The Barrington Billionaires Collection 1

by Danielle Stewart

  “Marc?” she asked in a friendly tone, few heads turning her way. “I didn’t realize Donavan was playing today.”

  “What . . .uh,” Marc Azeela stammered, instantly ushering her off to a quieter spot. When everyone else was out of ear shot, his face twisted in anger. “What the hell are you doing here? The deal was pretty clear. Stay the hell out of my way. I didn’t want to see or hear from any of your family, or we’d have problems.”

  “I never agreed to that deal. I didn’t agree to much of anything that day.” Her chin was tipped up as she swallowed hard, his hand tight on her arm as he led her farther away from the rink.

  “What kind of game are you playing?” he hissed.

  “No game. I just came to talk to you. To ask you a favor, really. I read in the paper that your son had won the town championships and would be playing regional games here today. I wanted to watch you with him for a while and figure out what kind of father you were.”

  “What is this?” he asked, an incensed bite in his voice.

  “Are you the kind of dad that shouts at him when he misses the puck? Do you yank him off the ice and scream when he blows a play? But you don’t. You cheer him on. You had so much pride on your face when he scored that goal.”

  “Listen lady, my patience is getting pretty thin. If you’re here to ask for your money back, I can stop you right there. Just because your dad is a gambling addict, it isn’t my problem. A debt is a debt.”

  “I’m not here because of that. This isn’t about the money. I don’t want that back. I want my life back. The day you took me and my daughters, you changed us. They are different now than they were before that night. I’m a different mother than I was. Our lives were already upside down. My husband had left, and we were already in disarray.”

  “You’re here for an apology? I’m in church every Sunday. I give my confession to the priest. I’m not looking for anywhere else to repent.”

  “Not an apology,” she explained. “I think you have your reasons for doing what you do, even if I don’t agree with it. And I’m sure one of those reasons is down on that ice. Parents, we always want better for our kids than we had.”

  “Your girls were sweet, I wasn’t trying to scare them. I tried to avoid that. Believe it or not I don’t make the rules in this world. There’s money to collect, and I have to get it. Nothing makes people pay faster than their love for their children.”

  “I know that too,” she agreed. “It’s another reason I came here today. It’s why I hoped this would work.”

  “What would work?” he asked nervously, looking around as though some master plan of hers was about to unfold.

  “I am asking you to please give me your word that no matter what happens with my father—or the rest of my family or anyone else—my children will not be used as pawns ever again. I won’t ask you to extend that to me or anyone else, just them. I can’t parent them like this. You know the world is full of worries. I can’t walk around wondering if next week or next year they’ll be taken from me. I’m begging you please promise me this.”

  “Why in the world would you believe a promise I make?” he scoffed.

  “Because I don’t imagine a man who is as powerful and respected as you can make it this far without being true to his word.”

  Marc was silent, staring over at his son as he took to the ice again. “Fine,” he agreed somewhat reluctantly. “Your girls are out of this. You don’t have to worry about them as far as me or my men are concerned. But you need to understand how badly this could have gone for you today, walking in here. The risk—”

  She cut him off. “There is nothing I wouldn’t risk for my children. I can’t think of a single thing I wouldn’t do to make their lives better. Surely you understand that.”

  “I do,” he said, diverting his eyes.

  “Thank you,” she whispered as she turned to walk away, but he caught her arm again.

  “I know things,” he threatened. “And I know you want to know them too.”

  “What are you talking about?” Harlan asked, nervous again for the first time since she’d walked in.

  “You want to know who killed Angus Durrah, right? Well, I know. Don’t act like you weren’t hoping this might come up too.”

  Chapter 30

  Dallas heard the knock on his door but he didn’t move. He’d been awake for nearly thirty hours and was now finally lying in his bed; nothing would get him up.

  “Dallas, it’s Gabby. Open the door.” She banged again. “I know you’re in there. Your truck is outside.”

  “Gabby?” he croaked, sliding back into his jeans and a T-shirt. It had been six months since he’d seen his ex-girlfriend, and their ending had such finality to it, he hadn’t expected to hear from her again. Pulling the heavy door open, he set his eyes on someone who looked just about as broken as he was. “What’s the matter?” he asked, stretching the ache out of his back and blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

  “You look like shit,” she said, pushing her way into the apartment.

  “No offense, but you kind of do too. It’s been a while. I wasn’t expecting to see you again. What’s wrong?” He probably would have offered her a seat, but she was already flopping down on the couch.

  “We need to talk—” she started. He was too tired to talk and thought a preemptive strike would be best. Their relationship had been filled with hundreds of conversations that started that way.

