Chapter 4: Conner

Selena Contreras. I wasn’t sure what it was about her that set me so on edge. After running into her brother when I went to meet my cousin, I wasn’t in the mood to deal with another Contreras.

But this girl, with her smug flaunting of the generations old rules dictating our families stay apart, rubbed me the wrong way. Even now, disgust rolled across her face when she looked at me. Disgust I was certain she didn’t show Carter. 

“Did you want something?” she asked, her chin lifting and her deep brown eyes meeting mine. Long lashes brushed her cheeks, and I steeled myself, knowing how the dark-haired girl could worm her way into men’s hearts. Just like my brother. 

I’d never believed him when he said he wasn’t in love with her. 

“Are you here for your meeting with Eli?” They were the wrong words with the wrong tone, but I couldn’t keep the taunting note from my voice.

“How …” She shook her head. “Is that any of your business?” 

“It is when it’s my land you’re trying to purchase.” My father had already said no to selling to a Contreras. It hadn’t been my choice. For a reason I couldn’t explain, I wanted her to think I’d personally thwarted her plans. I was probably saving her family from ruin. She’d bankrupt them if she got the loans she sought. 

“Your …” Her words sputtered before she tensed. “I didn’t know it was your land.” 

“And if you had known?” I wanted her to say it, to admit she’d have walked away from all her grand plans just so she never paid the Ashfords a dime. 

But she didn’t. 

“Who I buy the land from doesn’t matter.” She crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes glittering with defiance.

“Your plans will never succeed.” She wasn’t a businesswoman. No one in her family since her grandfather had a real head for business. It was why they struggled so much. 

“My plans—”

“Your boyfriend told me.” 

“My boy—Carter.” 

She didn’t dispute my characterization of him, but something I couldn’t understand flashed in her eyes. Betrayal, maybe. Or sadness. Whatever it was, I suddenly felt bad for everything I’d said. But it was too late now. 

“You listen to me, Conner.” She stepped forward, pushing me back toward the crowd of onlookers who’d stopped to watch two pillars of the town knock each other down. “You don’t get to decide if I succeed or fail.”

“That’s an expensive piece of land, Selena Contreras.” Her eyes narrowed at my use of her full name, but I didn’t stop. “You’ll never be able to afford the full market price we’re asking for. The Ashfords control what happens in this town.” 

Her eyes blazed with anger. 

“Hit him, girl!” Mrs. Chapman called from the gazebo just across the street from the Rusty Spoon. “Sock him right in that smug face of his.” 

I could tell Lena was considering it.

“I really wish he’d meet my granddaughter.” I recognized Mrs. Jeffries’ voice. She and the other old crones were sitting near the gazebo in the square, sticking their noses in where they didn’t belong. How many times did I have to turn down a blind date with that woman’s granddaughter?

Lena, seeming to become aware we had an audience, took a step back. “You Ashfords think everything revolves around you.” She lifted her voice. “But we are not under your control.”

“I’d gladly be under his control,” someone said, I wasn’t sure who. Others tittered, gathering on the street corner to watch. No one was taking any of this seriously. But it was serious. More than serious. 

The Contreras family thought they were on the same footing as the Ashfords, but what it all boiled down to was a small struggling family against the town’s benefactors. The Ashfords had a hand in everything that happened here. 

My cousin, Harrison, was the mayor. We owned most of the commercial property along the Boulevard. Even my brother, Conrad, was a revered figure with all his work protecting the wild horses at the island sanctuary across the bay. 

A presence loomed behind me, and Lena relaxed. I didn’t have to look to know it was Enzo, who was both bigger than I was and more willing to get into a fight in front of the entire town.

“Something wrong here, Ashford?” His voice was deep, imposing. 

I held up a hand. “Just having a chat with your sister.”

“Doesn’t look like much of a chat to me.” He muscled his way through the crowd to stand at his sister’s side. Despite being younger than me, he wasn’t someone I wanted to mess with. 

Brawling with townies was beneath me. 

A few people had their phones out, and I knew photos of this confrontation would end up in that stupid gossip magazine, the one filling the heads in this town with lies. 

“This is hot.” Mrs. Peterson fanned herself. “Anyone else hot?” 

Lena pushed her brother behind her, her eyes narrowing. Her voiced lowered to a hush. “I’d stand down on this, Conner. You don’t want to get in my way.” 

I enjoyed nothing more than getting in her way. I always had, even when we were young.

Lena’s fists clenched at her sides, and I saw the explosion coming before it happened. “Carter always tells me you’re not as bad as you seem, but he’s wrong, isn’t he?” She got close, too close, her voice menacing. “You’re just like your father.”

