The Deadly Thief (Stolen Hearts Book 7) Read online

  The struggle for the gun had been short, but time had been moving funny. She could’ve sworn it was an hour when it was more like fifteen seconds. And as soon as Hunter had the gun, he fired. It wasn’t a deliberate shot like it had been tonight. Gabby still wasn’t sure whether he meant to fire that bullet or whether it had been an accident. It had been a gut shot, so the guy probably would’ve lived if he’d just stayed down. But instead of giving up, something her father would’ve never allowed him to do, he pushed himself up and went back toward Hunter. Gabby knew he had no choice, but as he fired once more, this time directly into the assailant’s head, it seemed louder. Final.

  She thought she’d been safe then. She thought she’d go to the hospital, tell everyone that Hunter was a hero, and try to pick up the broken pieces of her life. But instead, Hunter had been taken away and charged with murder. As much as she protested, the police ignored her. In that short timeframe, Gabby had become much less naive. They weren’t ignoring her because they didn’t believe her. They were ignoring her because Hunter was trouble. He was one of her father’s employees too, albeit for just a few weeks. He killed one of his own, and now he was being punished. There was nothing she could do to help the man who saved her. Even when she tried to write to him or visit him in prison, she’d been unable to locate him. The young, not-so-innocent kid had been swallowed by a corrupt system.

  But this wasn’t a kid anymore. And if he was an innocent before, he was something so much darker now. She was sure his size had something to do with that. Even his hands seemed to dwarf the steering wheel he was still gripping tightly. His forearms and biceps seemed oversized in the small sedan he was driving. That beautiful hair, dark brown with a tinge of red with just the tiniest bit of curl to it, didn’t lighten his menacing presence. The style she’d always seen on those cute little naked baby angel drawings. What were they called? Cherubs?

  Well, whoever decided that’s what cherubs looked like had obviously never seen Hunter. Even little curls at the top of his head couldn’t drown out the darkness.

  And she’d called him here. The past had given him a sort of hero-like glow in her mind. Had she forgotten this? Or had he changed? As clear as her memory of the attack was in her mind, everything else had gone fuzzy. After the attack, she’d questioned so many things about her life. About her family. About things she might’ve helped her father do without even knowing it. Things she might’ve been complicit in by accident.

  “You should let me go,” she said carefully.

  “Not a chance. I don’t know who that guy was, and you don’t know who he was. But you can bet your ass it has something to do with me coming to town. You think I’m just going to leave you alone there now? You contacted me, asking for help, remember?”

  “What? No, I told you that was a lie. That was just me being an idiot.”

  “Maybe subconsciously you knew you were in danger or something.”

  “No! I can pretty much verify that my subconscious had no idea I was in danger. I’m sure whatever happened was just a fluke, okay? It’s not like guys usually come out of the woodwork to kill me. This is just a weird coincidence.”

  “I can promise you that two people trying to kill you is not a coincidence. It’s not bad fucking luck. It’s a problem.”

  Even though she knew he was right, she still didn’t like what was happening. She didn’t want to be dragged away from her home only to go with him to God knew where. Maybe she’d only been in trouble because he showed up. Maybe if he left, she’d be fine. But she didn’t want to say that out loud. That would once again be implying this was all his fault, when she was the one who started it all. “I’m really sorry I got you into this, all right? I promise I’ll never bother you again. But you need to take me back, Hunter. This is the last time I’m going to ask nicely.”

  Hunter finally took his eyes off the road to look at her, but this time with a little wicked grin on his face. “Oh honey, I’d love to hear you ask meanly. Be my guest.”

  Hunter didn’t know how he got himself into this mess. Ever since Sterling had plucked him out of jail and hand-groomed him to be the mindless drone that he was, he never had issues like this. Most people would be offended at the notion of becoming a mindless drone, but not Hunter. He liked it. Doing what he was told, not questioning orders. It was an easy life. Especially considering questioning orders was the thing that had kinda fucked him over from the beginning. Scratch that. All of his life choices had fucked him over from the beginning. His decision to drop out of school, his decision to start peddling shitty drugs at a young age, his decision to save Gabby.... Every single choice he made had caused him misery in some way or another. So unlike the other guys who had always resented working for Sterling, he’d never really minded it. It had taken the responsibility off his shoulders. And a man with no responsibility was a happy man, in his eyes.

  But here he was making his own choices and fucking his life over again. Gabby was so goddamn pretty, and he was pretty sure she didn’t even know the effect she had on him. To be fair, he told her to fuck off, so that probably was the reason for her ignorance. God, just a few minutes of her and he lost all of his sensibility. The second she’d been in danger, he’d reacted on pure gut instincts, threw her in his car, and drove off as quickly as possible. And now she was asking him to take her back, which he would never ever do, not in one million years, so he was effectively kidnapping her. Minutes! Minutes was all it took for him to lose his damn mind.

