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In these chapters, the battle for Evergreen Ranch escalates into a high-stakes confrontation against both legal and criminal forces. The tension reaches a boiling point during a tense morning showdown at the farm, where Tessa's elitist ex-husband, Grant, arrives with his legal team to freeze the ranch's assets, flanked by the ruthless debt collector, Leo. Seeking guidance, Tessa visits her recovering father, Ben, in the hospital, where his fierce reminder of their family legacy inspires her to fight back. That night, Tessa and Brooks transform the farmhouse kitchen into a war room, analyzing the secret ledger to find a legal loophole—a moment of intense strategy that nearly crosses into romance with a breathless, almost-kiss before they are interrupted. The following morning, they take their fight to the county courthouse, where Tessa successfully uses Brooks's years of anonymous financial sacrifices to convince the judge to deny Grant's injunction. However, their legal victory is instantly overshadowed on the courthouse steps when Leo delivers a chilling ultimatum: if he does not receive his money by Friday morning, he will burn the ranch's prized sixty-foot blue spruce to the ground.
