Loyal Hearts (The Barrington Billionaires Book 4)

by Danielle Stewart

  “We’re going to see Melissa right now,” Dallas asserted, searching his kitchen counter for his cell phone. “Clear your schedule.”

  Gabby nodded obediently. “He told me about Harlan.” She was self-consciously twirling a bit of her hair the way he always remembered. “If you can fix that, I hope you do. We weren’t good for each other, you and I. Tim and I weren’t either. But someone out there is worth fighting for. If that’s her, don’t let her go.”

  Chapter 31

  Harlan bit nervously at the inside of her cheek, standing close to Marc Azeela, a man who had thrown her life into disarray. “If you know who killed Angus then why not go to the police?”

  “You really don’t know how this works, do you?” Marc asked, folding his arms across his chest arrogantly. “It’s almost cute.”

  “Then why tell me?” Harlan challenged, feeling like this was all a big game, and she had no chance of winning.

  “Why did I tell you? Because you want to know,” he quipped. “I think somewhere in the back of your mind you were hoping you’d get the answer to this. You don’t strike me as a woman who can just let things go. Clearly.”

  “But what will it matter? It’s not like you’re going to march down to the police station and make a statement. So if you’re going to obstruct justice, at least do it quietly.”

  “Not on your life,” he grinned. “No matter the circumstance, you wouldn’t catch me sitting with the cops. But you should know Larry did it. He’s an idiot, one of those guys that thinks he’s going to make something of himself in an organization even though he’s not cut out for it. We call them hangers, because all they do is hang around us and wait for an opportunity to prove themselves. The problem was, he screwed up all the time. Notorious for it really. Earned the nickname Loser Larry. And what’s sad was he was excited to get the nickname, he didn’t care what it was.”

  “He worked for you?” Harlan pressed, biting at her lip to keep from screaming in frustration.

  “No, he didn’t work for me.” Marc laughed. “He wished, but I never gave him the chance. But the moron got wind of our list. Which places we serve.”

  “Serve? You mean extort money from to protect them from your own people and the problems you create?” The look on his face made it clear she was pressing her luck.

  “Larry figured any of the places on the list that weren’t paying must have been a deal my other guys couldn’t close. Maybe they were holding out, and he would be the mastermind to get them to pay. If he could, he thought that would be enough to seal the deal for him. He started with the wrong guy though.”

  “Angus wasn’t paying because he was your friend,” Harlan said, testing out the information Genie had given her at the restaurant.

  “Like family,” Marc corrected. “He and my father went to elementary school together. He was a great man. One of the best.”

  “And Larry killed him, thinking that would win him favor with you?” Harlan asked, only imagining how bad that must have backfired.

  “I doubt he intended to kill Angus, but knowing the old bird he’d have put up a fight if someone came to rob him. Larry, being the asshole moron he was, probably panicked.”

  “Wait,” Harlan said, shaking her head in disbelief. “A man you hate killed a man you cared about, and yet he’s walking around free? Maybe I didn’t need to come here looking for you to promise anything. Your reputation must be all talk.”

  “Don’t test the theory,” Marc hissed, his eyes blazing with threats. “The only reason Larry is still breathing is because he’s doing something for me now no one else would be stupid enough to sign up for. He’s a sacrificial lamb who’s on his way to be slaughtered. He just doesn’t know when or how.”

  “But an innocent man is rotting in jail for a murder he didn’t commit.” Harlan shook her head in judgment.

  “The prisons are full of innocent men. If you don’t believe that, you’re a fool. The system is a mess and for all the judgment people put on me and my organization, the real criminals wear judge robes and prison guard uniforms. At least we live by a code. Things you can count on.”

  “He deserves his freedom,” Harlan pleaded, wondering if she could convince Marc for one more favor.

  “You only get one wish from the genie, and you already cashed yours in. Find another way to get your boy out and tell that friend of yours to stop coming after Larry. I’m not done with him yet.”