  “If Tim sent you to check on me you’d better not tell him a damn thing about me. He can’t have it both ways. He’s acting ridiculous, considering what’s at stake.”

  “Tim didn’t send me,” she corrected. “As a matter of fact, if he knew I was here, he’d never forgive me.”

  “What are you talking about?” Dallas asked, eyeing her suspiciously. Gabby was never one to cause trouble just for the fun of it. She was a passionate debater, always down for a good argument but only when it had a purpose. This seemed different, somehow more critical. They weren’t about to launch into their opinions on nuclear bombs or vaccines.

  “Tell me if he’s out of options,” she begged, blinking away tears. “I heard about the car being burned. Was that his last chance? I know there are possibilities of other appeals and stuff, but can he really get out of there with just what they have today?”

  Gabby and Tim had always gotten along well. Usually they spent their time together poking fun at all of Dallas’s quirks. She’d been as motivated as Dallas to get Tim free, but like everyone else, as their relationship dissolved, so did her involvement.

  “I’m not giving up,” he stated, but she looked unfazed by his words. “I can get him out of there.”

  “You can’t,” Gabby murmured. “But I can.”

  “How can you free him?” Dallas mocked, positive he must have heard her wrong. Nothing about this was simple, and Gabby certainly didn’t have any kind of magic bullet to fix it.

  “I’m his alibi for that night,” she said, dropping her head down and shaking her legs like a nervous tick.

  “It doesn’t work that way, Gabby. I appreciate the fact that you’d be willing to do that for him, but the cops will be able to prove you weren’t there. There’re telephone records, cameras at whatever stores you walked into during that time, credit card statements. They won’t just take your word for it.”

  Gabby waved a hand to quiet him, gathering what looked like all her strength to continue speaking. “I was with him that night, Dallas. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. My cell phone would ping the tower by his house. Because I was there. The pictures we took would have a time stamp and date. There would be enough to prove I’m telling the truth.”

  “How could you pull all that off?” Dallas asked, still trying to understand. “Is this something you’ve been planning?”

  “You’re not listening to me. This isn’t an elaborate plan. It’s the truth. Tim begged me not to say anything. He was so damn worried about betraying you that he would rather sit in jail for a crim
e he didn’t commit. I should have told you before, but I kept hoping justice would be served, and they’d realize Tim didn’t do it. But now, now I’m worried he’ll be in there forever if I don’t tell the truth.”

  “I don’t understand,” Dallas stammered. “You were together that night? Like together?”

  “Yes,” she admitted sheepishly, looking half relieved that he was finally starting to understand. “A few weeks earlier, you and I had a stupid fight about something, and I ran into Tim. We started talking, and he offered me a ride home. Everything just kind of snowballed from there. It’s something we both regret now, obviously. I understand if you hate me and hate him, but he can’t keep doing this. I had to tell someone.”

  “He’s had an alibi this entire time? Something with hard proof where he was that night? There’s no way. No one would put themselves through that just to keep from hurting someone else. That doesn’t make sense.”

  “I wouldn’t,” she said, half laughing. “You wouldn’t either. But Tim would. He’s loyal on a completely different level. There is nothing he wouldn’t do to protect the people he cares about. That includes my reputation and your feelings.”

  “That’s why he was freaking out about me being happy, having a life. He thinks he robbed me of happiness?” Dallas looked at Gabby and chuckled in an awkward and humorless way. “I’m not trying to be a dick, but you and I were not in love. We were not going to ride off into the sunset.”

  “I know that,” she sighed, nodding her agreement. “But Tim betrayed you. The photographs that would have been shown in court to prove where he was would embarrass me and hurt you. He can’t move past that. Prison is the cross he thinks he has to bear right now. He believes at some point the real facts about the murder will come out, and he can be freed without having to hurt you.”

  “This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Dallas announced, pacing around his small studio apartment, his fingers pinched to the bridge of his nose. “I’m going to kill him.”

  “I was trying to respect what he wanted. I figured if he was willing to do this, who am I to take that from him? But that was only when I thought it would be a short time before he was out. Then you kept ruining your own life along the way, and it was driving him mad. He was trying to protect you from everything, and the one thing he couldn’t protect you from was yourself.”

  “I’m going to get him exonerated, and then I’m going to kill him,” Dallas said, raking his hands over his head, trying to get the information to sink in.

  “I’m sorry, Dallas,” she whispered as she headed for the door. “I’ll go on record, make a formal statement. Whatever has to happen. I’ve got the phone records and the pictures. I’ve been sick over this for a long time.”

  “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 w
hat 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?”