  There was one thing he was sure about, and it was where he was taking her. He was taking her to the only safe place he knew of, which was the compound that Toni and Hart had set up. And it left all multitude of other problems in its wake. For one, everyone would see her with him. God only knew how much shit he was going to take from the other guys. Well, maybe less than usual, now that Slade had up and abandoned them when he got his new family, and Tristan now had his own side chick. Well, that was wrong. Slade hadn’t abandoned them; he was more of a ground coordinator now. And he was pretty sure he saw Tristan shopping for engagement rings for his side chick.... Still, they were all distraction. Hunter hadn’t really considered them a distraction, until maybe a day ago when Gabby had sure as hell distracted him, and he never even kissed her. He could only imagine how distracting a hot lady could be if you were getting a steady stream of sex.

  Damn it. At the very thought of sex, his second head was ready and at attention. He gripped the steering wheel tighter, if that was even possible, and glanced at Gabby out of the corner of his eye. Her head was back, resting against the seat, and she was looking out the window. She was so still, he thought she was sleeping, but the uneven rise and fall of her breasts gave her away. She wasn’t sleeping; she was just trying to make herself as invisible as possible. That was fine. The less interaction, the better. It wasn’t as though he had any good news to give her. There was still a good ten hours of driving between him and the compound, so hopefully she got some sleep. It was going to be a long drive....

  Even though he knew where he was going to take her, he still had a multitude of other problems. For starters, what was he going to do with her once he had her there? This wasn’t like a Slade or Tristan situation. She wasn’t his girlfriend he was hiding. This was a civilian he basically plucked out of her life and transported against her will. He wouldn’t be able to keep her there for long, not if she wanted to leave. He had a feeling Toni wouldn’t condone kidnapping of innocent women. For Hart, a lot depended on the circumstances. Maybe he could convince his boss that he was doing this for her own good if Hart thought she was really in trouble. Hart had proved himself more than willing to hurt a civilian if it meant keeping them safe. Toni felt the same way, but she would get hung up on the against-her-will thing. She wasn’t too shy about being a feminist, and normally Hunter agreed with her views. But this was Gabby. He would hurt her as much as he needed to, as long as it meant she was safe and protected.

  He laughed inwardly at the thought. Someone hang
ing around him to be safe and protected? He wondered whether she was right. Maybe if he turned around and dropped her back off in her normal, safe existence, she would stay safe. She really had only ever been in danger around him. But he couldn’t bring himself to turn the car around. They didn’t know enough about what was happening. It had to be related to her father’s drug operation, but he didn’t know how. He’d always kept tabs on Brighton, but as far as he could tell, the drug ring had ended around the time that he went to jail.

  That didn’t mean the criminals had gone away, though. Easy money was addictive. He’d seen every sort of illegal activity there was. Be it peddling drugs or people, there were all sorts of ways to make money under the table.

  But why would this new operation think he was a threat? It had to be connected. He wasn’t stupid enough to believe in coincidences. But he couldn’t verify that it was safe for Gabby to go back until he knew the truth.

  And he couldn’t let her go until he knew she was safe.

  Gabby blinked a few times and only belatedly realized that the car wasn’t moving anymore. She expected to see another in a long line of gas stations when she opened her eyes, but instead was looking right at a massive, oversized house. She sat up in shock, suddenly wide awake.

  The place was... big. It was almost big to the point of being overbearing. It didn’t look like one of those majestic historic homes she’d seen in pictures. This must’ve been some sort of new construction that was trying and failing to be historical.

  The gray siding was accented by four large arches around the entryway that stretched up two or three stories. It was hard to tell exactly how tall the house was because so many of the front windows stretched up the entire height of the house before meeting a pointed roof that also seemed impossibly tall. From this view, she couldn’t even imagine the interior floor plan.

  And suddenly the confusion made perfect sense. Of course Hunter wouldn’t want someone to look into his home and know the layout. One more enigma for him to surround himself with.

  But wait... was this really Hunter’s house? No. He couldn’t afford a place like this. Maybe this was a friend’s of his. Or he was a squatter. There had to be something to explain it.

  Her door popped open and she saw Hunter at the other side looking tentatively down at her. “Are you awake?” he asked softly.

  She sure as hell was now. She nodded and ignored his outstretched hand as she stood on her own and looked around at the perfectly manicured lawn and bushes surrounding them. There were a few acres of bright-green grass before the woods that surrounded the rest of the property. The air was warm from the spring sun, but the trees were only just budding. Even without the thick leaves filling out the forest, she could tell that those woods seemed to go on forever. Whether it was Hunter who owned this place or not, they must value privacy.

  “Don’t bother running,” said Hunter ominously. “I’d find you before you get anywhere.”

  “I thought you were trying to save me?”

  “And I’ll save you from yourself if I have to.”

  “Be still my beating heart,” she muttered as she followed him through the front door. At first there was nothing that off about the house, considering how big it was. But then she noticed the blue plastic milk crate next to the front bench that was filled with electronics. That in itself wasn’t all that odd, but it pulled her gaze to a room off the front hallway that was filled with various computers and monitors. She didn’t realize that she’d moved closer until something strong grabbed her arm and pulled her away. She didn’t know why she was surprised to see Hunter’s hand wrapped around her bicep. He was the only other person there and they’d just spent hours together. It had to be the size of his hand that had surprised her. Or maybe even the warmth that felt oddly comforting.

