Your Heart & Mine

Your Heart & Mine

last updateLast Updated : 2024-09-07
By:  Dallas RyanOngoing
Language: English
goodnovel16goodnovel
10
2 ratings. 2 reviews
43Chapters
5.7Kviews
Read
Add to library

Share:  

Report
Overview
Catalog
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP

The past never stays buried forever... The past caught up with Harper Carrington in the cruelest way. After tragedy summoned her home to Virginia's Blue Ridge mountains, she was confronted with another twist of the knife – Wyck, her first love who abandoned her fifteen years before and disappeared off the map. Wyck Ward never planned to see Harper again after her powerful father exiled him from Carrington Ridge. Consumed by the desire for revenge, Wyck spent over a decade systematically destroying the man's corrupt legacy. But with his enemy suddenly dead, Wyck realizes his all-consuming vendetta could cost him what his fractured soul needs - Harper. Join Harper and Wyck as they discover if some hearts are too damaged to ever mend or if even the coldest embers can flare back to life when two fractured souls find the pieces they’ve been missing. If you enjoy small town, second chance romances with complex characters, all the feels, a side of steam, and lots of twisty mountain roads, you'll love this first book in the new Carrington Ridge series.

View More

Chapter 1

The King Is Dead

Beloved Mayor Dies in Tragic Accident. The bold letters across his screen screamed at him. The traffic noise coming through the windows, the clacking of his assistant's nails on her keyboard, and the chatter of employees in the office all faded away. As if a switch had been flipped, the normal sounds were replaced by a roar in his head like a giant waterfall.

He felt an icy chill skitter down his spine followed almost immediately by a burning rage in the pit of his stomach. He forced himself to look at the monitor again. There was no mistake. It was him. His picture was there in vivid color below the headline. Jonah Carrington, the man he had hated his entire life, the man who, ironically, had also set him on his path to success, was gone. God damn it!

Wyck threw the first thing his hand touched, a stress ball, at the wall. It made a wholly unsatisfying, soft thunk against the sheetrock. He abruptly jolted from his seat and ran his hands through his carefully styled black waves in frustration. It gave him a wild, untamed look that ran contrary to his usual perfectly polished style.

He must have made more noise than he thought as Mindy, his executive assistant, looked up from her keyboard, her eyes going wide as she focused on him standing behind his desk, hands on his head, looking like a bomb about to explode.

“Mr. Ward? Is everything okay?” She rose from her seat and approached his open door with careful steps, her heels clicking slowly across the hardwood floor.

His nostrils flared as he blew out heavy breaths trying to calm himself. His normally full mouth tightened into a straight line. Usually implacable grey eyes looked like dark storm clouds as they met his assistant's nervous eyes in the doorway.

“It’s fine, Mindy,” he growled through gritted teeth. “Hold all my calls.”

“Yes, sir.” The uneasy woman agreed quickly, backing out of the room and shutting the door with a quiet snick behind her.

Wyck threw himself back into his chair and whirled toward the windows that looked out over West Franklin Street in the upscale historic district of Richmond, Virginia. He stared blankly at the dark red brick of the buildings, the iron scrollwork, and the historic landmarks in front of him that usually instantly calmed him. Today, he didn’t even see it.

His vision was filled with the sunny mountain tops, the switchback ridges, and the shaded hollows of the world he grew up in. A world without a straight line to be seen, where there were as many secrets as the countless trees in the vast Jefferson National Forest that bordered the town of his boyhood, Carrington Ridge.

Wyck gave a derisive laugh. He had deluded himself all these years thinking that he had left that godforsaken place and never looked back. That was a lie. His whole life had been dedicated to looking back and planning the takedown of the man who had destroyed his boyhood dreams, run him out of town, and destroyed his heart so long ago.

Jonah Carrington was a monster as far as he was concerned. He ran that town like his own personal fiefdom and expected to get his way in everything. And more often than not, he did, considering he owned half the county's land and over half the town's businesses, including the very buildings that housed those enterprises. It was how he kept getting elected mayor.

No one wanted to cross Jonah lest they find their rent doubled or more of their land gobbled up next time they were late paying their land taxes. He shook his head with the ugly reminiscence. He'd never understood how Harper and that man could be related.

