First Episode

The Cost of Power is set in an alternative universe from the main Martiniere Legacy series. In this book, I take a closer look at the mind control technology and…the relationship between Gabe and his father Philip ends up being different.

Additionally, Gabe tells Ruby who he really is much, much earlier than in the main Martiniere Legacy series.

Most of all, I’m freeforming this story. I somewhat know where it’s going to go, but how it unfolds depend on what happens with Gabe, Philip, Ruby, and Justine once they get on a roll in this particular setting.

UPDATE, April 21, 2023 : Given where I am in this story drafting-wise (approximately 60,000 words), THERE WILL BE A SECOND BOOK. No way can I wrap up what I’m doing here in 40,000 more words. Things are gonna happen with Philip, Gabe, Ruby, and the Martiniere Multiverse, and I don’t want to cut the Multiverse elements that start coming into the story. This may be the series that resolves the entire Multiverse element of the Martiniere stories.

Now whether that book gets serialized here or not…we shall see.

Enjoy! This is part one of Chapter Seven. There will be five parts to this chapter.

July, 2033

GABE

The easy part was done now. Gabe forced a smile as they loaded back into the SUV, Remy and Ed Trask planning to follow in their own vehicle. He wished he was wearing a bespoke suit instead of jeans and snap-button shirt. That he appeared every inch a Martiniere instead of—

No. It’s not what’s outside that makes a difference. It’s who you really are inside. You aren’t Gabe Ramirez anymore, and you don’t have to behave like he would. You can be every bit more of an arrogant asshole than Bonham. You don’t need to dress the part. You were born to it, and he wasn’t.

“Gabe.” Ruby’s voice was soft though anger and annoyance lay underneath the softness. “Relax.”

He realized he was clenching her ring hand hard, and eased off, only touching her hand with his fingertips. She flexed it, wincing and frowning, and he cringed inside.

Too tight.

“I—that son of a bitch Bonham. If he starts in like he did with me and Ron last week, sneering at me, calling me nothing more than a jumped-up beaner who shouldn’t be hanging out with a woman like Ruby….” Gabe let his voice trail off and rubbed his face with his free hand, but still noticed how Gerard, Ruby, and Justine tightened up at his angry tones.

Ruby’s reacting to me. Why? Is it because of the language from Bonham?

“He wasn’t that bad. Was he?” Ruby’s voice quavered a little. Gabe knew she had a history with Bonham, a couple of dates before Bonham completely pissed her off. But he didn’t know the details.

Ron snorted from the front seat. “He was every bit that bad and worse, Ruby-girl. Gabe and I decided you didn’t need to hear about it.”

“Let him try saying that with me present.” Gerard’s voice was ice-cold. “You are the Martiniere-in-waiting. If he watched that show last night—”

“I’m sure he did,” Gabe interjected. Though if Bonham had watched the show…why hadn’t he been on the Double R’s doorstep this morning with a foreclosure notice? Or shown up last night?

“—Then he will have recognized you. Every local person we have met so far today knows who you truly are. Gabriel, I thought I taught you better than this. Not to let someone like Bonham get into your head.”

He’s right. Nathan Bonham has been pushing your buttons for the last year. Ever since Ron had to take out that last loan.

Gabe exhaled. “I know, Uncle Gerry. It’s just—all right. This is why. I’ve lived poor long enough that someone like Bonham, with the kind of power he holds over the security of those closest to me, gets to me in a very visceral way. Especially when he resorts to racial epithets. He shouldn’t. But he does. Until this morning, he had the means to kick the three of us off of the Double R through foreclosure.”

“Bonham’s affiliated with Jesse Rivers—the sheriff who would have enforced the foreclosure—and he’s made life rough for Gabe,” Ruby said. “I’m part of this whole mess, though. Bonham and I had words when Granma was first sick, because he kept offering to marry me to get the Double R out of a tough spot. Then he was a real ass after you showed up, Gabe. Not when you were around me, just when I was alone.”

Gabe side-eyed her. “You never told me that.”

Probably a good thing.

“Not me either,” Ron said.

Ruby sighed. “Gramps, I wouldn’t have told you. The blowup happened before I met Gabe. During that time when we didn’t know if Granma was responding to the chemo, right after her surgery. I just wanted a nice night out, a break from everything, and while I wasn’t a big fan of Nathan, up until then he had been pretty polite. I thought it would be safe. It wasn’t.”

