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15 Years Earlier
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Hayley
On the far side of the private lake, near the secret tunnel leading into the estate, Hayley Freed stared up at the inky sky, a lovely cloak of velvet black with streaks of deep midnight blue. The full July moon, commonly called a Thunder Moon, reflected on the still lake surface like a mirror, making it appear like a glowing silvery-gold portal.
Her body was humming pleasantly, thanks to the attention of the man lying naked beside her. Sumneyville’s favorite son and the one who unknowingly held her heart. Matt Winston. He’d been gentle and thorough and attentive. She’d heard the horror stories about first times. How much it hurt. How uncomfortable it was. How quickly it was over.
Hers was nothing like that. Not because Matt was so experienced, but because he truly cared.
Oh, Matt was no virgin, but after being exclusive for the last six months, she was even more convinced he wasn’t the selfish, spoiled rich boy her brother and father claimed he was. Matt was kind and good-hearted and sweet and strong and smart and ...
Matt’s arm flexed, pulling her closer to his body. His lips found her forehead, a gentle brush, warm and tender.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good, thanks.”
“It’s nearly midnight. I should take you home.”
Hayley didn’t want to go home. She wanted to stay with Matt for as long as she could and make the most of every moment. He’d be leaving soon, as would she. It could be months before they saw each other again.
If they ever saw each other again.
The thought gutted her. Matt wasn’t just her boyfriend; he was her best friend. Her soul mate. And now, her lover.
The timing sucked. With high school graduation behind them, their time together was limited. They’d be going their separate ways soon.
No matter what the future held, she wouldn’t regret this night.
“Not yet.”
She reached over and stroked him. He felt different now than he had earlier, soft where he had been so hard. Not for long though. He began to grow and stiffen in her hand. The urge to have him inside her again grew right along with him.
“Hayley ...” he warned. “I only had the one.”
She knew. She didn’t care. She climbed on top of him, silencing his protests as she eased down on him. He could have stopped her if he really wanted to.
His hands flexed around her waist. She stared down into his eyes, a rich golden brown, now glowing with the light of the moon. Just like the citrine pendant he’d given her for her birthday.
“I trust you,” she whispered and began to move. She wasn’t as fluid as he’d been, but she knew what felt good. Now that she’d finally given in to her own desires, she wanted more.
His eyes closed, and he moaned softly. Then, they opened and stared deeply into hers, and she knew in that moment that no one would ever look at her like that again. Like she was everything.
He rolled her over and took control of their lovemaking. They came together in a burst of bright lights. It was even better than the first time.
Church bells tolled from down in the valley. A sense of foreboding washed over her.
“Now, we really have to go,” Matt said. “It’s past your curfew. Your brother’s going to be pissed.”
“He won’t know,” she assured him with a quick kiss. “He thinks I’m camping out at Kim’s.”
Even as she said it, a deeper shiver ran through her. Her brother—a local cop—had a habit of checking up on her, especially since she’d started seeing Matt. Unlike the majority of the people in their small mountain town, her family did not like the Winstons and had forbidden her from seeing Matt. If Daryl or her father discovered where she’d been or what she’d done, the punishment would be severe.
Still worth it, she thought.
Hayley had Matt drop her off a block from her friend’s house, though she knew he would follow and hover in the shadows to make sure she got inside okay. He was protective that way.
“Call me tomorrow,” he commanded softly, leaning down for one last kiss.
“I will.”
She turned and jogged toward Kim’s, turning back once to wave before reaching down to unzip the tent. She watched as Matt’s shadow melted into the other shadows. She was just about to slip inside when a voice spoke from the darkness and filled her with icy dread.
“Where’ve you been, Hayley?”
Daryl.
Hayley straightened and moved toward the firepit, where a few glowing coals remained. Her older brother rose from the wooden picnic table just beyond.
“Quiet,” she said in a hushed whisper. “You’ll wake Kim.”
His expression was hard, his eyes cold despite the reddish-orange reflection of the embers in them. “Kim’s not here. She’s at the hospital with her grandmother.”
Oh no! “What happened?”
“Doesn’t matter, does it?” Daryl asked.
Since Kim was her friend and Kim’s grandmother was one of the few women in town who didn’t look down on her like she was trash, yeah, it mattered.
Hayley knew better than to antagonize Daryl. He was obviously in a mood, and he could be a real dick when he was in a mood, but she was in a mood, too. He would not ruin this perfect night for her.
She put her hands on her hips and glared right back at him. “What. Happened? And why are you here?”
Seconds ticked by, feeling more like minutes, before he finally said, “Her grandmother fell. I was at the fire hall when the call came in for an ambulance and thought you’d need a ride home. The question is, where were you, Hayley?”