That single name flitting through his mind felt like a body slam. Harper. Memories of her that he had suppressed for years flooded back to him in a deluge. Her throaty laugh, her smile that shone like a sunrise, her genuine kindness to everyone. A more specific memory came unbidden then. One that had him groaning aloud. Her long, honey-colored hair cascading over the back of a leather sofa, her lips warm and soft on his neck, her changeable hazel eyes looking at him with all the love in her heart.

He ran a hand over his eyes as if that would make the image disappear. He suddenly sat up straight in his chair. The funeral! When was the funeral? Harper would be there. He turned back to the online paper pulled up on his monitor and scanned the article. “A private graveside service for family only will be held on Saturday, December 4 at the Carrington family cemetery.” He had two days.

“Mindy!” His door popped back open a few seconds later.

Mindy stood in the doorway, her hand holding onto the doorknob tightly. “Yes, sir?”

“Cancel everything for the next week unless it can be done by phone. I have to go out of town,” Wyck announced.

“Do you need me to make you a reservation?” she asked. Usually, he had his exacting assistant create detailed itineraries for any of his trips.

“No, I’ll take care of it. This is personal,” Wyck said, stuffing his laptop and files into his leather laptop bag. He grabbed his coat off the rack next to the door causing Mindy to hop out of the way. “I’ll be in the mountains so my cell service might be sporadic. I’ll check in when I get settled.”

“Okay,” his assistant said. “Um, have a safe trip. I think they’re calling for snow in the mountains.”

A grim smile tipped up one corner of his mouth. “Yeah, what’s new,” he mumbled as he headed for the stairs.

As he fought his way through the afternoon traffic ten minutes later, he called Davis, his Chief Acquisitions Agent, and his best friend since his days at Old Miss.

"Hey, my man, what are you doing out of the office before seven o'clock? Isn't that against one of your rules?" Davis chided him over the Bluetooth.

"Yeah, well. I have something personal that came up. That's why I'm calling you," Wyck answered distractedly.

Normally, he'd bullshit with Davis for several minutes before getting down to business, but today his mind was consumed with what he'd just learned and where he needed to be. "I need you to pull up everything you can find on that Carrington Development Corp. Reach out to that attorney that has handled our previous acquisitions and find out what's left. The principal died." Wyck paused and his voice turned icy. "I want it all, Davis. Everything."

"Ah, shit! The old man kicked it?"

Besides Wyck, and Jonah himself,

Davis was the sole individual who knew the circumstances that had led a poor kid from hollers of the Southwest Virginia mountains to end up at Old Miss on a full ride scholarship. Wyck, with mediocre football skills, cash to burn, and a chip on his shoulder as large as the mountains he was from, had taken that boon and turned himself into a new man. One that set out to ruin the man who'd exiled him there – Jonah Carrington.

"Yeah, some accident," Wyck answered shortly. "I'm headed out to Carrington Ridge now. The bastard escaped me being able to personally tell him who was ruining him, but I'll finish what I started anyway. He can watch his kingdom crash and burn from hell."

"Okay, man. I'll get right on it," Davis agreed. "I'll holler at you when I find out."

"Thanks, Davis." Wyck blew out a breath.

"Sure, man. Hey, it's almost over."

"Yeah," Wyck responded, but he didn't sound nearly as sure.

Expand
Next Chapter
Download

Latest chapter

To Readers

Welcome to GoodNovel world of fiction. If you like this novel, or you are an idealist hoping to explore a perfect world, and also want to become an original novel author online to increase income, you can join our family to read or create various types of books, such as romance novel, epic reading, werewolf novel, fantasy novel, history novel and so on. If you are a reader, high quality novels can be selected here. If you are an author, you can obtain more inspiration from others to create more brilliant works, what's more, your works on our platform will catch more attention and win more admiration from readers.

