My Groom Walked Out, So His Brother Took His Place novel · Chapter 19 of 32

Chapter 19: The Trust

Jude's POV

I didn't sleep.

She had gone to the east wing and shut the door, and I stood in the hall outside it until two, then went down to the ranch office and turned on the lamp.

My mother's trust papers lived in the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet that had not been opened in eleven years.

I read all of them.

Forty percent of Stehling Ranches had come to me when I turned twenty-five.

I had never once voted it against my father.

I had run his ranch for him for six years and let him call it his.

At five I went to the barn and fed the horses.

At six I called the vet clinic's office line, which was a tech who picked up on the second ring.

"Roane Large Animal."

"This is Jude Stehling. I need to put a contract in writing, for the ranch," I said.

"The senator's office told us you were done."

"The senator's office doesn't run the livestock," I said. "I do."

I wrote it out that morning on ranch letterhead with my own name at the bottom.

It was one page.

Roane Large Animal Clinic would be the sole veterinary provider for the Stehling home ranch for ten years, at double the standard rate, billed monthly, paid in advance.

It was signed by the ranch manager, which was my office, and my office alone.

Nobody could void it without a court.

I walked it into my father's study at seven.

He was at his desk in a pressed shirt with a cup of coffee and the newspaper.

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