Atonement: The Hunter Mercenary Series (Book One)

by Morgan Kelley

  “Why?”

  “Today, we have to tell your father what we did. We have to tell him you got married.”

  “And?”

  “He’s going to tell you to leave me.”

  She could hear it in his voice. Zayn was expecting her to do it. Deep down, he really believed she could be swayed away from him.

  “Well, it won’t happen. I’m a married woman, and I won’t leave my husband.”

  “He could ask you to annul it or force you to do just that. Last time he offered me a few million to walk away from you. I can’t compete with that.”

  She was shocked.

  “I make more than enough money and have a nice nest egg, but I’m not Harrington rich. I may never be.”

  “Are you asking me if I want money over your love?” she asked.

  “Don’t get mad.”

  “I am mad, Zayn, that my father tried to buy you off and that you think I’d not stand up for you.”

  He couldn’t help it.

  He was scared.

  Before, he had nothing to lose. Now, Zayn had everything to lose. The prospects without Stella were grim, and he didn’t want to wake up without her.

  “A father can be very convincing when he asks his daughter to do something.”

  “Well, he can ask me to shave my head, but it doesn’t mean I’d do it. I’m my own person, and I wish you’d find some faith in me.”

  “Stella.”

  “Zayn, I can’t live without you. You’re my hero, and I’d be lost without you. You’ve saved me four times, and that’s not a fluke. You’re meant to be that man in my life, and I’m meant to be the woman you need.”

  He sighed and rested his forehead against hers as they sat torso to torso.

  “Who hurt you?”

  “People leave. I’ve dated before, and it always fell through. I didn’t get to the sex part, but I’d think everything was good, and someone would ask me what I did for a living, or the Native thing wore off, and I’d find myself sitting home all alone.”

  “Well, you have me now. I’m not going to get upset about your job. I know what you do. As for the Native thing, well, that’s NEVER going to get old. I want to spend all day staring at you naked.”

  “You might be the first.”

  “How many women did you get this naked with?” she asked, lifting a brow.

  “This is where the wife kills the mercenary and it’s all kinds of ironic, right?”

  She laughed. “Just answer.”

  “Never this naked. I’ve been swimming with women, or at the beach, but I tend to keep my junk contained. You know…not to scare the kids and all.”

  She found him funny. Zayn looked all serious, but he was pretty entertaining.

  “Well, I can tell you that you’re incredibly sexy.”

  “I’m not too…big, am I?”

  She looked down at his dick and grinned.

  “Oh, size absolutely does matter. Women lie when they say it doesn’t.”

  “I MEANT me. Not HIM.”

  She laughed. “Sorry. I’m inches from ‘him’, and he’s one of my favorite things in the world. I’d ride him all day.”

  He loved her heart.

  “No, you’re not too big. You just have really long legs. When we sit like this, I have a fighting chance at kissing you.”

  She did just that.

  “The rest of you is muscle—large, glorious, spectacular, rock-hard…”

  “Stella. Focus.”

  “Muscle.”

  He still looked worried.

  “What?”

  “Can I ask you something again?” he asked, “And I don’t mean to harp on it, but it’s boggling my mind.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s it. Why does my job not bother you? I had one woman find out I did illegal things and she threatened to call the cops.”

  “Did you kill her?” she teased.

  He didn’t say a word.

  Zayn only lifted a brow.

  “Ohhhh, I see.”

  “Stella, what I do…it’s imperative I keep it quiet. Sometimes, I have to take precautions that I don’t really like, but it’s a dog eat dog world out there. I’ve had to survive.”

  “So, if I told you tomorrow I was going to the cops?” she asked.

  “I’d cry.”

  “But would you off me?” Stella asked.

  “No. I’d kill myself before I’d hurt you. You’re my wife, and I couldn’t do that to you. If you turned on me, I’d accept it and take that barb to the heart.”

  “And that’s why I’m not afraid of you, Zayn. I know you have to do things that are uncomfortable. I accept that. I need you to accept that I’m not here to judge you. As long as I feel safe…”

  He wiped his eyes.

  She could see she wasn’t the only person who was suffering from trauma.

  “Babe.”

  “Don’t ever leave me, Stella. If you do, I’m going to be a mess. I won’t be able to do my job or function. I was dead before you, but now I’ll really die.”

  She held him.

  She got why he was so worried.

  Deep down, she was stressed too. She didn’t want to be so afraid.

  Then it hit her.

  “Teach me how to do what you do.”

  He lifted his head. “What?”

  “Teach me how…”

  “I heard you. Why the HELL would you want to learn how to do what I do? You’re a healer. I’m a killer. Technically, the two should never meet and for good reasons.”

  “You’re my husband. One day, you might be a father. If you’re not here and off doing a job, how do I protect our children?”

  And with that one sentence, his whole perspective changed. She had a very valid point. Sometimes, he had to travel with someone who hired him. He couldn’t bring her, but he still wanted to be a father one day. He still wanted to have kids.

  “Stella.”

  “Teach me. I’m smart. I can learn anything.”

  “Taking a life…”

  “Zayn, I saw life come and go so many times as I trained to be a doctor. I cut into people and dug through bodies for class. Death doesn’t freak me out. Losing you or a child one day…that freaks me out.”