  “Or else?” she asked, her words cut off by the loud buzzer that rang when a goal was scored.

  “Goodbye, Harlan. Let’s make sure this is the last time we cross paths. Especially here.” Marc turned on his heel and walked away without another word.

  Harlan wanted to snatch her phone from her purse and call Dallas. Heading toward her car, she began to think through how she’d get the words out. How would she explain why she was with Marc? It would infuriate Dallas to know she’d done something so dangerous without any security. But the affirmation that Larry killed Angus would be welcomed news.

  She could practically picture Dallas on the other end of the phone, once he got over her news about how she’d gotten the information. The first thing he’d do when he hung up . . .

  The very first thing he’d do . . . was exactly what Marc had just demanded they stop. Dallas would press harder, he’d dig deeper, and he’d cross Marc and his men along the way.

  Harlan wasn’t sure what she should do, but she knew what she wouldn’t do. There was no way she’d be gasoline on Dallas’s fire. They were apart now. For a good reason. Maybe it was best she kept it that way.

  Chapter 32

  Dallas watched Melissa’s eyes widen with shock as Gabby stoically explained the news. The three of them were crammed in a tiny closet-sized office stacked high with papers and files in every corner.

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Melissa uttered in disbelief. “I mean, excuse my language.” Her tiny hand, half covered by a slightly too long business coat flew to her mouth. “I shouldn’t have said that, but seriously?”

  “You’ve been doing this a while,” Dallas said. “Is this a first for you?”

  “Is it a first for me that a client has an airtight, irrefutable alibi to free him from jail, and he chooses not to divulge it? Yes, that’s new to me. To me and any other reasonable person in the world.”

  “I can see you’re upset,” Gabby offered, but it sounded hollow.

  “Upset?” Melissa asked, standing abruptly and shoving her chair back. “Do you know how many hours I’ve dedicated to this case? For free at that. I’ve passed up dozens of opportunities, I’ve lost sleep. That son of a bitch.” Uncharacteristically loud, Melissa kept her tirade going. “You have got to be kidding me with this. You didn’t for a minute think you, for his sake or for the sake of a real killer being on the loose, should come tell the truth?”

  “Of course I did,” Gabby whined. “I changed my mind a thousand times a day. But I had hope that he’d get out because of some loophole or your hard work. That’s what he had wanted.”

  “What do we do now?” Dallas asked, trying to force the derailed train back on the tracks. “How do get him out of there now that we know?”

  “We just walk in and tell the judge this and they unlock his cell and he walks out,” Melissa quipped sarcastically. “Because all these rules I’ve been hammering you with for the last six months aren’t real. You just do what you want with the law.” Melissa drew in a deep breath and glared at them both.

  “I just found out this morning,” Dallas defended. “I didn’t know. I swear it.”

  “Oh, I believe you. There’s no way you’d have been such a pain in the ass all this time if you had a solution this easy.” Her hand went up to her forehead as she tried to put her thoughts in order. “We need to request an emergency hearing. This will have to be vetted, a forensic analysis of your phone and the photographs will need to be conducted. You’ll need to make a statement to the police on record. This is a huge revelation, but ther
e’s still a process we follow. He’ll get out, but it’ll be at the pace the court can move.”

  “I can live with that,” Dallas nodded. “Just tell me what I can do to help.”

  “Go home.” She pointed at the door. “I need you as far away from this as possible. Don’t try to find the real killer. Don’t meet with Tim. You are the scorned lover of Tim’s alibi. I need this to be clean. I can handle it from here.”

  “I’m no one’s scorned lover,” Dallas chuckled, having found peace with the truth remarkably fast. If Tim and Gabby had told him, he was honest enough with himself to know he’d have blown up at the time. These circumstances, however, the time that had passed, all that was on the line, made it easy to move past any kind of anger.

  “How you feel doesn’t matter,” Melissa corrected. “It’s about perception. Motivation. Conflict of interest. Just do me a favor and walk away from this. You do that, and I’ve got the best shot of getting your friend out of prison.”

