“Thanks, Brian. I appreciate you being there even though I didn’t need you.” I’d paid a small fortune to have him attend. Brian charged by the hour. He was one of the best defense lawyers on this side of California. He was the same one that all the Outlaws used. He was more than effective.
Brian tapped me on the shoulder and gave me a crooked laugh. “Hey, well, I still got paid for it. It’s been a pleasure, Colt. I want to say I hope to see you again, but I don’t. Please take care of yourself. If you need me, you have my number.” He winked and walked out of my life with his black suitcase, slipping into his silver Mercedes Benz.
I looked after him, feeling numb. I just wanted to retreat for a while. I sat in my car for a moment and punched the numbers in to make a call. I tried to call Vlad and got no answer. I banged my steering wheel as I weaved through the Merced traffic back home. I knew my father would have questions. He would want to know everything. I felt the heavy weight of the life I lived sinking into my bones—all from selling illegal parts.
My phone buzzed, and I put it on speaker in the car.
“I called you from a burner phone. This is Mikakov. I understand you had some trouble at the farm. This was our fault. We couldn’t find the bastard. Sorry. We made sure no more charges could happen. He will be eliminated in jail. We will do the job then like we should have in the first place. We owe you again. But the police. They will never bother you again.”
“Mikakov, you should have told me there was another guy,” I spat out in anger.
“We saw no reason to tell. We deemed him no threat to you.”
“Mikakov, that is bullshit, and you know it.”
“Listen. Nothing to be concerned with. I have everything in hand. Enjoy your family time. We will guard the area and send word that we will shoot on sight if anyone else comes. They will listen. They have no reason to come near you. All debts have been cleared,” Mikokov explained in his broken Russian accent.
“I have to go. But yeah, thanks,” I said.
He missed the heat in my voice. “You’re welcome. Call if you get in trouble. You know where to find us.” The phone clicked. This was one of life’s moments where I deeply regretted the choice I made. The life of an Outlaw.
My father’s car was in my driveway. Time for me to face him. Bella was out front, spinning around in the yard like she didn’t have a care in the world. I watched it from a distance. My father was hard at work, putting the fence palings in like nothing had happened.
I shook my head and watched them. I had so much to lose. I should have finished Hosea when I had the chance. I put my car in park and stepped out to face the music. I knew my father would have something to say.
Bella ran to me with her arms out. “Daddy! You’re here. Where were you?”
“I had some things to take care of. I’m sorry. Did you have a good time at Grandma’s and Grandpa’s?” I picked her up on the upswing and held her in my arms. She was getting mighty big.
“I did. I beat Grandpa again. He’s not happy with me about it.”
“Really?” I touched her little button nose. I was so happy to hold my baby girl. “That’s good. Grandpa needs a run for his money.”
I let Bella down and walked to my father. He was wheezing a little as he put the next paling in the ground. He had pretty much set up all the posts around the arena. Now it was time for the horizontal timber slats to be put in.
“Hey, Bella, can you give Grandpa and me a minute?”
Bella squinted her eyes at me. “Okay. I’m going to check the horses.”
I placed my hand on the pinewood paling and tested its strength. I knew it would irk my father and cause him to look up.
“Don’t touch it, boy. I just set it in,” he said sternly without looking at my face.
He stopped and leaned on the wooden paling. I braced myself for the lecture of a lifetime. His worn face looked weary and full of worry. I noted the lines furrowed around his eyes.
“You know, I thought about what I would do if you had been shot in that barn. What it would be like for Bella to grow up with both her parents gone. And I cried and cried for my boy.” My father shook his head as he took out his handkerchief and wiped the sweat from the back of his neck. “I said that poor girl is going to grow up without her father. She’s going to be an orphan. I don’t know what you’re into, Colt,” he said as his eyes looked back at me, searching for an answer, “but you need to get out of it and stay out of it. You’ve got the ranch. You got yourself a nice girl. You got this place. You got your daughter. What more can a man ask for?”
I looked heavenward and breathed out a sigh. “It was self-defense. The guy was on my property, and I had to do something. The charges were dropped. I served my time, and there’s no way I want to go back to prison, Pop. I’m sorry I let you down. All I ever wanted to do was protect my family. To bring in a little more money.”
My father broke into tears as if he’d been holding it in. It pained me to see him this way. He clutched on to my shoulder with his thick working-man hands. “Son, never do that to me again. I don’t want to lose you. Come here, boy.”
A trickle of water fell from my eye as I hugged my father. I didn’t let him go for some time.
“I love you, too, Pop. I promise I’m here for the long haul. I won’t let anything happen to me. Just an unfortunate incident from the past.” I unlocked from his embrace and faced him in the sun.
“Son, if I saw that bastard, and he was here when I was, I would have shot him with my rifle and blown his head clean off. Don’t worry about his ankle.” My father spoke with a viciousness I’d only witnessed a time or two. I laughed and enjoyed the moment of bonding with him.
“It’s over, Pop. I don’t know about the nice girl part. Amber might not want to be with me after this.”