  He stared at her.

  “Sarah is working with Dakota. Why can she shoot someone and I can’t?”

  “You realize how wrong that sounded, right? It made you sound crazy.”

  She grinned.

  “Teach me to be a killer.”

  “Sweetness…”

  “Teach me to have your back. Who do you trust more to make sure you don’t get shot or hurt?” she asked.

  “Well, I kinda trust Rogue and Dakota. They’re good people. I do like to harass the shit out of Rogue, but I believe they’d have my back.”

  She stared at him.

  “And my wife would too.”

  “Exactly.”

  “I can’t believe I’m going to take a perfectly good doctor and make her into a killer. What the hell is wrong with the world?”

  She laughed. “Let’s get changed, and head to my father’s house. I want to get this over with. Then, you can teach me how to protect myself.”

  He knew why she wanted to do this. She’d been taken. She’d been a prisoner. He didn’t doubt for a single minute that she was scared shitless and when he wasn’t around she needed to feel safe.

  He would give her that safety.

  “Okay. Stella. Let’s go talk to your father. Then I’ll teach you how to be a killer.”

  “Can I get a sparkly gun?” she teased. “Maybe something with some rhinestones on the hand-hold-y thingy.”

  He stared at her.

  “The grip?” he asked, trying to translate from girl to mercenary.

  “Yeah, the black is blah. I want something with pizzazz. We can get matching ones.”

  “You’re lucky the sex was that damn hot or I’d kick you out of this bed for even thinking of saddling me with a
sparkly gun. I’m in love, Stella, not a flaming homosexual.”

  She kissed him.

  It was warm.

  Slow.

  Hot.

  When she set his mouth free, he was finding it hard to focus.

  “No, I’m definitely not gay.”

  She snorted.

  “Well, in that case, maybe we can be a few minutes late to see my father,” she said, stroking him.

  “Jesus, you make me crazy.”

  She pushed him back and straddled his hips.

  “How crazy?”

  Then she slid him home.

  So crazy that he was going to risk his perfectly sweet wife by dragging her into his life.

  He was going to Hell.

  Here was the proof.

  * * * H U N T E R * * *

  Chartres Street

  When Rogue heard them coming, he poured two more cups of the chicory coffee and placed the mugs in their spots. It wasn’t lost on him that their little group was becoming more and more like a family.

  It felt nice.

  It had been a long time since he’d felt an attachment to anyone else other than his mom.

  How could he?

  After all, he only had his mother growing up, and no siblings, so he didn’t know what it was like to have brothers or sisters, but the people he’d been thrown into this agreement with were pretty damn close.

  He imagined.

  When they walked in, he kept typing and pointed at the coffees.

  “Bless you,” Sarah said, giving Rogue a kiss on the cheek. “You are a saint.”

  He winked at her. “That’s me, Saint Rogue of the Damned,” he teased back.

  Dakota looked tired.

  “Rough night fornicating?” he asked, not letting on that they’d even had a conversation earlier. He didn’t want to rat the man out if he hadn’t spoken to Sarah about it.

  It was the bro code.

  Dakota looked grateful.

  “No.”

  Rogue looked up. The tone in his voice wasn’t the normal easy cowboy tone.

  It was tense.

  “Want to talk about it?”

  “Not particularly.”

  He looked at Sarah.

  She didn’t give anything away.

  “Uh, okay.”

  Rogue watched as he sipped his coffee. His hands were shaking.

  That was NEVER a good sign.

  “Okay, I’m not going out there with you watching my back when you look like you’re strung out. What is going on?”

  He put his mug down.

  Dakota knew he owed it to the man to be honest. They were a family and he was right. Dakota wouldn’t trust himself watching his own back at that point.

  He was rattled.

  “I had a nightmare and it was a rough night sleeping. I get them from time to time, and when I woke up, I was stuck obsessing about it.”

  “That Bonnie chick?” he asked.

  He took the tablet and pulled up a file he knew Sarah had kept under her passcode.

  He slid it toward the man.

  “Oh. Jesus Christ. What the hell? Even I wouldn’t defile a body like that!”

  Well, that was good to know.

  Always be familiar with the crazy around you.

  “That’s one of her last victims,” he said, pointing at Chris Santana. “He was a mayor of a small town in South Carolina. She cut his dick off, blended it, and fed it to him after she removed one eye.”

  “He was alive the whole time?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Jesus,” he said, crossing himself.

  Then he took the tablet and pulled up the original killings by Bonnie and Clyde. He showed him his partner.

  “This was Debra. She was my partner before Sarah. Look what he did to her.”

  He stared at the pictures. It was clear why the man had nightmares.

  He would have had them too.

  “She is sick. Where’s the guy?”

  “She killed him.”

  Then he showed him, Lizzie Borden, aka Amara Hayden.

  “That was her second partner. She killed her too. That crazy is on the loose.”

  Sarah took the tablet and closed it.

  What she wasn’t saying was that she didn’t want him looking at that anymore. It was damaging him.

  Sarah wished she could erase his mind to save him the pain he was feeling.

