Page 118 of Porter's Angel
West shrugged. “The old man owes the bank. I could buy up whatever I wanted. It was a free-for-all.”
Their father also owed the bank for the ranch. Did West buy that up too? He would’ve… or Lacy would’ve swooped in and got it after West had spread the rumor about the oil.
“What?” West mocked. “I learned that mystery buyer trick from Hudson when he sold me out. I just took it up two million notches.”
“What contract did you just sign?” Porter had to make sure that they were talking about the same thing.
“We just traded our family’s throwaway land for oil rich land. I’ll give Trout the bulk of that property with a hefty commission. I’ll keep the boring mountains and rivers and streams…”
“What did you say about that oil?” Lacy shrilled up at them.
“Nothing,” West said in a soothing voice.
Lacy’s renewed struggles after hearing that he’d been duped were almost enough to make Porter crack up, but he resisted. He still had concerns. “What are you doing with our ranch, West?”
“I don’t want it. I guess I’ll give to Dad.”
Porter let out a breath of relief, though a fair amount of resentment burned through him. If West had bothered to tell him any of this, they’d have been saved a lot of trouble. The only one West had confided in was Eva. Maybe Porter was wrong before—the two absolutely deserved each other. “I got shot for your oil,” he grumbled.
“I can see that. Looks like you’re coming out of this a lot better than Lacy.”
“You can’t get away with this!” the man in question shouted out.
Porter hid a grin. At least there were a few good things coming out of this.
Another shot rang through the air in the distance. Porter stiffened as the sounds of ragged breathing and running drew closer. Funches and his friends ran into the circle of light that the Harvest Ranch Sheriff’s Department had set up around the perimeters.
“They got away!” Funches complained loudly.
Porter sagged in relief. As soon as Crawley and Stein caught up to Lacy’s lawyer, they’d cement West’s fraudulent scam in writing.
Lacy let out a howl. “I get one phone call!” he shouted. No doubt he wanted to use it to stop this deal from going through.
“Wait until we get to City Hall,” Morningstar said. “You’re not calling the shots here.”
For once, Porter was enjoying Morningstar’s type A personality when dealing with criminals. Normally, Porter was the one with his face getting rubbed into the ground after some fight at Mo’s.
Cadence let out a nervous breath. “Lacy might still get his way.”
“My money isn’t on it,” West whispered to her. He pulled next to them on the platform. His phone light traveled over Porter’s bleeding shoulder. He perused it almost clinically, while he explained in a lowered voice, “Crawley and Stein work for Trout now. We bought them both out two days ago.”
Another thing that would’ve been helpful to know! Porter shook his head.
“How are you big strong men up here?” Eva poked her head up through the trapdoor, looking glamorous in that red dress. Porter assumed that she was checking up on his injury, but her appreciative eyes were only on West. That girl had it bad for his brother.
Porter sucked in his breath. He was going to owe West big time for getting her involved. She wouldn’t be slinking quietly away after this was through.
Eva’s nose wrinkled at the blood when she finally noticed his arm. “Oooh, Porter. That looks bad.”
West touched it and Porter flinched away. “Don’t touch it, man.”
Cadence let out a concerned sound. Porter’s heart skipped a confused beat as he realized that they were finally free to be together. He touched his lips to her ear, lowering his voice to say, “It was a small price to pay.”
“You think that’s all you’re paying?” West asked, overhearing. West’s glittering eyes flooded Porter with wariness. “What? You think I run a charity? I don’t dole out favors for nothing.”
Clearly.
Trout was getting his oil. West was about to get even filthier rich than he was presently, so what could Porter give him that he didn’t already have?”