Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99960 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99960 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
That morning, I’d already started thinking on a plan instead of wallowing. It would take capital, but there were a few business owners in town who might be interested in investing.
You see, what the farm did have in spades was land. And we lived in a tourist trap, thanks to Ardnoch Estate.
I could put holiday lets up on the land. Maybe something quirky like those glamping pod things that had become all the rage. In fact, if I went down that road, it might not take as much capital as lodges would. Research would be required to see if it was worth the expenditure. If it would generate enough income to help float the farm during bad years.
Georgie thought it was worth looking into. As he dropped me off at the car park outside the Gloaming, I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t see him. As I was getting into my Defender, his familiar voice cut through me. “Well, well, this saves me a trip out to the farm.”
Dread sank in my stomach like a weight pulling me down. Expression shuttering, I turned around, holding the vehicle door open for escape.
Sure enough.
There he stood.
My waste-of-space father.
Hamish McCulloch.
I sneered inwardly. He didn’t deserve to bear the McCulloch name.
Eyes the same shade as my own glared at me. “Forgotten how to return a phone call, boy?”
Anger rushed through me, but I didn’t let him see. Calmly, I replied, “I’m not a boy.”
He huffed. “What? You think you’re a man now, eh?”
“I’m the opposite of what you are … so, aye. I’d say so.”
Hamish’s eyes flashed with fury. “You jumped-up wee shit. I see my da did a good job of turning you into him.”
“Let’s hope so.”
He curled his lip. “I say good riddance to the auld bastard.”
My blood turned hot in an instant as I took a step toward him. Unlike his father, he’d inherited his height from my grandmother’s side of the family. I’d inherited it from him too. We weren’t short, but we weren’t tall. However, I did have youth and muscle on my side as I stopped inches from his face. “Collum McCulloch was a thousand times the father you ever were. Say one more derogatory thing about him, Hamish, and I’ll put your teeth through the back of your fucking skull.”
The man, this stranger who’d donated his seed for my existence, blinked in surprise at my calm threat. A flush of red coated his neck and face. He took a step back. “I didn’t come here to argue, son.”
“Don’t call me son.” I pointed toward the road that led out of Ardnoch. “Now I suggest you crawl back into the hole you came out of.”
“Now, now, no need to be like that.” He straightened the lapels of his coat like I’d grabbed him by them. “I came to talk to you about the farm. About what I’m due.”
If I’d been hot with anger before, I suddenly turned icy with rage. “Excuse me?”
He jerked his thumb toward the Defender as if it exemplified the farm. “That farm was my da’s. Kenny got himself killed for it.” He referred to Sarah’s father Kenneth. My uncle. He’d died in a farming accident before I was born. “So that leaves me as the rightful heir.”
“Heir? You? Are you fucking kidding me?”
Hamish’s expression darkened, eyes cold and empty. “Naw, I’m not. That farm is mine.”
I prowled toward him and he puffed up his chest like the hard man he thought he was. “Grandad left the farm to me in his will over five years ago. To me and Sarah. She signed it over to me.”
“Aye, aye. But that doesn’t mean anything. I’m just here to let you know that I’ve enlisted the help of a solicitor in Inverness. I’m contesting the will.”
I laughed at his stupidity. He’d waited this long to contest an ironclad will? Fucking moron. “I see you’re still pissing your money away.”
His answering grin caused unease to shift through me. “Well, it’ll piss away your money too. Word has it that things haven’t been easy lately. You canna afford to waste that kind of money. So … why not just give me what I’m owed, and I’ll give up contesting the will?”
“You’re blackmailing me?”
“Nah, nah. Just getting what I’m owed. You could sell a bit of the land to pay me off.”
Now I grabbed him by the collar. He shoved at my hands but his efforts were pathetic. “Come after me or the farm and you’ll wish you were dead by the time I’m done with you, Hamish.”
The vicious smirk on his face made me want to kill him then and there. “Naw. By the time I’m done with you, lad.” Hamish shoved my hands away again and I released my hold. “You’ll be hearing from my solicitor. But you might see me around the farm, checking over what is mine.”