  “What he’s not saying is Bonnie and Clyde took him and Debra at the same time. They made him listen to Debra scream and beg as they killed her.”

  Yeah, and Sarah nearly lost him. Had he gone down, they never would have met.

  Rogue stared at him.

  “Then she tried to kill him. The only reason he’s alive is Elizabeth Blackhawk saved him.”

  “She was about to rape me. She liked pumping men full of Viagra, riding them, then lopping off their dicks to make that smoothie. When she heard Elizabeth coming, she left me this.”

  He turned his wrists over, and there were the two scars across both of his wrists.

  “Some nights are worse than others. When I over think it, that’s when the nightmares come.”

  “Hey, Dakota, I’m sorry, bruh. I don’t even know what to say about something like that.”

  Rogue reached across the table and placed his hand over Sarah’s while hers was over Dakota’s.

  “We’re all in this together. When the time comes and you get your intel from the Feds, I’ll help you track her. I won’t bail on you both. I’ll stick until all three of us find those demons we’re chasing.”

  Sarah was grateful.

  Dakota was amused—not by the offer, but by the prospects of catching Bonnie. “I’m beginning to believe she’s uncatchable. She’s eluded me, a flock of US Marshals, and Elizabeth Blackhawk. She’s a ghost.”

  He let the man talk.

  “Sometimes, I just want it to be over. I just want to be able to close my eyes at night and tell Debra I found her justice.”

  He got it.

  “We’re going to get the asshole that hurt Zayn’s sister, then we’ll find my father, and get Bonnie. We’re all in this together.”

  He appreciated that.

  Dakota kicked back his coffee.

  “We should talk about today,” he said, putting his mug down.

  “We need to head to Danforth’s home. This seems to be one of those ongoing things. The planning, the execution, him seeing the man at his daughter’s graduation. We need to talk to EVERYONE around him.”

  “Yeah, as I was lying there last night, I was thinking the same thing. We have no idea who is helping Chesky Jensen. We took care of his brother, Sebastian Henson, but we need to find who hired him.”

  Sarah thought about it.

  “Well, he’s a hired gun, and I’m going to guess that is a pricey bill.”

  She looked at Rogue.

  “How much money are we talking?” she asked.

  “I steal more than kill, so I can only guesstimate. If you want the going hired gun price, I’ve heard through the grapevine that our own Zayn is one of the best.”

  “Ballpark it.”

  “For a high-profile person, I’d charge two hundred and fifty thousand, and to kill double that. Abduction is right around there. It’s a risky crime. You are allowing the people to see you. That’s a witness. We don’t like them in our lives. They are…troublesome. I make it a rule to always cover my bases and eliminate the loose ends.”

  She whistled. “Why were we making one-eighth that as civil servants?”

  “Maybe because we don’t want to go to Hell?” he stated, laughing.

  “Party with the sinners or suffer with the saints,” Rogue said. “It’s perspective. Welcome to New Orleans.”

  He had a point.

  “Is there a direction that this questioning is taking?” Rogue asked.

  She had one. “Yeah, if we interview his staff, are they going to be able to afford that?”

  “No, but we all know
who really could.”

  Yeah, they did, and that was the problem. They had a man who was richer than the devil himself and seemed to be the center of it.

  Was it coincidence?

  Or was it something more?

  “Are we back at ‘this is his scheme to get more money from his life insurance policies’ angle?” Sarah asked.

  They weren’t sure.

  It looked like that’s where this was pointed.

  “It looks bad,” Rogue said.

  “We need to see how the man reacts. We’ll have to interview the people around him anyway.”

  “Why?” Rogue asked, trying to learn. He had spent years running from the law. Now he was studying how two hunters thought.

  One day, when they went their separate ways, this might help him.

  He could learn how to evade them.

  “Who gossips more than the hired help?” Dakota asked. “I’m sure he’s pissed one or two of them off before, and they’ll want to spill their guts—especially if they liked the victims. He seems like an asshole to me.”

  Rogue agreed.

  “He likes to buy people. You can tell.”

  “We have to cover our bases,” Sarah stated.

  Well, it was a good plan.

  “Yeah, and then tonight, we have to get ready to hit that traveling gambling boat.”

  That reminded Rogue.

  “Yeah, you’re going undercover as some rich gambler, right?” he asked. “What is my role?”

  “Yeah, I am. Your role? Can you follow us in a car? It’s a slow-moving boat. Or maybe track us by walking alongside the river? I have a bad feeling.”

  “I can do that.”

  Sarah was excited. “Yeah, we should be good. I think I can play the role of a slutty gold digger.”

  She wiggled her eyebrows.

  “I have something for you,” Rogue offered.

  She glanced over.

  “What?”

  Rogue reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope. He dropped it on the table.

  “What’s that?”

  “Cash. It’s about twenty thousand, and you’ll be able to get into any game on that boat.”

  Dakota opened it.

  Holy shit.

  He wasn’t kidding.

  “Do I want to ask where you got it?” he inquired. That was a shitload of money to have lying around.

  “It’s my mad money. Use it tonight. If you go there without a lot, you’re waving a red flag. Oh, and Sarah?”