Atonement: The Hunter Mercenary Series (Book One)

by Morgan Kelley

  “I won’t leave you. If something happens, I’ll search for you or follow you. I can’t live without you. Stella, you’re my heart.”

  She kisses him.

  “I know, but as your wife, I’m obligated to say that.”

  He laughed. “Yes, wife, you are, and I’m obligated to say no.”

  The money finished transferring.

  “Let’s go, Zayn. Let’s go home.”

  He turned on the engine and put it into gear. As they drove down the long tree lined driveway, Stella knew she’d miss the place. After all, it had been her home, and despite what her father said, it reminded her of her mother.

  She was going to keep that in her heart.

  At one time, she was loved. Stella would cling to that. One day, she’d be a mother, and when she was…?

  She’d never walk away.

  Stella would fight for every moment as a mom, and especially as a wife.

  Their lives depended on it.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Danforth’s Home

  I nterviewing the people, who knew Danforth Harrington best, was an eye opening experience. They had a lot to say about the man they called the boss. While they were digging into his past, they learned a few things.

  None of them shining a positive light on the man. Apparently, he was an asshole across the board. It wasn’t just to them.

  One of the more interesting things painted the picture of him. It was all about his temper—which they just saw—and that he seldom had control of it.

  That spoke volumes.

  When a man couldn’t keep from being belligerent in his anger, that tended to cross his whole life. He didn’t care who he hurt, who he pissed off, and if he made enemies.

  That was even true to his handling of his professional life. Danforth was ruthless in the business world. No one knew him better than the man who saw him most, Leo Schmitt. He was the man’s butler, and he interacted with him daily.

  As they cornered him with the housekeeper, they both reluctantly told the tale.

  “You’ve both been with him a long time?” asked Dakota.

  “Yes, we have,” Susan LeBlanc offered. “We came on right after the first Mrs. Harrington passed. I don’t like talking tales about our boss.”

  “Well, we’re trying to find Mercedes. This isn’t about Danforth. It’s about saving a young girl from something so horrible,” Dakota reassured.

  It wasn’t a lie.

  Really.

  Mercedes was his first concern, and then they’d focus on that rat bastard Danforth.

  Leo patted her on the back. “We have to help find Miss Mercedes.”

  That seemed to cajole the woman.

  As the three of them stood there, Leo told them everything he knew.

  “When Mr. Harrington lost his first wife, he restarted his life, or that’s what we were told. I know when I came on,” Leo said, “he went through a period of anger and stayed angry.”

  “Which is to be expected,” Sarah offered, trying to keep him talking. The more he said, the more likely that they would find something.

  “He would run around and bark at just about everyone. Then…”

  “What?” asked Rogue.

  “He met his second wife.”

  “And?”

  The housekeeper continued, “We were NOT allowed to discuss the first wife. I was hired before the new woman came into the home, and let me tell you…Maia was a total gold digger,” Susan offered. “He began showering her with gift and trinkets to get her to stay. I think he was focused on a mom for Stella.”

  That they could understand.

  Anyone who lost a wife would want their surviving child to have a good life. They couldn’t fault Danforth Harrington for that. In his place, they might do the same.

  “I hate to say it, but he played favorites. Stella was his golden child. She was the one he loved most. Don’t get me wrong, he loved Mercedes, but Stella…she was his princess.”

  They made notes.

  “And what about him now?”

  “He’s reliving it all over again,” Leo said. “I heard him crying in his bathroom. He didn’t cry over his first wife. I think having Stella here made him focus on her. He was so worried about her.”

  “I raised that child,” Susan said. “His big belief was that she would know her mother died, but we wouldn’t discuss it. He really didn’t want Maxine’s name to be brought up in the house. He was steadfast about that. He said his daughter was NOT going to be damaged by the death of her mother.”

  “Yes, and here it happened again,” Sarah offered. “That has to be incredibly stressful for him.”

  “Mr. Harrington is under a great deal of stress,” Leo offered.

  “Was Stella close to her stepmother?” she asked.

  “OH! Very. Stella took to Maia like a duck to water. She was calling her momma, and cuddling with Maia before the two were even married.”

  “That had to be awkward,” Dakota stated. “She wasn’t her mother and here she had a child calling her that.”

  “Maia is a sweet woman,” Leo stated. “She genuinely loved Stella, and she pushed her just as hard as she pushed her own child. Both of them were smart, and those girls were going places,” Susan stated.

  Leo agreed.

  “I know Mr. Harrington wanted that for his daughter. He didn’t want Stella to feel like the odd woman out. So, he found a mother for his child, and he made sure she stayed.”

  That one sentence evoked curiosity.

  “By buying her?” Rogue asked.

  They both hesitated.

  “What?”

  Neither wanted to say. It was clearly written on their faces. There was something that they weren’t hearing, and they really needed to do just that.

  “If you know something…?”

  That didn’t work.

  Sarah took a shot at it.

  “He’s coming up as our main suspect. From where we sit, as we try to locate who killed Maia, and abducted both girls, he looks guilty.”

  It was clear that they didn’t like that—at all.

