Gabriel stopped outside the fence.
His eyes moved across the scene.
Silas.
His nephew.
The third rider.
Rosa in the doorway.
The red mark still visible on Silas’s cheek.
Gabriel dismounted.
“Morning.”
Silas forced a smile.
“Moreno.”
Gabriel looked at Rosa.
“Am I interrupting?”
“Yes,” Silas said.
“No,” Rosa said at the same time.
Gabriel almost smiled.
His eyes remained on Rosa.
“Which answer matters?”
Rosa said, “Mine.”
“Thought so.”
Silas’s jaw tightened.
“This is private business.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Then I’ll wait outside.”
He stepped back toward his horse.
Rosa stared.
He really was going to wait.
Silas stared too.
Gabriel looked toward Rosa.
“You want me gone?”
“No.”
Gabriel stopped.
“You want him gone?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel looked at Silas.
Silas laughed.
“Do not involve yourself.”
“I’m not.”
“You rode onto her property.”
“I stopped outside her gate.”
Rosa noticed the difference.
Silas did too.
Gabriel continued.
“She asked you to leave.”
Silas’s eyes hardened.
“And if I don’t?”
Gabriel’s voice remained almost conversational.
“Then you’ll be trespassing.”
Silas looked at Rosa.
“You know what happens when the debt comes due.”
Rosa lifted her chin.
“Bring the original note.”
A pause.
Silas nodded slowly.
“All right.”
He mounted.
Before leaving, he looked at Gabriel.
“Some property costs more than it looks.”
Gabriel answered, “Then stop pretending you’re buying dirt.”
Silas froze.
Rosa’s eyes moved between them.
Gabriel had learned something.
Silas knew it.
For the first time that morning, Silas looked uncertain.
He rode away.
His men followed.
Rosa waited until all three disappeared.
Then she turned toward Gabriel.
“What did you find?”
Gabriel remained outside the gate.
“May I come in?”
Rosa looked at him.
Yesterday she had ordered him off the property.
Today he waited for permission while the man claiming ownership of her future had simply opened her gate.
The contrast was almost painful.
“Yes.”
Gabriel entered.
He stopped several feet away.
“County survey office received a preliminary railway water assessment six months ago.”
Rosa’s stomach tightened.
“Six?”
“Yes.”
“Julián died five months ago.”