I felt her words like a punch in the gut, wishing she’d take them back. I didn’t want to be my father. Cold and hard and calculating. Was she right? 

“What’s going on here?” 

I closed my eyes for a brief moment and sighed before turning toward the voice of my father. I was late meeting him at the coffee shop to sign the documents I’d just picked up from Eli. He was putting new rules on Carter’s trust. 

The crowd parted as if they were the Red Sea and my dad had just stuck his staff in the water. Silence descended over them as they watched him walk forward, his face a mask of calm I knew he didn’t feel. 

“Lena.” He nodded politely her way. “Enzo.” 

“Mr. Ashford.” There was venom in her tone. “How nice to see you.” 

My father grunted before pasting on a smile. “It’s been a while. How are your parents?”

The crowd watched with rapt attention, hanging on my father’s every word. To them, he was like the father of the town and could do no wrong.

I knew better. His impeccable suit and tie and perfect silver hair couldn’t hide the fact he was a tyrant. Within his own family and within this town.

The envelope in my hand grew heavy with the weight of the secrets it carried. The amount of control this man wanted over his son. I’d managed to talk him down from the more extreme measures, but Carter still wouldn’t be happy. 

Lena stared at my father, her eyes narrowing. I couldn’t blame her for hating him. He’d actively worked to hurt their business, despite my protestations that we should focus only on our own. 

“Let’s just go, Lena,” Enzo said. 

She shook her head. “Eli will be here soon.” 

“Why are you meeting with Eli?” he whispered, ignoring us. “Is this a date?” 

Something clenched inside me at that. I couldn’t see Lena and Eli together. I told myself it was because my brother undoubtedly had feelings for her, not because I secretly respected the strength in her gaze, how she didn’t cower when confronted by my father. 

Not like I did. 

“I’ll explain inside.” She grabbed his arm, yanking him into the diner without another glance for us. 

I exhaled slowly and turned to where my dad was glaring at the crowd until they dissipated. He crooked one finger my way. “You, come with me.”

We’d made it halfway to the coffee shop before he spoke. “I don’t want you to be seen talking to them again.”

“You think I planned that?” I couldn’t believe him. 

“I think you caused a spectacle.” 

“Dad, our family is always a spectacle. I was just telling her we wouldn’t sell the land to her.”

He shot me an icy look out of the corner of his eye. “Let Eli handle that. It isn’t your job.”

“I still think we should have just sold to them and been done with it.” I would never understand this family feud, even if I played into it. It went back many generations, and it wasn’t only the Ashfords playing dirty. I saw the way Lena’s parents looked at me and my brothers. I’d heard the things people said. That we were spoiled rich kids who didn’t respect anything we had. 

I might be an Ashford, but that didn’t mean I didn’t work hard or that the pressure of being a part of this family wasn’t just as intense as it was to be a part of theirs. 

“You picked up the documents?” 

I held up the manila envelope. “Everything you need to control your youngest son.” I couldn’t keep the disapproval out of my voice. 

My father ignored it. As always. He didn’t care what I really thought, only that I obeyed. 

Exhaustion suddenly came over me. Maybe I’d feel better if Lena had listened to old Mrs. Chapman and punched me. Then, I could truly despise her, instead of this unwanted admiration. 

We entered the coffee shop, a cutesy name I refused to utter, and Dad made the rounds, saying hello to everyone he could. He was a popular man, a revered man. 

And I, by extension, was Superiore Bay royalty as well. 

Even if it wasn’t a crown I wanted. 

I was much happier at the vineyard with my dog and my grapes. But there were expectations that came with being an Ashford. 

I grabbed a copy of the Weekly Wine from the rack and found an open table. My father sat across from me as we waited. He didn’t order coffee at the counter. The people who worked here brought it to us. And if I tried to get it myself, he’d only admonish me. 

I read through the gossip magazine, looking for any sign of my family. We ended up in these pages a lot, usually in fake stories submitted by anonymous sources. 

Today, only Carter’s name appeared. I scoffed at the idea that Carter or any Ashford would ever marry a Contreras. Even if she wasn’t infuriating, my father would never allow it. But it seemed he wasn’t the only one who knew Carter went to meet Lena. For the first time, I wondered how he always knew these things. Did he have spies all over town?

That seemed a little extreme, but I wouldn’t put it past him. 

As I thought of my youngest brother, I wondered what it must be like to have that freedom. The freedom to ignore the family rules. The freedom to do whatever he pleased. 

And what about Lena? Carter had a friend he was willing to face punishment for, to risk losing everything for. He refused to give her up, and I couldn’t help feeling the tiniest bit jealous.