Stolen Seduction (38 page)

when I was a child, but what would the harm have been in telling me now? Why the secrecy and

this stupid treasure hunt if all he really wanted to do was lead me to you?”

“I don’t know,” Stella said quietly. “I wish I did, but—”

“Because he couldn’t.”

Hailey turned at the sound of a voice she knew all too well.

Graham was standing just on the edge of the grass. “He couldn’t, Hailey. It was part of the prenuptial agreement Eleanor and her father made him sign.”

“Graham, don’t.”

Hailey flinched at the sound of Eleanor’s voice, and all three of them looked toward the shadow of

a large magnolia tree.

What the…?

“Why not, Eleanor?” Graham’s voice hardened. “Garrett’s dead. It’s time all of it came out. Once

and for all. She already knows about Stella.”

“All of what?” Hailey asked, looking between the two, a strange feeling brewing in her chest.

Eleanor never looked away from Graham. “Don’t do this.”

He stared at her, then finally said, “Eleanor doesn’t care who runs Roarke Resorts, Hailey. Not really. McIntosh was a good choice because she thought she could control him. But she couldn’t. Could

you, Eleanor? He went off on his own, tried to find Garrett’s bronzes without you. Recruited his

girlfriend, Lucy, to get the ones he couldn’t get on his own. Like Bryan’s. And Nicole’s. And mine.”

“That’s enough.”

“You’re right, it is. I should have spoken up when Garrett died.”

“I didn’t kill my husband.”

“No, you didn’t,” Graham said, still watching her. “But you caused it. Just like I did. It ate at him.

All these years. The documents you and your father made him sign, the ones that prohibited Hailey

from ever getting a piece of a company that was rightfully hers if he ever told her the truth about

Stella. The way you belittled Nicole so she’d never be interested in RR. You made them miserable.

All of them. Fractured what little happiness they could have had because of your need to control.

Because of your need to make sure no one knew what you’d done—what we’d done. Garrett put up

with it for a long time until it broke him. Until he was convinced there was no other way. When he

found out he had that heart condition—”

“I didn’t kill him!”

A chill spread down Hailey’s spine.

“No,” Graham said, his tone rising. “But you didn’t do anything to stop it, either. You knew he’d

gone to see Stella. That she’d turned him away. And even then, when he came to you and told you

he wanted out, you laughed in his face. Called him crazy. You’re still controlling everything, after

all this time, aren’t you? No one would have cared how his affair impacted you thirty-five years later.”

“I cared!”

Graham shook his head sadly. “That was the problem. You did, so much you wouldn’t let him go,

even now. I found him, Eleanor. In his office. The night you were with your boyfriend. I found him

with the heart medication he’d swiped from my kitchen even though he knew an overdose would do

exactly what his doctors were trying to prevent.”

Hailey gasped. Her father had killed himself?

“He did that to spite me!” Eleanor yelled. “Even in death he couldn’t be the husband I always needed. He had to get the last word in.”

“He died because you and I ruined his life! Don’t you see? You and all your poisonous weeds were

choking everything he’d created. He didn’t want that for Hailey and Nicole. It might not be the way

any of us would have done it, but this treasure hunt of his made sense to him. And in the end it did

exactly what your precious prenuptial agreement was supposed to prevent. It set the truth free.”

“His will means nothing!”

Graham shook his head, a mixture of rage and heartache brewing in his eyes. “Madeline called me.

I know what you did to my son.”

He turned quickly to face Stella before Eleanor could answer. “Thirty-five years ago your father

died of a heart attack—”

“Graham, don’t!” Eleanor screamed.

“—it wasn’t a heart attack. It was murder. Calculated so no one would know. So you would be left

alone with no choice but to take Eleanor’s offer and walk away from Garrett for good.”

“No…” Stella’s hand flew to her mouth.

“I helped her,” Graham said with gut-wrenching sorrow. “God, I shouldn’t have. But I loved her.

My wife had just left me with Bryan, and Eleanor had been the one person I could confide in, because she’d gone through the same thing with Garrett. I…I was blinded by her. And when Eleanor

came to me with the idea, I thought just the attempt would be enough to prove my loyalty to her. To

get her to see I was the man for her and not Garrett. Your father wasn’t supposed to die, Stella. I

swear that to you now. I calculated a low dosage. I didn’t know his heart was so weak, but then he

—”

The sound of a gunshot ripped through the stillness of the early evening air.

