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account has been closed and there’s nothing there.”
    â€œDid you see the bank statement?”
    â€œHe wouldn’t let me.” Damien flashed him a grim smile, reaching for the manila folders. “Oh, damn.”
    â€œThat looks like a second set of accounting records for the Colton ranch.” Duke scratched his head. “Why would he have that? Unless…”
    Without answering, Damien continued digging. “Look here. A list of some sort of vendors and receipts for transactions.”
    â€œTransactions of what?”
    â€œI don’t know.” But he had a good idea. The FBI had approached him shortly after he’d been released from prison, intimating they were investigating Darius. Damien, still smarting from his father’s refusal even to visit him in prison, had agreed to act as their insider, an informant ofsorts. This was exactly the sort of thing they’d expect him to report.
    â€œI think our father has been running a little business on the side.”
    Duke cursed. “What are you going to do? You can’t be thinking of turning him in?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œDamien, you know how the old man is. I doubt he’d survive a year being locked up. I’m not sure I could do that to him.”
    â€œBut then again, he didn’t steal your money, did he? You handed it over to him, lock, stock and barrel.”
    â€œPlease, think about this before you do anything rash.”
    Flipping through the last of the folders, Damien reached for the metal box. Duke reached for his hand to stop him. “Hold up.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œYou’ve found enough. Put it back. I think we need to talk to Wes and Finn before we do anything.”
    Clenching his jaw, Damien stared at his twin. “I’m not asking you to do anything.”
    â€œThis is a family matter.” Moving with purpose, Duke took the metal box, folder and notebook and placed them back in the safe, exactly the way they’d been. “We—or you—aren’t doing anything until we talk to the others.”
    â€œWhat about Maisie?” Damien asked. “She has a right to be involved, too.”
    Duke shot him a hard glance. “If you can trust her to keep her mouth shut, fine. But you know, she’s been contacting that TV show, trying to get them out here to do an exposé on the town.”
    â€œShe’s been talking about that, but I don’t think anyone there took her seriously.”
    â€œI know. Let’s keep it that way, okay?”
    Reluctantly, Damien agreed, watching as Duke resecured the safe and replaced the painting.
    â€œCome on,” his brother said, putting a hand on Damien’s shoulder. “Let’s go to the kitchen and see if we can rustle up a late-night snack. There are bound to be some of those hot wings left.”
    Feeling both disgruntled and slightly relieved, Damien agreed. A decision needed to be made about Darius, but he wouldn’t have to make it alone.
    Â 
    The next morning the snowplows worked the roads bright and early. Eve woke to the peculiar blinding whiteness of sun on snow. As she padded to the kitchen to make a pot of decaf and get the hearth fire going before letting Max out, she couldn’t stop thinking of Damien and his offer.
    Just looking at the man made her mouth go dry. What he proposed was very, very tempting. The fact that she could even think like this should have made her angry with herself, but she was pragmatic at heart and believed in calling a spade a spade.
    Damien Colton made her go weak in the knees. Always had, always would.
    The knowledge unsettled her. So much so that after she’d finished her first cup of coffee, she started cleaning her kitchen. She knew she’d find comfort in the physical work and satisfaction in the finished results.
    About ninety minutes into her cleaning binge, when she’d finished the kitchen and the two bathrooms and