When Romance Prevails (The Dark Horse Trilogy Book 3) (7 page)

BOOK: When Romance Prevails (The Dark Horse Trilogy Book 3)
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“You’re right. We’re like fish waiting in a barrel. Only the guy with a gun hasn’t found the barrel yet. We really should move on somewhere else as soon as we can. I’m just not sure how I feel about rushing to California when we’re still not sure what we have here.”

“What do you mean?”

Kerri’s eyebrow traveled halfway up her forehead. “You just essentially asked me to move in with you. Well, you didn’t even ask. You assumed I would be into the idea. But we only recently decided that we love each other, never mind what we want for our immediate future. Everything has happened so quickly. From us meeting, to our first night together, to dating and… well, it’s a rush. In every sense of the word. Need I go on?”

“No.” Hunter stood up from the table and approached his girlfriend. “I assumed too much. Got caught up in the moment, I suppose. But honestly, Kerri,” he sat next to her, hand in his, “right now I can’t think of another woman I want in my life more than you. We would be crazy to not try and make this work.”

“Especially after everything else we’ve been through, right?” Kerri squeezed his hand.

It wasn’t just that, though. It was everything else they had been through together, even though it didn’t seem like much now.
I scaled her balcony for her.
Hunter couldn’t think of any other woman he would do that for. “Yes. It may not seem like much to some, but we’re taking big risks doing this.”

“What risks? The risks are over. It’s been done. What happens from now is what will happen.” Kerri sucked in her breath. “Although I feel that I should make it clear right now that I’m not running off to marry you. Let’s take
some
things slowly.”

“Of course.” Hunter held up and kissed the back of her hand. “We’ve rushed through a lot of the other good stuff anyway. Don’t you think we should slow down a bit and… enjoy it?”

Kerri answered that with a kiss to his cheek – a kiss that quickly turned into something more the moment Hunter felt that rush in his blood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 6

 

It was a cold, gray day one week before the election when the tides changed.

Hunter sat at the table, giving himself frown lines as he tried to plan their next escape.
We can’t stay here another week.
He was starting to get strange looks in the small town.
But how can we get to California?
Kerri had finally agreed to go with him for a short period of time, at least until the election results died down. “I’ll send them word once we’re settled there,” she said. “As for how long we’ll be there, we’ll figure that out later.”

That was all well and good, but gave Hunter a new challenge. Getting there would not be easy. They could drive it, but then they ran the risk of having the car recognized. Flying was an option, but there were no private pilots who Hunter trusted to keep quiet until they were on the other side of the country. Commercial airlines were definitely out. At that point he wouldn’t be worried about being tracked – just caught before they could step one foot on the plane.

We are acting like criminals.
By now he was jaded, not to Kerri, but to living like this. Days had blended into weeks, and now Kerri had enough cabin fever to send her out wandering around the cabin early in the mornings. She did not dare go into town, even with Hunter – especially with Hunter. But she made it clear that the next place they went would allow her to roam like a damned human being. “I gave up one prison for another,” she mumbled. Yet she did not ask Hunter to take her back to the mansion.

She didn’t need to. For on that cold and gray morning they received an unexpected visitor.

“Oh no,” Kerri muttered, moving as if she were going to hide in the bathroom. “Black cars are never a good sign.”

Indeed it was a black car, pulling up the driveway to the cabin. Hunter froze in the window, watching the sedan turn around.
It’s not my father’s car.
It could have been Mitchell’s. But last he heard they preferred Town Cars to the kind of car now parked in the driveway.

“What do we do?” Kerri asked. There was no back door. “Who is it?”

“It’ll be fine.” A man got out of the car, dressed like a bodyguard.
Not my father’s man.
Of course, things could have changed in the days since Kerri and Hunter ran away together. “We shouldn’t try to run. We’re not guilty of anything.” They acted like it was the police.

No, not the police. The man now getting out of the car wasn’t even on the level of Terrence Hall or Raymond Mitchell.

It was Joshua Payne, and he wore the solemn face of a man who did not want to be there.

Kerri came to the window now and gasped. Clearly she did not anticipate this turn of events either. “What is he doing here?” she asked. “You didn’t invite him, did you?”

“No.” Hunter closed the curtains and waited for the inevitable as Joshua and his small entourage approached the cabin.

Sure enough, there was a knock at the door.

Kerri dithered between standing behind Hunter or getting as far away as possible. She ended up sitting on the end of their bed and waiting, her eyes large and her hand spread across her chest.
Still your heart, love.
Hunter squared his shoulders and opened the door.

“Mr. Hall,” said Joshua, his face as grim as it was when he got out of his car. “I trust that you are doing well in your seclusion?”

Hunter could only say the first thing to pop into his head. “How’d you know we’re here?”

“I told you, Mr. Hall, I have dedicated men and women that you would never suspect. The proprietor of this cabin called me the day you two showed up. Rest assured, I kept your secret safe.”

Hunter gritted his teeth. He really could trust no one. “What do you want with us?”

A drizzle began falling outside, but the men in dark suits continued to stand there as if it did not bother them. “I’m assuming you’ve heard the news.”

“No, I haven’t.” What news? Where? When?
Who?
“I haven’t been into town yet.”

“Oh dear.” Joshua glanced into the cabin and saw Kerri sitting on the bed. “You two best come with me then. It’ll be easier to show you than to tell you.” When neither Hunter nor Kerri moved, he continued, “I won’t take you home, unless that’s where you want to go. But I don’t think you’re going to want to today. Or tomorrow.”

By now Kerri was at the door, her hand shooting through the opening as if to grab Joshua by the jacket. “What’s happened to my parents?” Her body teetered in fright, and she had to catch herself on the doorframe. Hunter put a protective hand on her shoulder.

