Chapter 5 - THE PRICE OF TRUSTDominic hit Eli before anybody could stop him.
One punch.
Eli fell against the barn wall.
Claire stepped between them.
“Enough!”
Dominic’s chest rose hard.
“His key was beside Noah.”
“Which makes it extremely convenient.”
Eli wiped blood from his mouth.
“I didn’t touch him.”
Dominic moved forward again.
Claire shoved both hands against his chest.
“Stop thinking like an angry man and start thinking like a businessman.”
His eyes flashed.
“He could have killed Noah.”
“And if somebody wanted you to believe Eli did it, congratulations. You’re helping.”
That stopped him.
Noah survived.
The wound required stitches, but he had no skull fracture.
When he woke, he remembered hearing someone near the generator.
He turned.
Then something hit him.
“Did you see who?”
Dominic asked.
“No.”
Eli stood in the doorway.
Noah looked at him.
For one terrible second, Claire thought suspicion would win.
Instead Noah said, “Wasn’t Eli.”
“How do you know?”
“Whoever hit me smelled like peppermint.”
Everyone turned.
Eli frowned.
“I smell like cattle.”
For once, that helped.
Claire began paying attention.
Peppermint.
Who at Hale Ridge used it?
Hours later, she found the answer inside a trash can behind Dominic’s office.
Peppermint nicotine gum.
Dominic did not chew gum.
Neither did most workers.
But someone visiting the ranch did.
His business manager.
Daniel Cross.
Daniel had worked for Dominic for seven years.
He handled insurance paperwork, supplier agreements, invoices, and bank communication.
And Claire remembered something important.
Daniel had been present when the kitchen schedules were discussed.
They checked security footage.
Daniel’s pickup had left Hale Ridge thirty minutes before the generator sabotage.
But phone records later showed his device connecting to a tower near the ranch during the same period.
Dominic confronted him.
Daniel denied everything.
Then Claire asked one question.
“Why does your mortgage show a ninety-thousand-dollar payoff last month?”
Daniel went pale.
Dominic stared.
Claire had found the transaction while reviewing business disclosures tied to a company reimbursement request.
Daniel sat down.
Nobody spoke.
Finally he whispered, “They threatened my son.”
Dominic’s anger disappeared.
“Who?”
“Sloane’s people.”
Daniel began crying.
His son had gambling debts.
Victor’s intermediaries had bought the debt and threatened criminal charges, violence, and financial ruin.
Daniel agreed to provide schedules and internal financial information.
“I never agreed to hurt anyone.”
“What about the gasoline?” Claire asked.
“I told them when the building was empty. I didn’t know what they were going to do.”
“And Noah?”
Daniel shook his head desperately.
“I swear. I didn’t know.”
Dominic looked as if someone had cut him open.
Seven years of trust.
Gone.
“Get off my property.”
Daniel stood.
“Dominic—”
“Leave before I forget who I’m trying to become.”
Daniel left.
Claire found Dominic later in the barn.
He was alone beside an empty stall.
“You were right,” he said.
“About what?”
“I was too angry.”
“That happens.”
“I hit Eli.”
“Apologize.”
Dominic looked at her.
“You make everything sound simple.”
“Apologies are simple. Pride makes them complicated.”
The next morning Dominic apologized in front of every worker.
Not privately.
Not quietly.
In front of everyone.
“I failed Eli yesterday,” he said. “I let fear matter more than fifteen years of loyalty.”
Eli shifted uncomfortably.
Dominic continued.
“I was wrong.”
Silence.
Then Eli nodded.
“Buy me a steak someday.”
Dominic looked toward Claire.
“She controls the food.”
Claire crossed her arms.
“Depends how many potatoes you peel.”
The men laughed.
Something healed.
But the threat was far from over.
Victor’s sabotage strategy changed.
Instead of attacking Hale Ridge physically, he attacked its reputation.
Anonymous posts appeared online claiming the smokehouse used unsafe meat.
Fake reviews accused Claire of stealing recipes.
A local blog repeated rumors about Dominic’s family history.
One grocery buyer withdrew.
Then another.
For forty-eight hours, orders dropped.
Claire refused to panic.
She invited customers into the process.
Hale Ridge held an open-house weekend.
Visitors watched preparation through safe viewing areas.
Local farmers told their stories.
Claire explained sourcing.
Tomas showed refrigeration logs.
Health inspection results were displayed openly.
People came.
Then they came again.
The smear campaign backfired.
Orders doubled.
A regional newspaper wrote about the ranch cooperative.
By Claire’s forty-ninth day, Hale Ridge was no longer merely surviving.
It was profitable.
Dominic found her in the kitchen after midnight.
“You did it.”
“We did.”
“You always correct me.”
“You’re frequently wrong.”
He moved closer.
Claire’s pulse changed.
“Claire.”
“Yes?”
“What happens on day sixty?”
She knew what he was asking.
“I leave.”
His expression barely moved.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why?”
“Because I was hired for sixty days.”
“That’s a contract, not a law.”
She looked down.
Dominic’s voice softened.
“Stay.”
Claire looked back up.
“As what?”
The question hung between them.
Employee?
Partner?
Something else?
Dominic took another step.
Then his phone rang.
He ignored it.
It rang again.
Claire smiled.
“Probably important.”
“I don’t care.”
“It could be the ranch.”
“You are standing in the ranch.”
She laughed.
He smiled.
And for the first time, Dominic touched her.
Not a kiss.
His hand simply covered hers on the counter.
Warm.
Careful.
Unexpectedly gentle.
Then headlights swept across the windows.
A sheriff’s vehicle stopped outside.
Dominic’s phone rang a third time.
This time he answered.
His expression changed immediately.
“What happened?”
Claire watched him.
Dominic slowly lowered the phone.
“What?”
she asked.
“The insurance investigator reopened the kitchen-fire case.”
“That’s good.”
“No.”
Dominic looked toward the blackened processing building.
“They think the original fire wasn’t an accident.”
Claire went still.
May you like
Dominic’s next words changed everything.
“They think someone at Hale Ridge started it.”
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