by Rachel Angel
“Yeah?” Megan grinned. “I betcha I could get her to come to Heartbreak Falls. But it will cost you.”
“Yeah, right,” I laughed. “No way could you get that to happen.”
“I could get anything to happen,” Megan said. “Your Mom even says that I will be the heir of Bradshaw Industries and the next CEO when she retires because I’m that good at making anything happen. I have no moral compass…if you pay me enough I will do anything.”
“Do I need to sell my soul?” I joked.
“Something like that,” Megan said.
“What are you…Faust?”
Megan laughed. “I’m a Bradshaw, Bitch.”
“Okay, name what you want,” I said, calling her bluff. No way could she get Haven Hillshire to move to Heartbreak Falls.
“Your part of the Bradshaw inheritance,” Megan said, her eyes dead serious.
“Well, that’s quite large,” I said.
“It’s the price of love,” Megan said.
I called her bluff. She could never do it. “Okay. Done.”
And she did it.
Haven Hillshire was now living in Heartbreak Falls. And Megan was going to own all my inheritance, leaving me penniless, broke, and no longer a Bradshaw.
It wasn’t fair. She already was an heiress and loaded. She shouldn’t have my share, too.
Not to mentioned, she had Haven, too. Beating me to it by becoming her “champion” at the night of the charity auction. If Megan had not bid on Haven, saving her from the horny old bastards who attended the Bradshaws’ charity auctions just to show up each other, not really caring about the charities they were donating their massive throwaway wealth to. If Megan did not win Haven that night, I would be the one who would have had her in my bed that night. I would have made love to Haven all night. Made her fall for me, as she was already doing. Trusting me more and more. I don’t care Tristan seemed to think he owned her. I was definitely making Haven mine. As I told her at the charity auction, I was going to claim her. Megan thought she was the only Bradshaw who could make things happen. Well, there was more to Max than anyone would think. And I was going to have Haven no matter what. So far, I love everything about her. I’ve loved her from afar. But now…she’s even more than I could ever imagined.
After all, Haven Hillshire was a Triton. But she was also a Hillshire, which she seemed to have no idea what being a Hillshire meant. I didn’t either, until I found something of Megan’s…
“Max?” I was shaken from my thoughts by Haven opening the door and stepping out of the car.
“What, Haven, Baby,” I said.
“Can you unlock the trunk? My backpack’s in there.”
“Oh, okay,” I pressed a button, and Haven walked to the back to open the trunk.
I got out of the car to walk to the back to help.
Chapter 15
Haven
I lifted the trunk, and saw my backpack had been shifted during driving to the far left. I reached in to get the backpack as a purse fell out of a large yellow padded envelope.
A one-of-a-kind custom made blue and purple sequin mermaid handbag. Megan had shown it to me that day we met for coffee, and she was asking if I had made up my mind to move to New York to become her roommate.
That was the day she was killed and her purse and phone were taken.
So here it was, the purse. I knew Tristan had her phone. So how did Max get the purse which held the phone?
Tristan said he received his phone from someone who mailed it to him. Someone who probably killed Megan.
I almost gasped but I kept my cool as Max arrived by my side to help.
I grabbed my backpack and closed the trunk.
“Thank you for taking me home,” I said.
Max nodded before he took my hands. “So have you thought about dating me…especially now that your parents are home?”
“I don’t know yet,” I said.
“Maybe I can persuade you to ask again,” he said, kissing me in front of his car and right in the view of our CCTV at the front gate entrance.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll asked.”
But before I do…I had to look into Max’s part in Megan’s murder. How did he get that purse Megan was carrying, and why did he? What was his motive?
I needed to find out or I would be dating a murderer. But then again… if he had killed Megan, did he do it to stop her from carrying out the sinister plot against me? Was he my protector then?
The game I thought I was playing had just gotten a lot more dangerous and deadlier.
*****
Haven, Tristan, Drake, Dillon, and Max’s story continues in
Book 2 of The Heartbreak Falls Series
Dare Me Not
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z4369V7
Destroy Me Not
Love Me Not
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Excerpt
CRUEL CRUSH:
Hidden Falls High #1
kailin gow
Loving Summer Prequel Series
3 Years Before Loving Summer Book 1
Summary
Dante Black
Another home, another new school.
Another target.
Life was supposed to be smooth sailing when you're at the end of your high school year.
Of course it is.
Especially when you're the one your father relies on to take care of loose ends. And by the time you're 17, you've already earned yourself a reputation amongst the Inner Circle as someone to be feared.