Comments

user avatar
Alexa Flynn
Has this book been completed?
2024-12-19 14:26:15
0
user avatar
Trish Day
Great Book! of course I like it, its takes place in NC & VA. Very familiar with all of the towns mentioned. Yes you should read!...
2024-10-11 01:05:30
2
43 Chapters
The King Is Dead
Beloved Mayor Dies in Tragic Accident. The bold letters across his screen screamed at him. The traffic noise coming through the windows, the clacking of his assistant's nails on her keyboard, and the chatter of employees in the office all faded away. As if a switch had been flipped, the normal sounds were replaced by a roar in his head like a giant waterfall. He felt an icy chill skitter down his spine followed almost immediately by a burning rage in the pit of his stomach. He forced himself to look at the monitor again. There was no mistake. It was him. His picture was there in vivid color below the headline. Jonah Carrington, the man he had hated his entire life, the man who, ironically, had also set him on his path to success, was gone. God damn it!Wyck threw the first thing his hand touched, a stress ball, at the wall. It made a wholly unsatisfying, soft thunk against the sheetrock. He abruptly jolted from his seat and ran his hands through his carefully styled black waves in fr
last updateLast Updated : 2024-08-27
Read more
Culture Shock
Harper had always thought that driving through snow at night must be what rocketing through space looked like. The white flakes looked like tiny points of light speeding around them in the darkness – like hitting warp speed on the Enterprise. Her Scotty was currently white-knuckling it along a narrow, winding country road. Her best friend, Cam, was a city boy through and through. He hadn't even gotten his drivers' license until he had moved to Raleigh, North Carolina from London at twenty-five. He told her he hadn't needed it until then with public transport as good as it was in the city of his birth. "The Tube, love, is a glorious thing," he'd told her more than once. "Raleigh should really invest in their own."Raleigh, however, didn't have a subway and buses weren't exactly easy to get around on. Cam managed well enough, however, navigating in the bumper-to-bumper traffic there and traveling at high speeds on the interstate that surrounded it, but the mountain roads of southwest V
last updateLast Updated : 2024-08-27
Read more
Family Grief
In his dark suit, Wyck blended in with the shadows of the trees that lined the small cemetery. He'd felt the need to be there, to see her, but didn't want to intrude on the family. Not today.Generations of Carringtons were buried here. For a bit of privacy, he and Harper used to come out here and simply sit on a blanket and look out over the valley, sipping at a proffered bottle of wine from Jonah's wine fridge or some apple pie moonshine he'd bought off a friend. A smile tugged at his lips at the thought of Harper's first taste of the homemade brew."Oh my God!" She'd sputtered and coughed as the clear liquid ran down her throat. "How does anyone drink this stuff?" She rubbed a hand against her chest no doubt trying to quell the burning."You're supposed to sip it, not take a giant gulp," Wyck had said, rubbing her back and trying not to laugh. "Now you tell me!" She narrowed her beautiful eyes at him and gave him a little punch to the arm.He'd scooted closer to her and pulled her
last updateLast Updated : 2024-08-27
Read more
Reunion
Wyck had given the front of the house a wide berth and made his way to the kitchen doorway that opened into the back gardens. He'd come this way to avoid the crowds of mourners, well-wishers, and, honestly, looky-loos, who had invaded the Carrington home after the public memorial service. He wasn't ready to run the gauntlet of people from his past looking to 'catch up' after fifteen years away. He also hadn't told his parents he was back yet, though he seriously doubted they would be in attendance at today's gathering. On second thought, however, his mother did belong to the ladies' group at the church that Mitzi ran. No matter how little Katie Crockett might have, she always said there was someone who was worse off, and it was her Christian duty to help. Working two to three jobs over many years had aged his mom and dad before their time and it saddened him to see new lines on their faces every time he visited. Those visits had been few and far between, however, and that ate at his
last updateLast Updated : 2024-08-27
Read more
Fifteen Years
"Harper! There you are. Come say hello to Mrs. Hash," her mother implored, reaching for Harper's arm to pull her into her orbit next to the long mahogany dining room table, a pleasant expression frozen on her face like a mask."Nice to see you, Mrs. Hash," Harper responded as expected. She tried for the same expression as the dark-haired woman dragged Harper's taller frame down to her for a hug."So good to see you, honey," Mrs. Hash murmured. "So sorry about your daddy. I know you'll miss him."Harper returned the hug then stepped back, thanking the woman. This dance repeated over and over again as Harper stood next to her mother. The voices started sounding like nothing more than bees buzzing around her head. Harper's mind wandered back to the meeting in the kitchen. Her eyes had refused to believe what they were seeing at first. It had taken several moments to recognize the tall man in the expensive suit and perfect hair but then she had zeroed in on the eyes. Those grey, storm-clo