“Sorry, they’re fine, for the most part. No accidents, no terror plots… nothing like that. Sorry to make you worry so.” Joshua stepped away from the stoop. “Come with me. It’s a bit of a drive to my place, and we’ll want to get started. Bring your things. If I can find you here, anyone can.”

Joshua waited in the car while Hunter and Kerri wandered around the cabin in a daze, packing this and making sure they didn’t forget that. Hunter had paid up the cabin for the rest of the week, so there was no need to check out right now. Not that he wanted to see the proprietor anyway.
He can go to hell.
Didn’t matter that he was on the side of Joshua Payne.

It was a good thing Joshua’s house was far away – a good two hour drive, back over the state line – because Hunter was too angry to speak and Kerri was too overwhelmed to do more than stare out the window of the car. The three of them got into the back of the car while the bodyguard rode up front with the driver. The other men joined another car at the bottom of the hill beyond the driveway. That car went first up the road while Joshua’s car brought up the rear.

Hunter kept his eyes on either person beside him. His hand went around Kerri’s as she continued to stare at the passing countryside just before they turned onto the interstate. After that, there was little to look at, and Keri bowed her head, perhaps in sleep. It did not stop Hunter from holding her hand even after his began to go numb.

“What is this really about?” he asked Joshua, who held a tablet up to his face. “Something doesn’t smell right. Did you do something?”

The tablet came down, but Hunter could not see what was on it. “No. I’ve done nothing but come fetch you on my own accord. But I think it’s wise if we wait to discuss it until we get to my home. It’ll be much easier to digest the information there.”

So they rode in Joshua’s car for the longest time, both Kerri and Hunter grumbling that something felt off. Kerri, of course, assumed the worst: that her parents were in danger or on their death beds. Joshua reassured her multiple times that this was not the case, but since he would not divulge what was really going on, Kerri only became more frantic.

“It’s about my father, isn’t it?” They turned off the freeway and finally made the final lurch toward Joshua’s house in a cozy suburb. “Don’t you lie to me.”

To that Joshua only said, “All right. I won’t lie to you.”

Before Kerri could open her mouth again, the car turned up a private driveway and took them to the Payne house. It was a good size. Not as big as the Halls’ manor, and definitely not as big as the Governor’s Mansion. But it had an old world charm to it, with updated brickwork, a terraced garden, and enough privacy to host a party nobody else would know about.
Quaint.
Any other day and Hunter would go out of his way to admire the place.

It was good to get out of the car. They stretched for a few moments before being ushered in the front door, where a mutt and two boys lounged in the living room. The dog wagged its tail at their presence, but the boys stayed in place the moment their father held up a finger to his lips and lead his guests to a large office in the back of the house.

“Have a seat.” He motioned to a leather couch along the far side of the wall. The bodyguard stood at the doorway, and Joshua’s campaign manager stepped in to sit with the man behind the desk. Joshua picked up a remote and turned on the flat screen TV hanging on the wall. “Brace yourselves. This isn’t going to be pretty.”

Kerri latched onto Hunter’s arm and bit his shirt. The TV flashed on to reveal one of the local news channels.

“Dad,” she said, and sure enough, Raymond Mitchell was standing at a podium in front of the state capital. Brenda was to the side and behind, her face as somber as the Pope’s on the first day of reckoning. Raymond didn’t look much better himself, what with the sweat sheen on his head and his body shifting back and forth on his heels as if he had something to hide.

He did.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he began, his voice cracking. “There’s been a lot going on lately. Usually the matters of my personal life do not bleed into my abilities to perform as your governor. But as you may have heard lately, that reality has blurred.” He cleared his throat, not once, but twice. Behind him, Brenda forced her chin up and became more determined to not falter under whatever pressure held her down. “By now you know about the accusations that have recently come out against me. I admit, every one of them is true.”

The audience he spoke before gasped. “What allegations?” Kerri stood up from the couch, her body turning toward Joshua Payne but her voice for anyone listening. “What’s going on?”

Hunter encouraged her to sit back down. Neither Joshua nor anyone else said a word.

“For the past two years I’ve been gambling away every dollar I have. At first it was just for fun. Horse races, casinos… my own personal money that didn’t matter. Then it got worse. I started gambling on the internet whenever I felt stressed. In this position, you are always stressed. I soon ran out of money. I started taking money…” He choked again, “As you have heard, I have been using tax money to fund my addiction.”

This time the gasps were full of anger.
So this is what it’s like to watch a political career tank in front of you.
Hunter looked to his girlfriend, who slapped one hand against her face and could say not a word. “Kerri,” he began, but all she did was shake her head and hold back the tears of a betrayed daughter.

Joshua turned off the television. “That was broadcasted a few hours ago. The full scandal broke yesterday, and I decided to find you two before things got worse. I figured you had cut yourself off from the going ons around here.”

“Who leaked the story? My father?” Hunter remembered something about Terrence having some dirt on the Mitchells. Was it this?

“There have been rumors for quite a few months now. Rumors that Governor Mitchell managed to squash before they got any traction in the media and middle circles.” Joshua got up from his desk, nodded to his campaign manager, and pulled a newspaper from his drawer. “The Tribune was the same one to leak a full exposé.”

“The same reporter who found out about Kerri and me?”

“No, but it’s clear that someone on staff there has access to these rumors.” Joshua handed Hunter the paper. Sure enough, the headline “GOVERNOR GAMBLING TAX MONEY” graced the top of the page. “I’m sorry, Miss Mitchell. This must be hard.”

Kerri sniffed something and rubbed her right eye. “My mother kept saying that there was money missing from the accounts. She thought someone was stealing. I doubt she would have ever expected my father… there goes his reelection.”

BOOK: When Romance Prevails (The Dark Horse Trilogy Book 3)
3.51Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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