“Uh…”
“One million.”
“No.”
He upped it. “Two.”
“I do believe that’s hole worthy,” Rogue stated.
Dakota agreed.
“You can kiss my ass. I’m not putting a dollar value on your daughter. That’s just sick. Maybe that’s why you’re in this situation,” he stated.
“Three.”
Zayn pulled out a gun, checked the chamber and looked over at Dakota. “I’m going to shoot him if he insults Stella anymore. I’m going to put this bullet between his beady, rat-like eyes.”
“I’d stop there, Mr. Harrington. He’s been known to do shit like that,” Rogue stated.
“You are NOT having a relationship with my daughter. She’s going to finish medical school and then marry another doctor. She’s going to live well, for a long time, and have a life to be proud of. Do you hear me?”
“I hear you just fine. With me, she’ll live shittily for a very short time and hate her life. Gotcha.”
“You work for me. You found my daughter, and you can leave now. She’s not going with you. Do you hear me?”
Zayn could see his hopes and dreams die. He wasn’t shocked. He knew this was going to happen.
She was a higher class than him. He was a mercenary who killed for a living, and she was a debutant with a propensity for bad boys.
That would fade.
“I’ll be outside, Dakota. If I stay, there will be bloodshed. If you need me, let me know.”
He lumbered toward the door.
“I don’t want that massive beast of a man near my child, molesting her. Have I made myself clear?”
Rogue pointed at him. “Yeah, because he’s Indian, right?” he asked.
“Yes, and a killer. I don’t want that kind of life for her. She was raised better than that.”
Rogue was getting pissed.
Zayn, for all his issues, had a decent soul. The man didn’t have sex until last night because he was saving himself for a woman he loved.
This man was being an asshole and judging by the cover—that meant they would stand up for him.
“I totally get it. I was raised with money. My mother is freaking loaded. In fact, she could buy you a couple times over.”
He lifted a brow.
“Is that so?”
“Samantha Ravenscroft.”
His eyes went big.
“Yeah, that’s my bloodline. Guess who she fornicated with to make me?”
He didn’t answer.
“An Indian. So, you can kiss my ass. If you think I’m going to help you save your family while you disparage mine, you’re out of your freaking mind.”
He patted Dakota on the shoulder.
“You’re the boss. You get to deal with this jackassery. I’m with Zayn. I’m going to shoot him.”
When he was gone, the last man standing pointed at him. “Way to ostracize the team. Those two men are probably the bravest and best people I’ve ever worked with.”
“I don’t care. He is NOT defiling my daughter.”
“We had this case eight hours, and we found one of the three abducted women. Yeah, on day one. The FBI didn’t do that, and we put ourselves on the line to find your family.”
“I will pay you.”
“We don’t want your money. If you don’t like Indians, find yourself someone else to help. I stand with my brothers. We may be beneath you, but we did the job.”
He started for the door.
“Wait. I’ll apologize. She’s just all I have left of my first wife. I was an asshole to Maxine. I treated her like she was less than me because she was younger. Then I lost her.”
Well, didn’t that sound familiar?
It was a shitty time for fate to want to play show and tell with him.
“All I have left of her is Stella. She’s precious to me.”
“Then stop being a dick.”
Danforth sat.
“I’ll try.”
Well, that was a start.
Now Dakota had to do damage control.
And fast.
* * * H U N T E R * * *
In her room, she began packing her suitcase. In it, she put a couple dresses, lots of sexy under garments, and her jewelry. When she looked around the room, she placed the one picture she had left of her mother in the suitcase too.
“I found happiness, Mom,” she said to the spirit of her mother. “In all of this mess, I found a decent man who will never hurt me. I’m happy. You’d like him.”
She packed more of her clothes over the picture to protect it. Then, she went to her bathroom to grab her toiletries. As she stood there, from the corner of her eye, the curtain moved. As Stella turned, she saw him, and she went to scream. Only, he was too fast for her.
She fought even as his hand was over her mouth.
There was the prick of something in her neck as she tried to get away from him.
The room spun.
She fought to stay awake.
She had to or she was dead. Stella knew how important it was for her to not go under.
Her whole body was tossed over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes as he carried her down the back stairs.
She wanted to weep, but she was too focused on staying cognizant of her breathing. By staying calm, her heart slowed down, and whatever he shoved into her body wasn’t working as fast as he’d planned.
Outside, he carried her to a car.
The trunk was open.
Using all she had, she opened her mouth and screamed one time.
She hoped it was enough.
* * * H U N T E R * * *
He was trying not to lose his temper. Only, that was proving to be difficult at best. What he wanted to do was pick the man up, shake him, and then drop him in a huge hole.
Okay, a huge grave.
It was the same thing.
Only, Zayn knew he couldn’t do that. Despite his feelings for Stella, already, he couldn’t hurt the man.
What message would that send?
