Seaside Heartbeats: A Sweet Romance (The Seaside Hunters Book 2) (26 page)

"It belongs to our family!" He stepped forward. "We're the ones who told the Kittles where it was. Billy cut us out. His relatives deserve none of it. We've held onto it for over a hundred and fifty years without anyone bothering us. Do you know what some of my forefathers have gone through to protect it? Of course you don't, or you wouldn't have interfered. You've screwed everything up, you know that? Everything! Now you must pay." He moved the gun and pointed it between Brayden's eyes.

Brayden reached behind him, grabbing hold of Lana. He ducked down, bringing her with him. They hit the floor with a thud just as Williams squeezed the trigger.

The gun fired, the sound explosive in the old, quiet shop. Lana screamed behind him. The bullet went right through the flimsy wall.

Williams looked down at them. He aimed the gun at Brayden again.

"Should I kill you first, or her?"

"Lana, go," Brayden whispered, hoping this time she'd listen.

She didn't.

"I think her," Williams said. "That way you can watch. I think that'd be justice at its finest." He moved the gun and narrowed his eyes.

Everything shrunk out of Brayden's vision except for Williams and the pistol. Fury burned in his chest. He'd never felt such a hatred before. Without thinking, he jumped up and reached for the gun.

He slammed into Williams. They stumbled back. Brayden heard another shot. He didn't have time to look back and check on Lana. Brayden threw all of his weight against the smaller man. They both fell toward the ground. The weapon flew out of Williams' hand, landing a few feet away.

Brayden thought about picking it up. But he wouldn't give anyone reason to arrest him again.

Williams rolled on his side. He groaned. Brayden jumped on top of him, pinning his arms behind him. He saw red and blue flashing on the ceiling.

"Lana!" he called.

He looked out the window and saw a police cruiser pulling up. They must have had the sirens off because Brayden couldn't hear a thing.

Brayden tightened his grip on Williams, and then looked over to see Lana. She lay on the ground, unmoving. Fear tore through him. Had she been hit by the last bullet?

"Lana," he called, panicked.

She lifted her head, making eye contact. Lana nodded and then put her head back down.

The doors burst open and three officers ran in. Brayden made eye contact with one. "Williams came in and shot at us." He got up, and they surrounded Williams.

Brayden ran over to Lana. "Are you okay?"

She sat up, her face pale. Her hands moved to her chest.

"Lana?"

He felt her neck, noticing that her pulse was at least twice the normal speed. "You're having an SVT episode."

She nodded, and leaned against him.

"Take deep breaths. Everything is going to be okay."

Lana moaned, gasping for air.

Brayden stood, helping her up. "Put your head between your legs." He gently guided her down while helping her balance.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he watched the cops struggling with Williams.

After a minute, Lana straightened up. "I feel better."

"Are you sure?" Brayden felt her pulse again. "It's still a little high, but closer to normal. I want to keep an eye on you for a while."

An officer walked over. "Are you two all right?"

"We weren't shot," Lana said.

"Then we have some questions we need to ask you two."

Brayden glanced over at Williams, who was being cuffed and read his rights.

"Gladly."

Thirty One

Lana squeezed Brayden's hand. He looked at her and smiled. He said something, but she couldn't hear him over the noise of the construction. They watched the new urgent care facility being put together for a little while longer, and then Brayden led her away to where it was a little quieter.

"It's really happening," Lana said, excitement building. "Your dream come true."

"You mean dreams." He brushed his lips against hers and then held up her hand, looking at the ring. "It looks even more beautiful on the correct finger." He kissed her knuckles.

Lana's heart fluttered. "I'm more excited about the wedding band that's going to be attached to it."

"Me, too." He pulled her closer, kissing her again, deeper this time. She put her palms on his soft cheeks, falling into the kiss.

"Excuse me," came a voice from behind.

They backed up and pulled apart.

"Sorry," said a skinny teenage kid holding a stack of newspapers. "I have to put these in there." He indicated to a newspaper stand.

"Can I see one?" Brayden asked.

"Sure." He collected the money from the machine and put it in a box.

Then the kid handed him the top one, and Lana looked at the top headline:
One Hundred-Sixty Year Old Murder Solved.

On the lower half of the page, there was a picture of Officer Williams in handcuffs.

Lana and Brayden exchanged a look.

Kittle Fall's oldest, most whispered about mystery has finally been solved. The answers have been carefully guarded by the Williams' family for many generations.

Evidence has been found both in the Kittle Falls Museum and several of the Williams' properties around town in the form of old letters, official documents, and diaries.

Their motive? Gold—and a lot of it. One of the police officers of Kittle Falls, Officer Frank L. Williams has been using his job as a cover-up, using his authority to keep track of residents who learned too much. And he's not the first of his family to use law enforcement as his guise. Several generations have done the same thing to hide their riches. That is to say, Billy Kittle's riches.

All of this started when Billy Kittle took his a secret team of gold prospectors to some local caves. They cleared them out, refusing to give any to Thomas Williams, who had shared the location with him according to an old letter found in the museum.