last updateLast Updated : 2024-08-27
Read more
Hollow Victories
Wyck's cell phone rang just as he stepped into his hotel room, arms laden with white, Chinese takeout containers. He was emotionally drained and exhausted. All he wanted to do was eat and collapse. Find some oblivion. Not discuss business. He dropped the food on the coffee table and fished the phone from his suit pocket."What," he answered shortly, collapsing onto the lumpy couch."Well, aren't you Mr. Sunshine," Davis cracked wryly.Wyck suppressed a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. "What do you want, Davis? It's been a long day.""Just wanted to give you the good news, man. Spoke with that attorney this afternoon. Carrington signed over the last of his assets right before he died. So we're all set - no probate battles ahead."Davis chuckled. "Hell, the poor bastard even took out a loan against his house with a big balloon payment coming due. Like he thought he'd actually be able to cover that after we destroyed his business. Dude was delusional."Wyck sat forward, hand droppi
last updateLast Updated : 2024-08-27
Read more
Unintended Consequences
"I don't understand," Harper repeated, hating the whining quality her voice was taking on. "How is everything gone? He owned half the town.""Your father was always a big risk taker, Harper," Mr. Morton tried to explain as they met the next morning. "All his life, he made things happen. He was one of the luckiest men I've ever known. Things always worked out for him…until the last couple of years." The man huffed a huge sigh. "He robbed Peter to pay Paul, basically, on that Point Lookout deal. He was convinced a resort there would take off and be worth it, that the mortgages on the various buildings and businesses were temporary. It's how he'd always done things."Mr. Morton's brow furrowed and he took a sip from the small water glass on his desk. "But this time, well, obviously it didn't. He started getting foreclosed on. At first, it was just a few small properties, so he wasn't too worried. He chided me when I expressed my concerns. 'I've got the Midas touch, Gordy, don't be such a
last updateLast Updated : 2024-08-27
Read more
It's Just Food
Harper's shoulders were almost touching her ears and her spine was ramrod straight when Wyck glanced in her direction. If she gets any closer to that door, she'll fall out into the street, he thought. "I'd forgotten how cold it gets here." Wyck wanted to bang his head on the steering wheel hearing his own lame attempt at conversation. He'd been reduced to weather."Mmmmhmm," Harper replied, not turning her head to face him. The diner was only a couple of blocks away and Wyck was happy to see it still in business. He'd noticed so many of the business fronts were dark or boarded up. It gave him an unexpected pang in his chest to see the town so forlorn. While never a prosperous place, the town had always had a sense of pride and community about it when he was growing up. Now it looked like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie set. He was surprised at the feelings the decline was stirring in him.Refocusing on Harper, Wyck began to question the wisdom of having a public conversati
last updateLast Updated : 2024-08-27
Read more
I Remember
The next morning after breakfast with her family, Harper spent an inordinate amount of time trying to decide what to wear. "You're being an idiot," she thought to herself. "You're looking at a house and you're probably going to be in a coat the whole time anyway. What does it matter what you wear?"Still, she discarded outfit after outfit on her bed until she settled on a pair of dark, skinny jeans, a long, hunter green sweater and short, leather boots. She was pulling her hair into a ponytail when Brenna knocked briefly and entered the room."What hurricane blew through here?" Brenna surveyed the clothes all over the bed and chair in the room. Harper was usually fastidious, everything had its place. She'd never seen her big sister's room in such an upheaval.Harper's ears pinked. "I was just going through my closet trying to find something to wear. I'd forgotten how cold it gets here."She turned away from her sister's suspicious eyes as she continued hanging up clothes and putting
last updateLast Updated : 2024-08-27
Read more
Insomnia
That night, Harper sat in the thickly cushioned seat in front of the large bay windows of her room into the early hours of the morning. She watched slow falling snowflakes through the wavy, antique glass of the panes. She shivered and drew the down comforter tighter around her shoulders. After giving up trying to sleep about three a.m., she'd taken it off the four-poster mahogany bed and dragged it with her to the window seat. She couldn’t remember ever being so tired. Her whole body and mind ached with fatigue but sleep still would not come. Images of her daddy’s face, always boisterous and smiling in life were overlaid with his visage gone grey and severe in the silk lining of his casket. She truly didn’t understand the point of seeing the dead before you buried them. It wasn’t peaceful. It gave her no closure and now that image was stuck in her head for the rest of her days. She rubbed her eyes in a vain attempt to wipe it away. Close on the heels of the flashes of her daddy, wer
last updateLast Updated : 2024-08-27
Read more
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status