because the only place the investors are willing to build the actual resort is about five hundred yards from the Youngbloods’ front door, and the facilities to house horses for trail rides and hold the gift shop selling local artisan crafts was at the back corner of the Cyrus property.”
Jack frowned.
“And if we stay with the consortium and invest in another site, what are your plans for recouping our initial investment?” Jack asked.