No!

The bullet hit Graham dead center in the back. His eyes flew wide. He gasped in a breath. Then he

was falling forward, toward Stella. Falling down…

Stella screamed. Hailey ran forward to catch him. “Graham!”

She got to him before he could take Stella down with him. He was heavy, slamming into Hailey

with all his weight. They both went to the ground hard, and Hailey rolled him, unable to believe

what had just happened. Her eyes flashed to Eleanor, holding the gun in her rock-steady hand. Hailey’s training kicked in, and she quickly assessed the situation. Realizing her bag with the Beretta

was ten feet away and Eleanor’s barrel was trained on them, she knew there was nothing she could

do until she got Graham stable.

Blood poured out the exit wound in Graham’s chest. She scrambled to her knees and pressed against

the wound to stop the bleeding. Tears sprang to her eyes when she realized it was useless. “Graham,

no, no, no…”

“Hailey…” His hand closing over hers on his chest stopped her frantic movements. She focused on

his kind slate gray eyes, even as her vision blurred and a sob caught in her throat. “I told…Madeline…to go to the police. She said…it was an accident. You believe her…don’t you?”

“Yes,” she whispered, not understanding his words but hoping to comfort him. “Yes. Of course it

was.”

That seemed to calm him. He closed his eyes, his hand tightening around hers. “Tell Nicole how

sorry I am. I love her. I…love you…like my own. I’m sorry. So sorry…for all of it.”

“No. Don’t go,” Hailey said, squeezing his hand. “Not like this. Graham…”

“I warned him,” Eleanor said from across the yard. “If he had just listened to me, this would not

have happened.”

Graham took a stuttering breath. His grip relaxed, and his eyes lost focus. As Hailey felt him dying,

she didn’t care about what he’d done. All that mattered was that he’d come here to try to make

amends.

“Graham…no, please…”

“We need to call an ambulance.” Stella made a move at Hailey’s side.

Her scream brought Hailey’s head around until she was staring at the woman she’d thought was her

mother, pulling Stella backward by the hair with a gun aimed at the other woman’s temple.

Oh, God. She was going to kill them, too.

“There will be no ambulance,” Eleanor said coldly. “No one to rescue you. This is your fault. Don’t

you see that? If it weren’t for you, none of this would ever have happened.”

The pain in Hailey’s chest was fresh and raw, but the voice ringing in her ears pushed it down with

a wave of rage.

Eleanor’s eyes were wild and black as night. “I tried to make things right. I worked so hard so that

no one ever knew what you’d done. I even raised your miserable daughter for you, but you still

managed to come back to ruin my life. This is my life!” she screamed. “I’m not going to let you ruin it anymore!”

“Eleanor,” Hailey said calmly, pushing slowly to her feet, “put the gun down. Enough people have

already been hurt.”

“You.” Eleanor’s frantic eyes swung Hailey’s direction. “If you had stayed out of it, Graham would

still be alive. You did this!”

Hailey held up her hands. Her eyes shifted to her bag, where she’d left her gun, then back to

Eleanor. How long until someone from the house came running? They had to have heard the shot.

They knew Stella was down here. The woman who’d given Hailey directions knew Stella wasn’t

alone.

Eleanor kicked Hailey’s bag away, looking smug. “No one’s coming to save you.” The gun in her

hand shook. “They’ll call it a murder-suicide. You came down here looking for Stella, and Graham

followed. He knew you were going to turn him in for what he’d done. He killed both of you, then

shot himself. I’ll make sure the police link Andrew Adams’s death back to your father’s. Both of

them died by the same poison. They’ll know Graham was the mastermind behind it all.”

As Eleanor rationalized it all out loud, Hailey sensed she had minutes, seconds before Eleanor started firing. Eleanor’s eyes were barely tracking. She knew she was trapped.

“I know what it’s like to love someone who doesn’t want you,” Hailey said quickly. Eleanor’s surprised eyes darted her way. Seemed to focus. Yes, keep looking at me. “To give your heart to someone and have them trample it. I’ve been there. Not once, but twice.”