Who am I? I'm the charming Prince, the Golden Boy, the one no one suspects to have no heart.
Until I saw her...my target. The girl I will bring down because she is his crush.
Who knew crushes could be so cruel?
Summer
There is someone new living in the Donovans' old mansion in Hidden Falls, the exclusive enclave in Malibu. He's a senior at the Academy, but he seems older like he's already seen so much in the world. Maybe he has. Maybe he's not of this world.
I thought I had finally found peace at Hidden Falls High...but the nightmare is just beginning...
***Hidden Falls High is a mature YA/New Adult series intended for 17 and up due to language and mature matters. Cruel Crush ends on a cliffhanger.
Prologue
Dante Black
L.A. shouldn’t have welcomed me with open arms as it did when I landed into LAX this morning.
Not when I came here for the very reason I was sent here for.
“Oh hi! Mr. Black!” A woman in her late 30s carrying a sign approached me. Karen Wilson, the Director of the new division in Los Angeles of Black Biotechnologies Inc. I knew her from the photo in her employee profile.
I walked over to her and acknowledged her with a nod.
“You don’t look like how I pictured you,” she said, looking at me in my black Armani suit, John Lobb shoes, and crisp white custom shirt. Dressed in my suits, I always appeared older than my 17 years, passing for a young man in the twenties.
“I know,” I said. Because of my regime of exercise, diet, and training; I had the body of a very fit athletic young man. I also had the poise and bearing of a man. My father made sure of it since I was old enough to walk. I glanced at her briefly, noticing her chin-length blonde hair, her black skirt suit, and her flat black shoes. She was dressed like the corporate yes-person my father liked to surround himself with, and she was wearing neutral make-up to play down any hint she was a woman.
“I mean, you’re…”
“Taller? Ol
der-looking than my age?” I said.
“I thought you’d be a rough-looking tough guy based on your reputation, but you look like you just stepped out of a fashion magazine.” She smiled. “Like a gentleman. So well-dressed.”
“I like dressing well, Karen,” I said, ignoring her rudeness in calling me rough. “And since you apparently know my reputation, I’d suggest you keep your opinions about how I look, to yourself. Like it or not, I’m going to be running this division so I’m going to dress like the boss that I am.”
“Yes, sir,” Karen said.
“You did get my e-mail to you about my moving arrangements?”
Karen nodded. “Yes, everything is taken care of.” She handed me a set of keys. “These are the keys to your car. The make and model as you requested. And here are the keys to your house. A mansion in Hidden Hills as you requested. You’re in luck, the house you wanted came up for sale.”
I looked at her with a small, but annoyed smile. “When it comes to me, there is no luck. I wanted that house, Karen, so I made it happen. Now, tell me. Am I enrolled in that private school with the same name as the Hidden Falls enclave?”
Karen checked her phone and said, “Yes, just received confirmation that you are enrolled. Senior class. Hidden Falls High Academy.”
“Good,” I said. “You are off to a good start working for me.”
“When would you like to visit Black Biotech?” she asked.
“You mean, my company?” I said, correcting her. The faster she understood that I was now in charge of Black Biotech Inc. as the owner, the better off she would be.
“Yes, your company Black Biotech,” she corrected herself.
“As soon as I get settled in at my new place,” I said. “And make sure everyone is in attendance when I do show up on my first day, Karen. I want to make sure everyone knows who I am. The sooner they know I am here to stay, the better.”
Because my father, the bastard who put me in charge, would never step foot into this part of the company if I could help it. He wouldn’t need to with me in charge.
They said I’m the blackest of the Blacks and was born without a heart. That was why I could do the things no common man could do. That was why my father had trained me to be the one to get the toughest jobs done.
He had sent me to places where I had to take out the competition. He gave me jobs to prove I was tough enough and smart enough to take over Black Biotech Inc. at any given moment. More so than anyone.
Now I have this one job left before I was truly crowned King and Heir of the multibillion-dollar conglomerate, and I had come to Hidden Falls High to do it.
Chapter 1
Summer
Not one word. Not anything from the Donovans since they moved out of Hidden Falls, the small highly exclusive enclave in Malibu. It had been over a week since they moved overnight. Guessed the kidnapping attempt on Nat, my forever crush, and Rachel was enough for them to move out. Then Drew’s real kidnapping and near murder really scared the Donovans enough to get out of Dodge.
But why didn’t they tell me anything? Why didn’t they let me know where they had moved?