  Gabby rolled her shoulder and pulled her arm free. “Tell me where you want me to go. Don’t pull me around like some sort of caveman.”

  “Caveman? I don’t know if I’d say that. He’s too quiet. Don’t cavemen grunt more than that?”

  Gabby craned her neck to look over Hunter’s oversized shoulder to see the woman. Why was Hunter living with a woman? Oh my God, did he have a girlfriend? Had she thrown herself at him while he was with someone else? How had she never considered that he might have a girlfriend?

  And a really hot girlfriend at that.... The woman had long, straight, almost black hair that was pulled back in a ponytail that draped over her shoulder. Even from here, Gabby could see her bright blue eyes shining. She seemed dark and mysterious... a perfect match for Hunter’s own intense presence. Gabby didn’t realize she was shrinking back behind Hunter until she could no longer see the woman anymore.

  “Good Lord, Hunter, what did you do to that poor girl? She’s terrified.”

  “She’s fine.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Yeah, that’s convincing.” Gabby heard footsteps approaching, and the next second, the woman pushed Hunter aside. “I’m Melissa Slade. Nice to meet you.”

  Gabby held out a hand. “Gabriella Cooper. You can call me Gabby.”

  Melissa’s brow furrowed. “The one who wrote the email! I hope everything’s okay. Hunter doesn’t usually bring people home, so I assume it didn’t go great.”

  Gabby’s face immediately became warm with embarrassment, and she put distance between her and Hunter. “He didn’t bring me home. I mean, we’re not— I mean—”

  “Oh honey, it’s fine. Coming here to protect you or worship you, that’s between you two. I’m just a resident here, and between you and me, we’re the only normal ones. I figure girls like us need to stick together.”

  Gabby felt a tad more comforted. She had a feeling this girl couldn’t exactly tell Hunter what he could or could not do with her, but she was happy that he and this model-like woman weren’t an item. Because she’d hate to cause someone to cheat. Not because she wanted Hunter for herself. Sure, she’d only emailed him because she’d wanted to start something up, but—

  “I’m setting Gabby up in the second to last room in the west wing.”

  Melissa raised a questioning brow. “That’s Gage’s room.” Hunter just glared at her and she rolled her eyes. “Which you know but don’t care about. Got it. Great. Now I get to deal with his wrath. You know he’s nicer to you.”

  “I’m sure you’ll figure out how to handle it. Where are Hart and Toni?”

  Hart? What the hell kind of stupid name was that?

  “They’re still working with the new team. I thought everything was tied up, but they extended the stay a few days. Probably just because they’re getting full use of the hotel room. Gotta make time for whoopee, you know?”

  Gabby inadvertently snorted at the word choice and Melissa winked at her.

  “When they get here, can you let me know? I want to talk to them.”

  “If I’m around. You know I’m not your professional errand girl?”

  “You’re my friend.”

  “Acquaintance, Hunter. Don’t press your luck.” Melissa turned her attention to Gabby. “We can be friends. He’s too cagey for me, personally.”

  “I can see that.”

  Hunter looked over his shoulder at her and his annoyance wasn’t even the tiniest bit subtle. “Come on, Gabby.” He gave her the dignity of not pulling her along, and even though the thought of ignoring him crossed her mind, she figured it wouldn’t be a good idea to push her luck. After saying a quick good-bye to the oddly beautiful Melissa, she followed Hunter up the curved staircase and down the hall of what must be the west wing.

  When she walked into the room, she expected it to look more lived in. After all, she was apparently stealing a room from somebody named “Gage.” However, the scene in front of her was practically empty. There was a simple queen-sized bed with a gray, soft-looking comforter. The one window, which was trimmed in a beautiful, bright white, was an oversized arch shape that let the moderately sized room look much bigger.

  The only other piece
of furniture was an oversized cabinet and a dresser with nothing on top of it. As she glanced around the room, she didn’t see any sign of someone else sleeping there. “Where is Gage?”

  “He’s working a job in Atlanta, I think. They don’t tell us a lot about jobs we’re not assigned to.”

  It seemed to be the first straight answer he’d given her, but it raised a whole new series of questions. “What exactly do you do?” The entire drive up here they’d been so quiet. Sure, he hadn’t offered up much information, but she hadn’t asked anything either. She had told herself it was because she was too angry to speak, but a part of her must’ve been afraid to ask the million-dollar question.

  What had happened to Hunter?

  He’d gone to prison and she’d never been able to find or speak to him again.

  Hunter walked straight to the cabinet set up next to the window and opened it to reveal a few nicely pressed shirts. She was thinking he was about to change clothes, but then he reached farther behind the clothes and pulled out a bottle of liquor. It was only when he turned around that she saw he had a bottle of whiskey. He didn’t bother grabbing a glass before he sat down on the edge of the bed. “Are you sure you want to go through this?” he asked.

  “No,” she said honestly. She wasn’t ready for any ounce of the chaos that Hunter had brought into her life over the past day, and she sure as hell wasn’t ready to learn what she’d done to him. But nonetheless, she took her seat on the bed with a good three feet of space between them and awaited what he was going to say in silence.

  “If you don’t want to hear it, you don’t have to.”