“Men are pigs.”

“They are,” Hailey agreed. Inched forward. Hoped she could lull Eleanor enough to make a move

for the gun.

“I could have told you that thief you married was a loser. But, no, you didn’t listen to me, either.

You never did.”

“He was,” Hailey lied, willing to say anything to keep Eleanor distracted. “The other one…” She

thought of Shane. “He didn’t want me, either. So you and I, we’re not all that different. I know what

you’re feeling.”

“You don’t know,” Eleanor said. “Not unless he left you for a slut like this. Do you know what I

gave up for your father? Do you know how hard I worked to make him love me? But he wouldn’t.

Not after her.”

Eleanor’s eyes flicked to Stella, then back to Hailey and suddenly widened as she realized Hailey

had moved close. And whatever calm she’d slowly been sliding into imploded. “Oh, I don’t think

so.” She took a big step back, tightened her hand in Stella’s hair and pulled until Stella yelped. “I

see what you’re doing, and it won’t work. You’re not getting away this time.”

Hailey’s adrenaline pulsed. If it weren’t for the gun pressed against Stella’s temple, Hailey could

take the woman. She was stronger than Eleanor, and she had youth on her side. But she was too

afraid Stella would get caught in the cross fire. She’d already lost her father and Graham. She

wasn’t about to lose the mother she’d just found.

And that’s when she noticed a shadow shift ever so slightly in the trees behind Eleanor.

Shane.

She could just make out his eyes, peering back at her in the dense foliage as Stella and Eleanor argued.

Her heart jumped as their eyes locked. A silent communication where she knew impetuousness and

doing things on her own wasn’t going to save her or Stella. She had to rely on him. He was here.

He’d come for her. Even after she’d told him she never wanted to see him again.

“Enough arguing!” Eleanor bellowed. “Say good-bye to your daughter.” She pulled the gun from

Stella’s temple, pointed it at Hailey.

“No!” Stella screamed.

The gun bobbled, started to move back to Stella, and Hailey didn’t hesitate. She dropped low and

lunged for Stella.

Two shots rang out, almost simultaneously. Followed quickly by another. And another.

Hailey’s right side hit the ground. A searing burn suddenly erupted like fire in her shoulder. Stella

grunted as she landed with a thud.

“Hailey!”

Footsteps pounded across the ground.

“Hailey!” Stella rolled out from under Hailey and scrambled to her knees. “She’s bleeding! Help

me, she’s bleeding!”

Hailey gasped as Shane skidded to his knees at her side. “Christ Jake, hold on, Hailey. We need an

ambulance.”

Stella leaped to her feet, then was gone.

Shane’s gun hit the ground near her head. She looked up at the hazy clouds rushing by overhead as

he pulled her shirt out of the way. “Eleanor…”

“She’s gone. Don’t worry about her.” He ripped off his T-shirt and pressed it against her shoulder.

“Jesus, are you trying for matching scars? Because this isn’t the way to go about getting one.”

The panic in his voice belied his snarky words, and she closed her eyes. Rescuing her was one

thing. Being worried about her…that was something she couldn’t let herself think about. Not now.

“What are you doing here, Maxwell? I thought I told you to”—she grimaced as he pushed down

—“get lost.”

“Yeah, well,” he said as he worked, making her feel like a rag doll in the process, “I figure you

don’t listen to me, no reason I should listen to you.” She ground her teeth against the pain as he

wrapped his shirt up and around her shoulder.

“I need an ambulance!” he hollered.

Voices and yelling could be heard from way off. The pounding of feet getting closer. Shane’s labored breathing.

Hailey closed her eyes and tried to focus on nothing.

“Come on, Roarke,” he said. “Tell me what a jerk I am. Tell me how you want to kick my ass. We

both know I deserve it.”

“I don’t have the energy.” She was suddenly dog tired. More exhausted than she’d been her whole

life. And ready to be done with everything. Him, her family, all the lies and hurt. Especially the

ache in her chest that was growing by leaps and bounds after everything she’d seen and learned today. “You saved the girl, Maxwell. Got the bad guy—”