I looked woefully at a photo of Drew, Rachel, me, and Nat when we were toddlers in a white wood frame with a beach theme. Nat was smiling straight into the camera and standing next to me, while I was beaming. Rachel and Drew had pushed each other and were looking like they were about to fall over when the camera snapped the photo. “I miss them,” I said. “Why did they move without telling me anything?” I held back the tears that were threatening to fall. I had cried for days when I first found out they left. Now I was all cried out. I was exhausted from it.
“They have their reasons, Summer,” my Aunt Sookie said gently to me. “I don’t agree how they just cut off total communication to you and everything in Hidden Falls, but there must be a good reason for it. It’s not like Nadine and Nat to close off like that to us. But I do know that Nadine, was frighten out of her mind when she learned she had been drugged, while Drew was kidnapped, and Nat was almost lured to be kidnapped. And her husband was living in San Francisco full time now with Nat always flying or driving there when he could to work with him. It made sense for them to move as soon as they could to be in San Francisco to live with him.”
“Do you think they’ll ever move back?” I asked, trying to see if she knew anything more about the Donovans’ sudden move.
Aunt Sookie came over to hug me. “I’m sorry, Summer, I think they’re moving to San Francisco permanently. They’re house in Hidden Falls went up for sale a few days ago. For their sake, they needed to move right away. And for your sake, Summer, I think it’s best for you to move on as well.”
She was right. I couldn’t expect Aunt Sookie to pack up and leave Malibu and her house, known as The Pad, just because of me missing the Donovans. It wouldn’t be fair to her, after all she had done for me and the Donovans.
The Pad was a big place, right on the beach so that it was easy just to walk out through one of the screen doors and onto the sand. It was a modern design - I remember Aunt Sookie telling me it was designed by some architect friend of her producer husband…with a large kitchen, a big open plain living area, plenty of guest bedrooms, and a pool out back with a view out onto the beach. There were Oriental rugs on the floor instead of carpets throughout most of the house.
To me, The Pad had always felt like home. Maybe it was just that Mom and Aunt Sookie both had the same taste in décor, going for that Nantucket feel with plenty of whites and blues around the place to reflect the ocean, as well as starfish and shells scattered around the house as ornaments. I know some of them have come a long way, like the multi-colored shell from Japan, because Aunt Sookie enjoyed telling me stories of how she acquired them. She had a lot of adventures when she was in her twenties.
My favorite room was the kitchen with its granite counter tops, and I can remember sitting at them as a little girl, with Aunt Sookie running through scripts while she cooked. There was so much space in there. It was the kind of kitchen people don’t just cook in it, they live in it. Just stepping into it reminded me of where I was, and I was at home instantly.
Since we were toddlers, the Donovan kids – Nat, Drew, and Rachel had spent every summer at Aunt Sookie’s. The first bedroom on the second floor was for Drew and Nat. The one opposite it was for me and Rachel.
Although the Donovans had their own house in the Hidden Falls area of Malibu, it wasn’t on the beach like The Pad was, and they didn’t moved to Malibu until a few years ago. Since we were toddlers, my mom and their mother Nadine Donovan would drop us off at Aunt Sookie’s for the summer where she would teach us how to surf, play video games, attend her summer acting camp for kids, and whatever we wanted to learn.
Mom told me it was because Aunt Sookie never had kids of her own and loved taking care of us that we had always stayed with Aunt Sookie for the summer. If she could get us for any time of the year, she would, but summer was when we could be a part of her summer camp.
She was my guardian for now since Mom’s deployment on a top secret mission. An award-winning actress with beautiful copper hair and hazel eyes, she was my mother’s little sister, in her 30s, but looked much younger.
That also meant that I had to move from San Diego to Malibu to live with her and go to a new school almost a month after school began. It was harder to get into the public school then, and with her pull as a local and famous actress, I was able to get into Hidden Falls High Academy, where Nat had attended and became the student body President and also the leader of the three Knights, followed by Lincoln Blaine and River Millions.
“With Nat gone from Hidden Falls High, I’m not sure I want to keep going there,” I said. “I miss him so much, although we had made a pact not to act like we knew each other at school.”
“Summer,” Aunt Sookie said, placing a plate of fruit, poached eggs, and toast in front of me for breakfast. “Just because Nat isn’t there doesn’t mean you should switch schools. The way he
left, it was like the Donovans wanted you to have the least amount of disruption. Besides, I already paid the tuition for the rest of the year, and you’re doing so well there now. Your teachers all send me notes on how well you’re doing. You’re the top of each class, Summer. I think you’re in the right place because the other schools around won’t give you as much challenge as Hidden Falls High.”
