My Cone and Only (King Family #1) - Susannah Nix Page 0,32

that.”

Her mouth tightened. “And yet they did.”

“This is crazy.” I understood now why she’d sounded shaky on the phone. What I didn’t understand was how she could be so calm. I felt like I was having a heart attack, and I wasn’t the one on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars. “How are you not completely losing your shit right now?”

She huffed out a dark-sounding laugh. “I lost my shit plenty before I called you, believe me.”

My heart lurched, and I moved toward her automatically, gathering her into my arms. I hated to think of her going through that alone. It was just like her not to call anyone until she’d pulled herself together again.

Her body sagged against me, and she let me hold her for a few precious seconds before she twisted out of my arms. Turning away, she took another long drink of beer like she was trying to steady herself. Because god forbid she let any hint of weakness show.

“There’s a specific reason I called you,” she said when she finally looked at me again. “A few months ago, I got a letter from someone who wanted to buy the house. I get scam junk mail like that all the time, so I just ignored it. But then this guy turned up at my door to make his offer in person. I wasn’t interested in selling, so I turned him down. But he kept sending me letters every few weeks, promising a quick cash sale.”

“Sounds shady.” I’d crossed paths with a few house flippers who used a similar tactic to entice people into accepting a lowball offer. Fast cash, no agent fees, and usually half what the property was worth. But too tempting to refuse if you were someone in a financial pinch.

Andie nodded. “That’s what I thought. I threw all the letters away, but I still had the card he gave me lying around.” She picked a business card up off the table and handed it to me.

My jaw clenched as I read the company name on the card.

King Holdings, LLC

I stared at her, trying to keep my temper in check as my blood throbbed in my temples. “My dad tried to buy your house?”

“Not personally. But I presume it’s one of his companies.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t think much of it at the time.” She leveled me with a pointed look. “And I didn’t want you to get all worked up about it—like you’re getting right now. I know how you are about your dad.”

“With good reason.”

“When I got that letter today, I went and looked up who all the HOA officers are. Half of them work for King’s Creamery, including the president, a guy named Rodney Phelps who’s been with the company nearly twenty years.”

A lot of people in this town worked for my family, so that wasn’t necessarily unusual, but it did make me suspicious. I knew Rodney a little. He worked in accounting and coached the company softball team.

I looked at the letter again and realized I recognized the name of the law firm that had sent the threat. It was the same one my dad used for his non-creamery business dealings.

“I guess what I’m asking,” Andie said, “is if you think your dad might have gotten the HOA to do this in order to pressure me into selling?”

Nodding, I swallowed down the ball of anger in the back of my throat. “It’s exactly the kind of shit he would pull.”

Andie seemed to deflate before my eyes. “Well, fuck. In that case I really don’t know what I’m gonna do.” She sank onto one of the kitchen chairs and rested her elbows on the table as she rubbed her head.

“I’m going to fix this.” My teeth gritted with resolve, even though I had no idea how to do it. But no way was I letting my old man hurt her like this. Andie loved this run-down old house, and my father wasn’t going to bully her into giving it up.

She shot me a tremulous smile. “It’s not your problem, Wyatt. It’s mine. I’ll figure something out.”

“Hey.” I sat down next to her and took her hand. “Have you forgotten this is what I do? Fixing houses is literally my specialty.”

She let me twine my fingers with hers. “I appreciate that, but—”

“Listen to me. I’ve dealt with HOAs before. They like to swing their dicks around, but they’ll back off if you agree to give them what they want. They’re