The Matchmaker's Match

{Chapter} 29

{Chapter} 29

Toni sat up so hard she felt dizzy.

“Erik, did you just tell me the money was gone?” she asked.

“Um… yeah. Well, I mean…” Erik rubbed the back of his neck.

“Is the money gone or isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but I think I know who took it,” Erik explained.

Toni narrowed her eyes.

“Who?”
**********

“How could you?” Toni planted her fists on her hips and glared at her uncle as he saddled his horse.

“Pardon?”

Toni rolled her eyes. “Where’s the money, Mark?”
“Money? What are you talking about, Toni? Has something happened to the money?” Mark cinched his horse’s saddle and turned to her.

“Don’t play stupid with me Mark; I don’t have the patience for that!” Toni was losing her temper quickly.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Mark told her.

“Adam overheard you with your men. We know what you planned. You planned to take my money from the very beginning,” Toni growled out.

Mark rolled his eyes. “You believe that whelp?”

“Apparently it’s you that I shouldn’t trust. I can’t believe you, Mark. You took the trust you had wrenched out of me and threw it to the ground. I’m a hair away from shooting you where you stand.”

“Uh, Toni?” Erik’s voice came from behind her.

Toni turned to face him. “What is it?”

“Um… that’s not all he did.” Erik held out a paper to her.

Toni took it and read it over quickly. After the first rushed read, she reread the paper several times. She stared at her signature scrawled out on the bottom.

She turned back to Mark. Anger flowed through her veins thicker than blood.

“I’ll kill you!” she screamed, running toward him.

Erik caught her by the waist, steering clear of her swinging fists.

“Let me go! I’ll kill him with my bare hands!” Toni screeched.

“What’s going on?” Adam appeared on her other side, his Colt strapped to his hip.

“He did it, Adam,” Erik said, still keeping a hold on his wife.

Adam looked at Mark. “You took the money?”

“You bet he did,” Toni said as she tried to wriggle from her husband’s grasp.

Adam groaned and rubbed his face. Toni wondered what was going on in his head. They all knew that he couldn’t very well arrest them when he had no authority in the area.

Suddenly, the sound of thundering hoof beats brought their gaze back to where Mark stood. He was riding away as fast as he could.

“You let him get away!” Toni finally broke free of her husband’s hold and the three of them lit out after Mark and four men that had begun to follow him.

**********

Katie watched as Adam, Toni, and Erik rode out after Mark’s retreating horse and his four men.

“What happened to them, Rawhide?” She asked the old cowpoke quickly.

“You didn’t hear? The money’s gone,” Rawhide explained.