“What happened?” Gabe swallowed hard and clenched his hands into fists. He wasn’t going to grab her hand like that again. Not unless he wanted her to backhand him—and Ruby would do that if he dared clamp down once more. He recognized that mood in her, especially since she was talking about this. He needed to shut up and let her talk. “I think we’d better know, just in case.”

She pressed her lips together and glanced down, then back up, staring straight ahead, not looking at any of them. “Nathan started in on me at dinner, saying I didn’t need to go back to school. I could marry him and he would deal with Gramps, Granma, and the ranch. Especially the ranch. He really wanted me to say that he could manage the ranch.”

“Like hell I’d let the likes of him manage it,” Ron growled.

“He took me to the Lakeside Lodge. Got mad because I wouldn’t let him touch me. Started drinking heavily. I just wanted a nice, quiet night out, a break from everything,” she repeated, “and it became clear he wanted more.”

“God, Rubes, I’m sorry.” Gabe felt awkward saying that, especially since he couldn’t do a damn thing about what Bonham had done to her. While Gabe Ramirez might be able to beat the crap out of Nathan Bonham this long after the incident, it wasn’t something that Gabriel Martiniere, the Martiniere-in-waiting could do. Or should do.

Not unless he wanted to become like Jorge Saldivar or like his—damn it—biofather. God. It was only now that Gabe realized just how close he had danced toward letting his Saldivar side dominate him over the last four years.

Or was it Philip coming out in him?

Both?

Maybe it’s a damn good thing I ended up back with the Family after all. What would I be like in another five years, without having to think about how my behavior would reflect on the Family and the Group?

Thoughts of those dreams where he had done just that intruded again and he shoved them away. Now was not the time to indulge in such fantasies!

Ruby shuddered and continued. “I ended up slugging Nathan in the parking lot and started walking home. In sandals. Hiding every time I heard a car coming because I thought it was Nathan. Or Jesse Rivers. Then Andy Barkley came along, because he had heard the rumors—apparently Nathan went back into the bar and started saying stupid stuff about me, once he could stand up after I hit him. Like anything involving me, the news flew around the County. Andy picked me up and brought me home—I think I walked maybe four miles out of the fifteen between the Lodge and the Ranch. I never heard anything about it from Nathan again. I thought perhaps he had gotten too drunk to remember. Andy said he would take care of it because I was afraid Nathan would press assault charges against me.”

Aw, shit. That’s a big reason why Nathan Bonham hates me. And will hate me, even as Gabriel Martiniere. Especially as Gabriel Martiniere.

“I wish I’d known this,” he said.

“Why?” Her voice sharpened. “Because you would have gotten yourself into trouble hunting Bonham down to beat the crap out of him? Gabriel, I know you. Bad enough that you nearly got arrested after whaling on Kevin and Cody Barkley when they said that stuff about me at the Thunder County Days dance two years ago. If they didn’t already have a reputation as brawlers, and if Monty Montgomery hadn’t stepped in, you would have been in big trouble. And if Gramps had known, he would have encouraged you to go after Bonham. As far as I knew, it had been taken care of.”

“Except that it hadn’t been.” Ron Ryder sounded tired. “I would have spoken to Bonham if I had known.”

“And lost the ranch,” Ruby countered. “Gramps, this wasn’t like what happened to me in high school. You and Jim Reed and Mike Chandler and Monty Montgomery couldn’t safely make Nathan Bonham go away like you did the cousins without it boomeranging back on you. Well, maybe Monty could, given his position with the Grain Growers. But I just didn’t see any reason for making a fuss.” Her tone turned sour. “After all, the Barkleys have done a pretty damn good job of trashing my reputation in the County, especially when I was younger. Nathan wasn’t the only one who thought I might be an easy lay. Just the only one who thought he could exploit it to get his hands on the Double R.”

No wonder she had the reputation of being the Ice Princess on the rodeo circuit.

When Gabe first met Ruby, Craig Yellowhawk had warned him that she was standoffish. That she didn’t date anyone. Ruby had been known as the Ice Princess until he showed up—and even then, Gabe had spent the last four years getting into fights with presumptuous and pushy cowboys who seemed to think that Ruby could do better than him. That since the Ice Princess had yielded to a broke saddle bronc rider with brown skin, she was amenable to upgrading.

Though last year hadn’t been too bad—after he had thrashed Kevin and Cody so soundly, other men their age around the County had been a lot more respectful to Ruby. Word had gotten out that Gabe Ramirez won’t put up with anyone hassling Ruby Barkley.

Previous Episode |

Share Martiniere Stories

Leave a comment