  “And what about the real killer?” Gabby asked, the reality of her role in the other person’s freedom finally sinking in.

  “This will return to being an unsolved murder and the police will have to reopen the case.” Melissa jotted down a few frantic notes.

  “It was Larry,” Dallas interjected. “He was at least involved in some way.”

  Melissa was still unwavering in her annoyance. “He’s the person that led the police to the body. I’m sure whether or not you stick your nose in this, they’ll be able to piece that together.”

  “They didn’t the first time,” Dallas snipped back, memories of the lack of justice flooding him.

  “Go somewhere,” Melissa ordered. “Hop a plane. Hit the beach. Do something. But give me time to work this out.”

  “Fine,” Dallas grunted, hardly meaning it.

  “If there is something concrete to report, I’ll contact you right away. You, on the other hand,” Melissa said, pointing accusingly at Gabby, “you might want to grab a snack. You’re going to be here for a while.”

  Dallas stood and extended his hand to Melissa. “Thank you for standing by him. I know how much you put into this. We would not have made it this far without you.”

  “I guess the same should be said about you. I don’t know if you can tell, but I make it a point not to have friends,” Melissa said coolly. “It’s a messy business, caring for people. But if I ever changed my mind and decided to be weak and make a friend, you’d be the kind I want.”

  “Umm . . . thanks,” Dallas said quizzically. “I think.”

  Chapter 33

  “Pack your bags,” Dallas said breathlessly. He looked only slightly better than the last time he stood in this very spot in her living room days earlier.

  “What? Did something happen?” Harlan wrapped her arms around herself and nervously eyed Dallas.

  “Have the girls pack too,” Dallas instructed. “Warm weather clothes. Bathing suits. I’ve already talked to your brother Mathew. He’s going to take care of your mother while we’re gone.”

  “Is there some kind of new threat or something?” She followed Dallas into her bedroom as he hurried around.

  “Yes,” he explained. “There’s a new threat. The threat that I might have blown things with you. The threat that the best woman who has ever walked into my life might walk back out. That’s a risk I’m not willing to gamble on. Come away with me. I bought the tickets. I made all the accommodations. All you have to do is say yes.”

  “Dallas,” she gasped, shaking her head in disbelief.

  “Well, that’s not entirely true. You’re a mom, so you also have to pack half the medicine cabinet, plan for even unlikely inclement weather, call the girls’ preschool and let them know they won’t be in. You’ll have to pack life jackets. Snacks for the plane. They’ll need their devices charged so they can watch movies during the flight. So when I say all you have to do is say yes, I mean, first you have to say yes.”

  “Yes,” she cried. “But what’s changed? How can we make this work?”

  “Tim is going to be exonerated. It’s a long story that apparently ends with me being a scorned lover, betrayed by my best friend and girlfriend. We’ll have a week on the beach for me to explain. Our flight leaves in three hours. Can you pull it off?”

  “You were on the right track with that list,” Harlan said, her head spinning as she tried to think of all she’d need to do. “I can do it.”

  “We can,” Dallas assured her. “Divide and conquer. I promise you won’t have to spend another minute in this alone. I’ve been in a fog for a long time. I’m awake now. I’m awake, and all I want is everything you have to give.”

  “A week at some beach won’t make my life any less of a mess. At some point the plane will touch back down here, and I’ll still have an alcoholic ex-husband. I’ll still have a gambling father. I’ll still have a sick mother. You aren’t getting smooth sailing.”

  “I’d rather take rough seas and be on your boat than live one more day without you. I can be someone you can count on. I can be something you can be sure of.”

  “Dallas,” she gulped, bringing her hands up to his cheeks, holding his face so she could look him dead in the eyes. “Do you know what you’re getting yourself into? Do you have any idea what you’re signing up for?”

  “My eyes are wide open,” he promised. “I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.”

