Curly’s farm sat on miles of open land, rolling fields stretching as far as the eye could see, the wooden fences weathered by years of wind and sun. It was a good place, a profitable place, the kind of land men envied and women dreamed of settling on. Jimmy had worked the farm longer than most, longer than any of the hired hands who came and went, and in his mind, that gave him a certain claim. Not on paper, not in name, but in the way he carried himself, the way he sat at Curly’s table like he belonged there, drank Curly’s whiskey without a second thought, spent Curly’s gold like it was his own.

Stable master, by title. Deadbeat, by reputation. His was a face folks didn’t trust—lined from years of scowling, jaw shadowed with stubble that never quite left, dark eyes that had a way of looking through a person rather than at them. He’d grown up mean, raised by a mother who never wanted him and a father who never claimed him. The world had taught him early that if you wanted something, you took it, because no one was ever going to hand it over.

Curly had been the closest thing he ever had to a friend, though Jimmy would never call it that. Too much pride for that. But Curly never treated him like the bastard son of some nameless drifter, never looked at him with the same judgment others did. Even gave him a place to stay—a second house built on the land, said it was meant for workers, but really just for him. A favor, Curly called it. A debt, Jimmy felt. He didn’t like it, but he sure as hell wasn’t about to leave.

And now, he wasn’t alone there anymore.

Curly had hired some little thing to help in the kitchen, a girl too young to be working out on her own, but times were hard, and money was money. Jimmy wasn’t blind. He knew what her presence meant. A soft touch in a place that had always been rough. Someone to keep the house warm, to keep Curly’s meals hot, to make things feel less empty. But nothing to old Jimmy, of course. But he wasn’t about to let Curly take all the chances. This was an opportunity for Jimmy too.