Williams followed through on threats from the letters, and it's believed he killed Billy Kittle. The authorities found human remains in those caves and have identified them as our town's founder.

Kittle's gold was stolen and hidden by various Williams family members throughout the years. The remaining gold, worth many billions of dollars, will be split among Billy Kittle's living relatives. A couple still remain in town, including the recent widow, Charlene Kittle Montgomery.

At the bottom of the article, a small note gave credit to Brayden and Lana.

Brayden turned to the kid. "How much for the whole stack?"

He pulled out a phone and appeared to be calculating the total. "Seventy-three twenty-five."

Brayden took out his wallet and handed the kid a hundred. "Keep the change."

His eyes lit up. "Thank you." He added the money to the box and ran off.

Lana ran her finger along Brayden's jawline. "You're a hero."

"We're heroes." He took her hand and kissed each finger. Then he took the stack of papers. "Let's give these to everyone we know."

Meet the Hunter brothers of Kittle Falls…

Seaside Surprises
: Jake, the heartbroken son who never left Kittle Falls

Seaside Heartbeats
: Brayden, the successful cardiologist

Seaside Dances
: Zachary, the struggling writer

Seaside Kisses
: Rafael, the disillusioned fashion designer

Seaside Christmas
: Cruz, the wild tattoo artist

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Excerpt from Seaside Dances - Now Available!

Zachary promptly washed the blood off his hands and then splashed cold water all over his face. He stared at his reflection, almost startled at what he saw. It hadn't been so long ago that his features showed his once carefree spirit. Now he had a permanent frown, several days' worth of stubble, and dark bands under his eyes. Even his brown eyes seemed darker.

Zachary shook out his hands, trying to work out some of the pain. It had been a stupid idea to workout with his brother.

Brayden was a cardiologist, and as a result, was in perfect shape since heart health was always on his mind. Zachary, on the other hand, hadn't so much as looked at a gym in the last year. Probably longer. He sat at a desk writing all day, ignoring his muscles.

Now his body ached from head to toe. But, at the same time, his muscles felt good just from a little use. Maybe he
would
take up Brayden's offer to workout together a few times a week. He'd planned on backing out after this trial session. But it could be just what Zachary needed.

He grabbed a stack of paper towels for cleaning his mess, and went out into the hallway. As soon as he did, he ran right into someone.

"I'm sorry," Zachary said. "I wasn't looking."

"No, it was my fault." A pretty girl with brownish-red hair turned around and smiled at him.

He quickly hid his bruised hands behind his back. "Not at all."

Her bright eyes shone as her mouth continued to curve upward, and she held his gaze. "I wasn't paying attention. I'm heading to class."

"Ballet?" Zachary asked, noting her leotard. The style reminded him of the one Sophia, his late sister, had worn when she took dance lessons.

She nodded, pulling her long hair into a bun behind her head, securing it with a bright yellow band. "I'm teaching ballet to a bunch of silly girls."

A little girl in a tutu ran in between them, giggling.

"And that's one of them. Hey, Emma—slow down!"

"I will, Miss Jasmine!" the girl called. She spun around and crashed into another little girl in a tutu. Both girls fell to the floor and burst into tears as they landed.

Jasmine shook her head, sighing. "I'd better get going. Sorry again for crashing into you." She ran after the kids.

"It was my fault," Zachary called, but he doubted she'd heard him.

He watched Jasmine as she helped up the crying girls and got them laughing in a matter of moments. She dusted one off and spoke animatedly, keeping them in giggles.

Zachary admired her optimism. He'd once been like that. There was a time he would have wanted to have a girlfriend like her. But with his current state of mind, he would probably suck all her happiness away. Not that he even had time or the energy for another relationship. Especially after the way things had ended with Monica.

***

Jasmine Blackwell put the broom away after sweeping the dance floor. Even though she didn't allow food in her classroom, crumbs always found their way onto her floor. She glanced over the room to make sure it was pristine for the next class. Everything seemed better than it had when she had come in. Not even a stray hair remained on the floor.

She walked over to the window to get her dance bag and her purse, but stopped when she saw who sat outside.

On a bench rested the same guy who had bumped into her earlier in the hall. He was reading a tablet, but his face scrunched up like he didn't enjoy it. It was time to leave so she could punch her time card, but she wanted to keep watching him. There was something dark and mysterious about him.

Jasmine had hardly been able to look away from him after they had bumped into each other. He was gorgeous, despite being all sweaty. Maybe the sweat made him even more attractive, but either way, he was far better looking than anyone she'd seen in a long time. Even just sitting on the bench, unhappy, he was handsome.

Part of her wanted to go out there and strike up a conversation, but she had to get going. She was supposed to meet her roommate for dinner before hitting the nightly concert on the beach.

If she chose to chat up the hot guy, though, Kate would surely understand.

"Still here?" came a voice from behind.

Jasmine turned around, cheeks heating up. "I, uh, yeah. Just grabbing my stuff."

Get it here.