Chapter Two

A few days afterwards, the Dutton's Yellowstone Ranch was running as smoothly as it usually did with Lee Dutton and Rip Wheeler directing the wranglers.

Turning their heads at the sound of a car coming down the road, Lee and Rip saw the youngest male Dutton get out of his car and began to head towards his brother. Lee walked over to them with a large smile, none of them paying any mind to the patriarch John Dutton or the other son Jamie Dutton coming out of the house.

"It's good to see ya, brother." Lee said as the two hugged in greeting. The two stepped back from each other and Lee placed an arm around Kayce's neck, leading him towards the porch where their brother and father stood waiting.

Kayce had been outcast from the family a few years ago after his then girlfriend now wife Monica had become pregnant with their son Tate. As such, none of his siblings had ever met her, and their father had only met Tate once when he was a baby. Lee had been calling and begging Kayce to come home with or without his wife and son for just a short visit, with the promise that if things went badly, Lee wouldn't do so again.

"What brings you here, Kayce?" John asked, looking down at his two sons.

"I invited him over for dinner, Dad." Lee said, causing John to look over at him.

Jamie, ignoring the slight tension between the two, moved down and hugged his younger brother. "Hey Kayce."

Lee watched with a small smile. Now if only Beth and Kiera were here, he thought to himself.

Their father was silent, watching his three sons interact, not letting the small pang that hit his heart show as the females of the family were noticeably absent.

Hearing footsteps coming towards them, they all looked over and saw their adoptive brother Rip Wheeler coming towards them. John and Evelyn had adopted Rip into the family and they all considered him apart of it too.

"Rip, hey!" Kayce said with a wide smile as they greeted each other.

"Well, come on in and get cleaned up. Gator should be done soon." John said, leading his four sons into the house.

A few minutes later after they had all washed up, they settled around the dining table as Gator placed food on the table.

"This looks and smells really good, Gator." Kayce said, taking a sip of his beer. Gator smiled at him in thanks.

They began to eat with the sounds of a tv in the background.

"So, Kayce, how's Monica and Tate?" Jamie asked.

"Uh, good, they're good. Tate is starting to go to school so we are having to make sure he doesn't bring any bad habits home with him."

"Bad habits? Like what?" Lee asked.

"Well, lately he has been using curse words which Monica believes he is too young to use."

Silence fell over them for a moment.

"Good thing he isn't around the wranglers then," Rip rumbled out causing the four young men to laugh.

They descended into small chatter after that for awhile. Just as they were wrapping up dinner, Kayce's phone rang.

"Hey, baby," he said in greeting to his wife.

"Are you near a tv?" Monica said instead. His brow furrowed.

"Yeah, we just finished dinner. Why?"

"Turn on CNN." Kayce sighed and got up, heading to the living room where the TV was. He could hear his brothers and father following behind.

"What is this about, Mon?"

"You'll see." Kayce turned the channel to CNN and saw that it was on commercial.

"Monica, it's on commercial. What is going on?"

"The commercials should be almost done… Kayc, you're going to want to see the news story that they are covering, in fact all of you are." With that, Monica hung up just as the news broadcast began to start.

Kayce lowered his phone, now more puzzled than ever.

"What's going on?" John asked.

"I don't know. Monica said that the news was covering something that we should all see."

They all sat down on the couch and chair, waiting for whatever had Monica calling.

"Good evening, America, thanks for tuning into our special tonight." The male broadcaster said as he and four others sat around a large table in front of the camera. "Tonight's topic is very special, as we are discussing one of the top tech companies in the world: Stark Tech and its CEO and owner."

"Is Monica seriously wanting a bunch of cowboys to watch a news report on a tech company?" Lee asked Kayce. Kayce shot him an annoyed look but couldn't help but to agree with him.

"I guess."

"It's been just over seven years when Stark Tech boomed onto the technology scene, and they are rising, rising fast. Today the company is worth over 200 billion dollars, with its CEO having a net worth of 80 billion. Those numbers are set to rise as the company plans to open more branches over the next few years. Already there are three across the country: Malibu, California. Manhattan, New York. And Miami, Florida. The CEO of Stark Tech released a statement just yesterday stating: 'Stark Tech has plans to open a branch in Chicago and Houston this year, along with Seattle and DC the following.'"

"One thing I will say about what I've seen so far about the CEO, is that her work ethic and ambition is extraordinary. Her parents certainly raised her right!" One of the others said, the others nodding in agreement.

"Can we put this on something else?" Jamie asked, none of them were seeing or hearing anything that could pertain to Monica's alarm.

"Just a few more minutes and then we can change it." Kayce said, with nods of agreement from the others.

They continued to listen as the broadcasters continued to rave about all of the technological advances that Stark Tech had produced over the years.

"Now that we've gone over Stark Tech, let's go over the CEO and sole owner of this growing company: Kiera Stark." A video popped up on the screen and all of them froze, their eyes locked onto their sister and daughter standing in front of the press and talking with them before it cut to her introducing a new invention. "Kiera Stark is one of the most richest in the world and is known for her high IQ but kind heart. She calls Malibu home, the Malibu branch her main office…"

They stopped listening as they turned to each other. "Malibu? California?" John asked to clarify.

"Yeah, Malibu."

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you," Lee began as he slapped his knee. "But I think I'm due for a little vacation. The sunny beaches of California are calling."

Kayce and Rip exchanged glances. "I think I'll join you," Jamie piped up.

"What about the ranch?" John asked. They knew all of them wanted to go.

"Lloyd and Ryan can handle it for a few days. Call it a trial run." Rip suggested.

Silence.

"Looks like we're all going, then." Kayce said.

"Whose going to call Beth and tell her?" Jamie asked.

"No one, not until we see Kiera." John ordered and they all nodded. "Get some rest. We leave in the morning."