Destroying the man for hurting him would be inappropriate, and he was Stella’s father. For her, he’d be respectful, but he if he was behind all of these abductions, then all bets were off.
When Rogue came out, he had the same angry look on his face.
“Did he insult you too?” Zayn asked.
“Yeah, he’s not an Indian lover. That’s his bottom line. He’s worked up over little half-breed babies like me running loose in the world.”
In that moment, there was so much perspective. Zayn could picture his sweet Stella big with his child.
They would be only half Native.
Like Rogue.
Holy shit!
He’d been a dick to Rogue over just that, and here, he just realized he’d kill anyone who ever treated his kids like he’d treated him.
“I owe you an apology,” Zayn said. “I rode you about being only half Native. I was wrong. You’re still my brother when it comes to us against the world. I shouldn’t have been a douchebag about it. You’re not flawed. The world is.”
“WOW.”
“Don’t be an asshole. Accept the apology or I’ll have to say I’m sorry for kicking your ass next.”
He laughed.
Rogue held out his hand to shake his.
“I appreciate that.”
He was about to say more when he heard a horrific scream and that sounded like...
“That’s Stella!” he shouted, as there was the loud gunning of an engine.
Both men saw the car coming their way.
“Don’t shoot! You might hit her,” he said, as the vehicle slowed to round the house.
Zayn knew if he didn’t stop the driver, he’d never see Stella again. As the vehicle came at him, he dove onto the hood, landing against the windshield. His whole body screamed at that impact, but he wouldn’t give up.
Reaching around, as the vehicle headed toward the drive to break through the gate, he took the butt of h
is gun and shattered out the driver’s side window.
Then he pulled the trigger, ending the ride.
The man behind the wheel slumped over the seat as the vehicle rolled to a stop.
Zayn was off the hood, he ripped open the door, and hit the trunk release when he didn’t see her inside. He really hoped he didn’t kill some innocent person.
When he raced around to the trunk, Rogue and Dakota met him there.
He lifted it, praying she wasn’t dead.
Inside was Stella, and she wasn’t moving.
He might just be too late.
Chapter nine
I nside, he held her in his arms as he sat on the couch. He was a hot mess from his impact with the windshield, but Zayn didn’t care. He wasn’t about to let his woman be taken from him. What kind of man would that make him?
“We should get you cleaned up,” Rogue said, wiping the blood from the man’s face. He had a gash on his cheek.
“No. I’m not leaving her.”
That was an understatement. He wouldn’t let her go, and he wouldn’t let anyone near Stella. She was cradled in his lap, and he had rested a gun on her in case anyone tried to take her.
When her father moved toward her, he growled the word ‘MINE’. The man moved back pretty damn fast.
“Give her to Dakota so we can check you out. You jumped onto a moving car.”
“No. I will sit here until she’s awake. Then I’ll make sure she’s not hurt. THEN I’m going to go outside and shoot that asshole fifteen more times until I unload an entire clip into him for touching MY GIRL!”
They got it.
Someone was feeling angry and territorial.
“Thank you for saving her,” Danforth said, keeping his distance.
Zayn stared at him with his dark eyes, and he almost looked soulless.
“I won’t let anyone hurt her. I promised her.”
He nuzzled her face with his. “Wake up for me,” he said, touching her pulse in her neck. “Jesus! He drugged my girl! This is exactly why I kill people!”
No one moved toward her.
Zayn was clearly insane. He’d thrown his body onto a moving car to save her. If they tried to move her, he might go rabid.
“Who was he?” he asked.
“One of the security staff. They were hired on a while ago.”
“How long is a while ago?” Dakota asked, trying to get a timeline of his employment.
“At least half a year. I had some attempted break-ins, and I wanted to make sure the girls were safe. I took precautions.”
Yeah, well, that made total sense.
They faked break-ins, the man upped his security, and they were able to get someone on the inside to work the scene and learn the patterns.
“I’ll go get his wallet.”
“What am I going to do with the body?” Danforth asked, wringing his hands.
“Have your security—that you’re so fond of—take him to the river and dump him off.”
The man looked horrified.
“Yeah, well, you shouldn’t have trashed the people who were taking care of your dirty work,” Rogue said, heading out of the room. “We Indians shouldn’t be cleaning this up.”
Dakota simply stared at the man.
“I bet you wish you could go back thirty minutes and undo what you said.”
Yes, yes, he did.
“This is a disaster.”
“You think?” Dakota stated. “You had him in your home, and now we have confirmation that no one likely broke in. It was an inside job.”
“Who is he?”
“You tell us,” Dakota stated.
“I didn’t hire him.”
“Let me guess. He was hired by the same company that put in your excellent security system?”
“Yes.”
“Well, this whole mess goes back to Austin Sharp,” Dakota stated.
Rogue jogged back into the room. “I’d lose the security,” he said to Danforth. “They are milling around out there. I don’t trust them.”
He looked worried. “If I do, who do I hire? I trusted Synergist. It appeared to be on the up and up. What do I do now?”