  “What about Larry? What about proving he killed Angus. I can’t be involved in any of that. I made a deal with Marc Azeela, and I can’t go back on that.”

  “You did what?” Dallas asked, pulling her hands gently down from his face and leaning back so he could see her better. “You made a deal with him? How did you do that?”

  “I caused a diversion here at the house, ditched my security detail, and tracked Marc down at the ice rink his son was playing hockey at. Then I made him give me his word that my daughters would never again be pawns in his game.” She attempted to explain it the way one might give someone directions to the closest mall, but Dallas was not fooled.

  “He could have killed you,” Dallas said. “That was a crazy thing to do.”

  “I know,” she agreed. “But it was worth it because he made me that promise, and I believe him. My girls will be safe.”

  “You are . . .” Dallas was shaking his head disapprovingly, still looking as though this might be some kind of joke. “You are an amazing woman,” he finished.

  “I’m not,” she challenged. “I’m a mom. An ordinary mom who took her life back. But I can’t get involved in trying to get Larry behind bars. Marc told me he knows for sure Larry killed Angus. He confirmed it.”

  “He did?” Dallas asked, his brows knitting together. “And he hasn’t killed him?”

  “I got the impression it was like a cat playing with a mouse right before he eats him. Larry getting arrested and going to trial isn’t part of the equation as far as Marc is concerned. He’s got his own justice lined up.”

  “I wanted Tim free,” Dallas said, nodding like he was trying to convince himself. “He will be. The police will reopen the case and have no choice but to look at Larry as a prime suspect. I have to stop searching somewhere. My own life is waiting for me.”

  “Mine is too.” Harlan smiled, falling into his open arms and pressing her head to his chest. “Your heart is racing,” she whispered.

  “It’s in a hurry to tell you something,” he explained. “I love you. I love all the things you are. Bossy. Scared. Frustrated. Smart. Brave. Opinionated. Loyal. I love it all.”

  “I love you too,” she said, leaning back to look up at him. “I have no idea what I’m supposed to do from minute to minute but I know that. And it’s enough. Loving you is enough to hold on to while we figure everything else out.”

  “Dallas!” the girls shouted as they rounded the corner into Harlan’s bedroom. “You’re back!” The girls’ arms were around the two adults, joining the hug as though it was the most natural thing in the world.


  “Who wants to go to the beach?” Dallas asked, leaning in to kiss Harlan. The girls squealed with excitement, hopping up and down.

  “All together?” Anna asked, looking up suspiciously at them. “All four of us go to the beach?”

  “Yes,” Harlan smiled, tears wetting her cheeks.

  “Don’t cry, Mom,” Logan said, with a pout. “You love the beach.”

  “I do,” Harlan agreed. “I’m just so happy.”

  “It’s back, Mom,” Anna said, pointing at her mother’s face. “You’re big whole face smile is back.”

  “Get used to seeing it,” Dallas promised. “Because we’re all going to have big giant whole face smiles.”

  “Dallas,” Logan said, calling him down to her level. “You don’t get to leave again. It makes mommy hurt.”

  “Never again kid,” he vowed. “I’m going to be around so much you’ll be sick of me.”

  Her tiny arms wrapped around his neck and squeezed. “I won’t get sick of you, but,” she leaned away and touched his cheek, “your face is too scratchy.”

  “I’ll shave,” he agreed. “Because I want all these hugs I can get.”

  Chapter 34

  Hot sand and a calm sea was the best medicine Harlan could have asked for. Her oversized sun hat flapped gently in the wind as the sun kissed her skin. It was as if her life had emotionally moved from the arctic to the sunny beach they were sitting on.

  “May I bring you some more fruit?” the beach waiter asked, a large empty tray in his hand to collect their empty glasses.

  “I think the girls would love that,” Harlan said. “They’re big fans of yours, Gunny.”

  “I’m big fans of theirs too.” The waiter winked. “Good girls you have there. They are so well behaved.”