Amelia wanted nothing more than to saddle up her horse and ride off with Boone. She'd been living in fear for far too long. It'd been keeping her and Ethan apart from each other. But she needed to check in with Bella first. So she went to the main cabin first and caught Bella in the living room with her ledgers. She'd been counting all the yearlings they raised that they'd be selling at auction. She looked up when Amelia approached her.
"What's up? Did someone just how up?"
Amelia nodded.
"Boone…he said something's happening at Ethan's ranch," she said, "I got to get out there."
Bella sighed.
"Does this have to do with those men? Does this have to do with what happened to you?"
Amelia nodded.
"Boone wants answers too. He thinks he might find them at Ethan's but I don't know what's waiting there. It could be a setup."
Bella stood up.
"Maybe but Boone can handle himself and so can Ethan."
"I know but I don't want anything bad to happen to him or the children…because of me."
Bella smiled.
"It won't. Boone will get justice for his and you will as well," she said, "Ethan can take care of himself and he wants to take care of you."
Amelia knew that in her heart but she knew it was dangerous for him…for her for both of them. The nightmare that had transpired in San Francisco had followed her back to Paradise impacting those she loved. Bella grabbed her hands.
"You need to go with Boone and find out what's going on."
Amelia nodded and left the cabin. Boone waited patiently by the horses. She mounted her horse and they took off towards Ethan's ranch.
Ethan pointed a gun at Trevor and looked at the man in front of him. Pitiful excuse for a human being but yet he'd been seen fit to hire to serve as security for the businesses in Paradise. Awfully convenient for a crime wave to erupt just before Wyatt and Martha showed up in town with their bold plans to redesign the town into some cultural mecca. Ethan figured the whole thing for a scam.
Amelia held the answers through her harrowing experiences in San Francisco. Burke had terrorized her after brutally murdering an innocent man and then shown up in Paradise. All the blame cast on Dylan and his gang but none of them had been responsible this time.
Trevor just stood there trembling like a coward. Ethan wanted no more than to shoot him dead but he needed some answers.
He cocked his gun.
"So any reason why I should let you live?"
Trevor just stared back at him.
"I...I didn't do it," he said, "It was all Burke's idea. He's to blame not me."
Ethan didn't lower his gun.
"That might be but you were on it," he said, "You didn't stop him from either the murder or what came after."
Trevor swallowed noisily.
"I didn't have a choice. You got to understand that. He threatened me if I didn't go along with it."
Ethan didn't feel any pity.
"With what the cold blooded killing or what he did to Amelia," he said, "Which one did he threaten you with?"
Trevor paused.
"Both…he was mad at Bella for what she was trying to do," he said, "It went against his own plans for that section of the city. His own little fiefdom."
Ethan digested that.
"So he was willing to go against Dylan Daggett and his gang then," he said, "because they ran that part of San Francisco."
Trevor nodded.
"Yes…yes…Daggett was running his own operation but he didn't want to mess with Bella because…well he had his reasons he didn't share with us but Burke wanted it all. He wanted to shake down all the business men and some like Warrick who were brand new didn't get with the program."
Ethan grit his teeth.
"Maybe they didn't want to get scammed," he said, "That's all it was wasn't it? Charge the business owners with extortion fees and then give them something to be scared off…the Wyatts tried that here in Paradise…"
Trevor nodded uneasily.
"Yes. They were impressed with what happened in San Francisco and other places. They wanted to put it to work for them. Not Martha so much as her father."
Ethan suspected as much. After all it was her father that had brought in both Burke and Trevor straight from San Francisco.
"So he gave you your marching orders and you followed them," he said, "You killed Boone's brother?"
Trevor shook his head vehemently.
"No…no…I wasn't mixed up in that but Burke might know more."
Ethan didn't know whether to trust Trevor's version of events but he knew Burke was the more driven of the two of them.
"I'll talk to him when I catch up to him."
Trevor chuckled nervously.
"He was the one who went after Amelia," he said, "He kept saying she was a witness and couldn't be allowed to escape."
Ethan sighed.
"But she did even after the hell he put her through…you both put her through."
Trevor shrugged.
"I'd have let her go," he said, "and then skipped town but Burke…he had other plans."
Ethan squeezed the trigger.
"I would like nothing more than to blow you off the face of the earth," he said, "but I need you to help me get him."
Trevor shook his head.
"I can't do that. He'll come after me and kill me if I betray him."
Ethan cast him a steely look.
"Tough luck for you then. I'm not letting him get away with what he's done and neither is Boone…"
Amelia and Boone approached Ethan's ranch on horseback. Boone gestured her off into the shadows near the barn.
'We need to surprise them," he said, "That's the only way we can handle this bunch."
She nodded and both of them rode up slowly until they reached where Ethan had Dylan at gunpoint.
They both looked at each other not sure what to do next.