Atonement by Winter Austin Read Free Book Online Page A

Hamilton picked up stray items lying around his barn and gathered feed for the stalled horses, Nic leaned a shoulder into the door frame and watched him.
    “I took a risk hiring you for this job. The mayor and town council were against me bringing you on. Feared you were damaged goods after coming home from the war. I said no.”
    The muscles in her shoulders coiled tautly. Somehow the town council had figured out what she hoped no one except her family knew.
    “Rivers, do I need to be worried?”
    She pushed upright. “No, sir.” Craning her neck, she shifted to loosen her shoulders. “We all have rough days. Right?”
    Hamilton’s gaze narrowed on her. “For some, it’s tougher.”
    A chill lanced her veins. How far would he push to get the truth? “Look, I called O’Hanlon because it was a bit awkward calling my boss about a shooting that might get him in trouble.”
    The suspicion left his craggy features. Sighing, Hamilton headed outside. “If that’s your story.”
    Story or not, that’s all he was getting. Her ponytail whipped in the wind. She looked at the sky and grimaced. “I need to get home before that storm hits.”
    He glanced up. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    “Yeah, later.” She jogged to her Jeep.
    She slammed the door and hesitated before turning over the engine. No more slip-ups. One more and she could kiss this job good-bye, too.
    The Jeep purred to life; she shifted into gear and spewed gravel. Once on the pavement she shifted into a higher gear.
    All day, she’d managed to keep a hold on her sanity. All day, she’d buried the images that haunted her. The threads unraveled one at a time. Seth Moore’s suicide brought it forward—the stench, the horror, and the hysterical weeping.
    Nic’s knuckles paled as the steering wheel leather squeaked under her grip. The differences between the two incidents were not lost on her. But she had a personal stake in the first.
    Her chin trembled. Nic shook her head hard. No, she wouldn’t succumb to her weakness. He made the wrong choice. He’d been weaker. She wasn’t.
    Nic tilted her chin higher and sighed. The alcohol had to go. She’d empty the house of the liquor and think about getting rid of the pills. Suicide wasn’t the way out of this.
    Her driveway loomed. The headlights slashed through the building gloom, revealing the bent and shuddering trees. The Jeep tires rumbled over the bridge’s wood slats. Hopefully the storm wouldn’t dredge up a mess and block the bridge.
    Sucking in deep breaths, she managed to strap down her emotions. Color flooded into her hands. She had a good plan in place. As long as she stuck to it, she’d be fine.
    The Jeep rounded the curve, and the headlights landed on a familiar silver sedan parked in the drive.
    “Ah, hell no.”

Chapter Six
    “How the hell did you find me?” The windows rattled as Nic banged open the front door. The inclement weather outside was nothing compared to the storm raging in her body.
    She had done everything possible to keep her family from locating her, except change her name or wipe herself from existence. Even with The General’s connections, she’d managed to keep him in the dark, thanks to a few people in certain government positions who still liked her. Nic went so far as to make all of her purchases in cash only. So, how had her baby sister done what the old man couldn’t?
    Nic marched into the kitchen and came to a halt at the sight of Cassy standing behind the island counter.
    Her sister lifted her chin a fraction; those piercing, crystal-blue eyes bored holes into Nic. “Nice to see you, too, sis.”
    A black object next to Cassy’s hand caught Nic’s attention. The Ruger gleamed under the island lights. Cassy wasn’t taking any chances of a repeat performance from the last time the sisters were unexpectedly thrown together.
    Eyes narrowed, Nic crossed the floor. “You didn’t answer me. How did you find me?”
    “You’re not the only one with