  “He’d never hurt anyone. Well, he might get angry, but Mr. Harrington loves his kids.”

  “Then what are you hiding?”

  “Maia wasn’t his first pick as a mother for Stella, or as a second wife. She was hired as the nanny. When Maia came here, he hired her to raise Stella. I was so busy with the housekeeping, that he wanted someone full time.”

  “What’s wrong with that?”

  “He didn’t marry her right away, but he told the world she was his girlfriend. He did everything he could to make it look like they had a happy ever after when Maxine died.”

  “Well, that explains the age difference in the girls. They are a little over ten years apart.”

  “Yes. Stella was four when she came, and six years later, Maia turned up pregnant. By then, everyone already assumed that Maia was his wife. She stood in for social gatherings, and she liked the money.”

  “What’s the big secret? He married his nanny,” asked Dakota. “That happens a lot with older rich men.”

  Look at him.

  He was in love with a woman two decades younger than him. People certainly would question it.

  “She turned up pregnant, and there was a HUGE fight. Mr. Harrington was mad. REALLY mad. He screamed, he yelled, and he raged around.”

  “Then?”

  “He was forced into the marriage.”

  “Really?”

  That was something they didn’t expect to hear. They didn’t think Danforth could be forced into anything.

  The man was tough.

  “We heard him,” Susan said. “They had a fight, and she said, well, then you can finish raising Stella, and you’ll pay child support for this baby,” she said.

  Well played for the nanny.

  “It was a horrible battle. Maia wouldn’t back down, Stella was crying because she didn’t want Maia to leave, and Danforth…he was angry.”
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br />   Yeah, and that made him look bad.

  The man had painted a totally different picture about his love for his ‘family’. Now that Maia was dead, he was allowing the world to believe that he had lost his second wife, but this could have been planned.

  When Maia died, divorce died too.

  When Maia died, alimony died too.

  The possibilities were endless.

  Once more, they were running face first into the reality that the man might be guilty of doing this to his second wife, but why did Stella get away?

  Was it his genuine love for his first child?

  Was it his genuine disregard for a woman who forced him to marry her or pay for her illegitimate baby, or was it to cover his trail?

  What were they missing?

  “I don’t think Mr. Harrington will recover from this,” Leo said, shaking his head. “To lose two wives and his second daughter. All that’s left is Stella. He will hold on to her for dear life.”

  Yeah, they just saw his willingness to hire a contract killer to murder her new husband.

  That spoke of his love—not quite.

  The man was brutal.

  That was the picture they’d seen of him.

  “Thank you so much,” Sarah said, asking them where they could find the man’s driver.

  “Rocco will be in the garage. He’s not going to say a word to you,” Leo stated. “He’s closed lipped on a good day, but Mr. Harrington pays him really well to say nothing. Businesses have tried to bribe him, and he never rats the man out.”

  They would take that chance.

  What they’d learned so far…it was eye opening. Mr. Danforth Harrington was a corrupt asshole. He was a dirty dealer, and something occurred to Dakota.

  As they walked away, to find Rocco, he gave the other two people a heads up.

  “Ethan Blackhawk didn’t send us here to help this man out of the kindness of his heart,” he said.

  “He didn’t?” Rogue asked.

  “No,” Sarah said, seeing where her boyfriend was taking this. “He’s methodical—as is Marcus.”

  “They sent us here to take this man apart from the inside-out. He’s dirty, and the feds knew it. That’s the real reason the feds stopped with the help. I’m willing to bet that they couldn’t touch him without wading into the shit storm. He’d going to turn up some sort of shady.”

  “So, they knew he was not on the up and up?” Rogue asked.

  They both laughed.

  “Oh, they knew. We’re the ones they wanted to turn it inside-out for the world to see.”

  “Are you sure?” Rogue asked.

  He would bet money on it.

  Lots.

  And.

  Lots.

  Of illegal money.

  When they found Rocco Childers, the butler had been right. The man wouldn’t even look at them. He simply worked on the Town Car, ignoring their questions as he went about his daily business.

  They had a feeling that it had something to do with the fact that the man had probably been warned. He’d be privy to all kinds of conversations Danforth had, and this wasn’t going to be where he cracked.

  This was going to be a dead end.

  Since Dakota and Sarah weren’t US Marshals anymore, they couldn’t force him into compliance.

  They really didn’t even have the right to ask him anything regarding his boss now that they quit.

  So, they headed out of there.

  “What next?” Rogue asked. “I’m new to this kind of thing,” he admitted. “I will admit that I find it fascinating. So, this is how the good guys find the bad guys?”

  “Yep,” Dakota offered.

  “I don’t think you’re bad,” Sarah stated.

  He looked at her.

  “Uh, really?”

  “I’m willing to bet that you’re super selective when it comes to the cases you take, and willing to bet you’ve only stolen from the rich. Oh my God! You’re Robin Hood!”

  He stared at her.

  “You were my favorite up to a minute ago.”

  She gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Yeah, I’m irritating like that. Seeing all the good in people. It’s exhausting.”

  “Want to go home and meet my mother?” he teased.