Rogue pulled out his phone. “I know a guy who employs some men who would do the job. They are going to charge you an arm and a leg because they aren’t cheap.”
“Are they mercen...?”
He stopped when Zayn glared at him from his spot on the couch.
“Yes, they are,” Rogue stated. “They’ve also protected some foreign dictators and a president or two. If you want to be safe, they are your best option. They’d work for you and only answer to you—as long as you keep paying.”
“Deal. I’ll pay. I want my daughter to be safe while she’s here.”
“I thought we made this perfectly clear,” Zayn said. “She’s going to be with ME.”
The man ignored him.
Rogue made the call and dropped a few of the absconded items into Dakota’s lap before heading to someplace private to do the deal for the man.
“What’s that?” Danforth asked.
“That would be his phone and wallet. We’re going to find out who this man actually is.”
He began going through the wallet.
“I have an ID. We have Logan Best.” He held it up to make sure he could see the holographic of the state on the ID. “It’s legit.”
“We’re going to be heading to his home address, right?” Zayn asked. “I hope he has a significant other. I’m going to stab them in the neck and shove them in a trunk for shits and giggles.”
Dakota stared at him. “You’re a violent man.”
“And?”
He shook his head and began going through his phone. He found a few numbers, but no names.
GOD!
He wished he had access to the government databases. He could run those numbers and get some information in minutes. Now they were going to have to do this the hard way.
“What are you doing?” Danforth asked, trying to see what the man was doing.
“I’m texting the numbers.”
“What are you…?”
“The less you know, the better.”
Wasn’t that the truth?
Rogue came in. “Security is on its way. You’ll have them by morning. Tomorrow, they’ll show up.”
“How will I know it’s them?”
He laughed. “Oh, call it a hunch. When four commandos come a knocking, their hands out for cash, you get the clue, and fast.”
He didn’t say anything.
“What are you doing?”
The phone chimed. “Oh, fooling the kidnappers.”
Rogue went and stood behind him. He read the original text he’d sent.
‘I need to meet with you. The heat is on. Give me a location.’
Then Dakota scrolled down.
‘Same place. See you in two hours.’
Dakota was smiling like an idiot.
“Uh, that really doesn’t help us. We don’t know where the location is,” Rogue offered.
He laughed. “Yes, we do. Chances are, he used the GPS in his phone or his ride. We’ll check the log. It’s easy.”
Rogue grinned. “We’re taking a field trip, aren’t we?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah, we are.”
“I’m coming,” Zayn said, his voice saying it all.
“No, you’re not. You’re going to be all over Stella. She’s going to be your main concern.”
He was good with that.
Stella was stirring in his arms.
Immediately, his focus was on her.
When her bright blue eyes flickered open, he was the first person she saw.
“Zayn, you’re bleeding,” she whispered.
“I’m okay, honey. Are you okay? Did that asshole hurt you?” he asked.
She slowly shook her head. “He stabbed me in the neck with something.”
Rogue tossed Zayn the bottle.
“Ketamine,” Zayn said, getting angry. “He dop
ed my girl up with a date rape drug? I’m going to shoot him more just to feel better!”
She touched his cheek. “Your girl?” she whispered.
“Yes, my girl. No one is putting their hands on you, Stella. NO ONE.”
She struggled to sit up.
That’s when she really noticed how battered he was. “What happened to you?”
“I had to stop the car to get to you.”
She looked concerned as she got off his lap. “Take off your shirt.”
“Honey, now is not the time to get frisky.”
She laughed despite the way he looked.
“Zayn, do it.”
He stood and pulled off his vest and shirt. When he did, the bruising was already formed. Then she took his big meat-hook hands in hers.
His one had cuts all over it.
“We have to take care of you.”
“You’re going to,” Dakota stated. “Back at the house where we know you’re mostly safe.”
She didn’t argue.
Her father did.
“She’s not safe there. Someone tried to grab her there. She’s safer here once your hired guns get here.”
“Stella, can you look at a picture for me?” Dakota asked. “We want to see if you recognize him.”
“Okay.”
She handed him the picture.
The look on her face said it all.
Quickly, she handed it back.
“He’s the one who took me upstairs,” she whispered. Stella moved back into Zayn’s naked torso, and she moved as close as she could to him.
He flinched in pain when she came in contact with his side, but he didn’t care. She was afraid, and he didn’t blame her. She’d been attacked three times now, and she had to be freaked out.
He certainly was.
“Was he at the location Zayn saved you from with Cobb?”
She nodded.
“The first day. He was there. He told the man who had me that he wasn’t to touch me until the plan was done. Then he could rape me all he wanted.”
Zayn growled. “I hate that fucker.”
“Well, you killed him, so he’s got other issues to worry about now,” Dakota stated. “I’m sure he’s on a one-way trip to a very hot place.”
Atonement: The Hunter Mercenary Series (Book One) Page 15
