She Bought the Bull Nobody Could Handle…Every Rancher in the County Was at Her Gate by Spring.
Chapter 4
Wade Mercer became a regular visitor.
He never came alone.
Sometimes he brought ranchers.
Sometimes lawyers.
Once, he arrived with a man claiming to represent a livestock investment company.
Every offer was higher.
Emma refused every one.
Eventually, she put a sign on the ranch gate:
NO SALES. NO OFFERS. NO EXCEPTIONS.
Wade laughed when he saw it.
“You’re stubborn.”
Emma leaned against the fence.
“So I’ve been told.”
“You don’t understand what you bought.”
“Then explain it.”
Wade looked toward Midnight.
“That bull has a history.”
“What history?”
“Violence.”
“That’s not a history.”
“What is it, then?”
“Evidence.”
Wade’s expression hardened.
“Of what?”
“That people hurt him.”
He laughed.
“You think animals have memories?”
“Yes.”
“You’re going to learn something the hard way.”
He left.
That evening, Emma found Midnight standing near the barn.
He wasn’t eating.
She approached.
His ears turned toward her.
Then he nudged something beneath the hay.
A piece of leather.
Emma picked it up.
It was part of an old halter.
Stamped into the leather was a faded symbol.
A circle.
Inside it, three lines.
Emma recognized the mark.
Her grandfather had used the same symbol on old cattle ledgers.
She ran to the farmhouse.
Samuel’s belongings were still stored in the attic.
She searched through boxes.
Old receipts.
Ranch maps.
Photographs.
Letters.
Then she found a black ledger.
She opened it.
The first pages were cattle records.
Names.
Brands.
Birth dates.
But halfway through, the handwriting changed.
A note appeared:
Some cattle are worth more alive than dead.
Emma frowned.
Another line:
Never trust Mercer.
Her heart began pounding.
She turned the page.
There was a drawing of the same symbol.
Under it:
Black Circle Stock.
Emma had never heard the name.
Then she found a list.
Sixteen bulls.
Sixteen identification numbers.
Beside each name was a date.
Several had been crossed out.
Midnight’s number was there.
Emma froze.
The date beside it was eight years earlier.
But Midnight was only four.
The numbers didn’t make sense.
She kept reading.
Then she found her grandfather’s final note.
If they ever find the last bull, they will come for him.
Emma whispered:
“Why?”
A floorboard creaked behind her.
She turned.
Nobody.
She grabbed a flashlight.
Nothing.
Then she heard something downstairs.
A door closing.
Emma ran down.
The kitchen door was open.
Cold air rushed through the house.
She stepped outside.
At the edge of the pasture, Midnight was staring toward the trees.
Emma followed his gaze.
A figure stood between the branches.
Watching.
Emma shouted.
“Hey!”
The figure disappeared.
Midnight suddenly charged toward the fence.
Emma ran after him.
He stopped at the exact place where the stranger had been standing.
On the ground was a cigarette.
Emma picked it up.
She recognized the smell.
Her grandfather had smoked the same brand.
She returned to the house.
The ledger remained open on the table.
But one page was missing.
And beneath the empty space, Samuel had written:
Emma, if you’re reading this, I failed to keep you out of it.