  “I’ll shoot you right here,” Dakota stated.

  They all laughed.

  That comradery was their thing.

  “This close to Christmas? I’ll pass. I’d like to see the holiday,” he stated.

  “Let’s check in on the newlyweds,” Dakota offered. “We need to get them up to date on everything we’ve found out.”

  That was fine with them.

  Once they were in the vehicle, Dakota was going to test the water.

  “Want some company back there?” he asked from the passenger seat.

  She ignored him.

  “Sarah?”

  It appeared she was not in the mood to even look at him. He knew he had to fix this.

  Instead of speaking to him, Sarah changed the subject. While she wouldn’t look at Dakota, she was more than happy to have a full conversation with Rogue.

  It was irritating.

  “How’s your mom?” she asked.

  “She has good days and bad days,” he admitted. “She’s battling cancer. I’m going to pop in to see her on Christmas.”

  “If you need company, I’ll go. Joking aside, I know it’s hard.”

  He looked up at her in the mirror.

  “Thank you for that, Sarah. I appreciate it. Most people are afraid to say anything once they find out.”

  “I’m sorry,” Sarah stated. “My one dad died from cancer a couple years ago. It was hard on my other dad and myself. We didn’t expect it. He didn’t tell us until about a month before. I think we both suspected something but were in denial.”

  “How did you know? My mom’s illness caught me totally off guard,” Rogue stated.

  “He began preparing for it. I think he knew he was dying. He went to the doctor one day, and then he came home to tell us. His will was situated, and then we made him as comfortable as possible.”

  “I’m in the just finding out phase,” he admitted. “I hope I don’t get to the last phase yet. I’m not ready.”

  “I’m sorry,” Dakota stated.

  “Do you have a family?” Rogue asked him.

  “Yeah, I have a brother still. That’s it for me. My mom and dad died a while ago. We were their late in life babies. My mom had me at forty and my dad was fifty. If they were alive, they’d be in their eighty and nineties. Mom went first, and then my dad just followed.”

  “Death, it’s hard,” Rogue stated.

  That was funny to hear from a man who had killed for money, but in a way, that made it less personal.

  “Yeah, it is, especially when it’s someone you love,” Dakota stated.

  “If you need to talk,” Sarah offered, “I’m here. You can find me and vent.”

  He turned and patted her on the leg. “Thank you for that. I appreciate it.”

  And he did.

  They’d formed something.

  They were definitely a family, and it made it all a little less difficult for him.

  He wasn’t alone.

  “When we get back to the house, what are we going to do—other than update Zayn?” Rogue asked.

  “I guess we have to keep researching,” stated Dakota. “There has to be something that will turn up. I’ve found with almost every hunt, there’s a paper trail.”

  That was good to know.

  “I’m going to disappear for a little while,” Sarah admitted. “Getting ready for tonight isn’t as simple for a woman. I don’t really own anything ‘gold digger-ish’. I have to hit some stores and figure out what I’m going to do. There’s a boutique around the block from base.”

  When Dakota turned around, again, she still wasn’t looking at him.

  Dakota knew that he needed to fix this.

  But how?

  “Sarah, about earlier�
��”

  She kept searching.

  “I’m sorry I hurt you. I was only joking around, and I can see that it deeply hurt you.”

  “This isn’t the time or the place, Dakota,” she said.

  “It is because you won’t even look at me.”

  She wouldn’t but not because she was mad. If Sarah looked at him, she’d cry. It was hard to hold it in and she didn’t want to pull the girl card. If he didn’t get it, that was life. She wasn’t going to force the man into anything.

  “Please, Sarah.”

  She looked up.

  Rogue was so very uncomfortable. He wanted to crawl out of the vehicle and cling to the roof—only he was driving. He didn’t get women to begin with, but this…this had the potential to turn into a huge mess.

  Love was a wicked thing, and the further he stayed from it the better.

  “I’m sorry for what I did. That’s it. There’s no rationalizing, there’s no pretending I was clueless. I was not thinking about you, and that’s not right. Going forward, I’m going to try and do better. I promise. I love you, and I’m sorry you have to deal with all my shit. When you took me on, I had more than enough baggage for a whole platoon of Marines.”

  Oh, she was aware.

  “Thank you for loving me despite it. You’re a saint, and this sinner is grateful he found you. One day, I’m going to catch you off guard, and you’re going to see that I may have joked about getting engaged, but it’s always in the back of my mind.”

  That gave her hope.

  “Is it, Dak?”

  He couldn’t imagine his life without her.

  “Always. I want that life with you. It’s coming, Sarah. I can see it in the near future. The last thing I want is for you to hurt. That breaks my heart.”

  She had to cut him a break.

  Sarah knew he loved her. He’d been sweeter, gentler, and open with her. Before, they hid their continual rendezvous, but now, he held her hand, shared affection, and was a good man.

  “Okay, Dakota.”

  “Please forgive me,” he said, reaching back and holding out his hand.

  She still hesitated, and he knew she was hurting. Well, he’d fix that.

  Then, she linked her fingers.

  “I forgive you.”

  Rogue was glad.