Hayley pressed her lips together and said nothing. Daryl’s eyes flicked down the block, where the low rumble of Matt’s truck could be heard in the quiet of the night.
Daryl’s expression turned to one of disgust. “You know he’s just using you, right?”
She shook her head. “You don’t know anything. Matt’s not like that.”
“They’re all like that.” Daryl scowled, venom lacing his voice. “The Winstons have been a thorn in our sides for generations. They’ve cheated us out of everything.”
Hayley had heard it all before. Their father Darius had been telling the same story for years. That the Winstons used their money and influence to send the Freeds into financial ruin. The feud went back to her and Matt’s grandfathers—something about a land deal gone bad.
“The Winstons think they own this town and everything in it,” Daryl continued. “Tell me, did you at least make him work for it? Or did you spread your legs easy for him, like every other cow-eyed slut in this town?”
Hayley snapped. The crack of her hand across her brother’s face was loud in the darkness. Even in the dim light of the coals, she could see his face turn purple with rage. Daryl, like their father, had a vicious temper.
He grabbed her around the wrist and dragged her to the cruiser parked in the alleyway behind Kim’s house. His grip was painful, as were the repeated sharp yanks that threatened to dislocate a joint or two.
“Let me go!” she hissed.
He didn’t. He shoved her roughly into the backseat of his patrol car like a common criminal, and then he got into the driver’s seat.
He glared back at her in the rearview mirror when she kicked out at the seat. “Not another word, or I’ll take you to the holding cell until you cool off. Vic’s in there now, sleeping off a bender. I’m sure he’d like the company.”
Daryl’s lips curled into a cruel sneer. Vic Delvecchio was the town drunk, the closest thing to a homeless man Sumneyville had. He lived with his sister, Mona, but he spent more nights in the town lockup than he did there. Rumor had it that Vic had an unhealthy obsession with young girls and young boys, and Mona was often waiting for him with a Bible in one hand and a frying pan in the other.
Still, spending the night with Vic might be preferable to going home. Daryl was an asshole, but he was nothing compared to their old man.
He pulled away from the curb. The streets were empty at that hour. The houses dark.
“Does Dad know?”
Daryl’s jaw clenched, which Hayley took to mean he didn’t. Yet.
“Don’t tell him, Daryl.”
The ghost of a smirk played about Daryl’s lips. “Why shouldn’t I?”
Because if he did, Darius would make things ten times worse than they already were. Not so much for her. She was screwed, no matter what. But Matt ...
Daryl knew this, just as he knew Matt was her weakness. Her stomach twisted, and a heavy sense of foreboding settled over her. She’d gotten really good at reading people. It was one of the reasons she’d survived her teenage years relatively intact. Daryl was practically vibrating with malice.
The sinking feeling intensified when Daryl drove past the turn that led to their house.
“Where are we going?”
He didn’t answer.
The “where” turned out to be the hospital. At first, Hayley thought that she’d been wrong. That maybe Daryl had developed a shred of decency and was taking her to be with her friend Kim. But those thoughts quickly died a painful death when Daryl took her into the ER instead and talked in low tones to one of his loser friends.
The next two hours were the most humiliating of her life.
“That wasn’t necessary. I told you, he didn’t force me to do anything.” Hayley seethed as Daryl drove her home after having to endure a sexual assault exam. At least, that was what Daryl’s friend had called it. Hayley was pretty sure they weren’t supposed to last that long or be that thorough.
Daryl’s mouth turned downward. “I’ve got evidence that says he did.”
“You can’t get away with this, Daryl.”
“Who’s going to stop me?” he said on a cruel, mirthless laugh. “Grow up, Hayley. Winston doesn’t give a shit about you. He got what he wanted. Now, he’s going to pay. And you know what? His family will do whatever it takes to make this go away. They can’t afford the scandal with their golden boy about to head off to Annapolis or wherever the fuck privileged kids with rich daddies go.”
Tears welled in her eyes, but she wouldn’t let them fall, not in front of her brother.
Daryl was wrong. Matt did care. And his father had had nothing to do with Matt’s acceptance into the Naval Academy. He’d earned it.
Hayley had never hated Daryl more than she did in that moment. He, his son, and her father were the primary reasons why she needed to get out of town. Without Matt, she would have run away a long time ago. Without Matt, there was no reason to stay.
“What do you want?” she asked through clenched teeth.
Daryl was quiet for a long time, but she knew he had a plan. He always did. The sole purpose of his silent routine was to make her squirm.
“Don’t see him again. Refuse his calls. Zero contact, zero explanation.”
No! her heart railed. They had such precious little time left. She didn’t want to waste a moment.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked.
Daryl pulled into their driveway and cut the engine. “Ignore him, and I’ll forget about tonight. Don’t, and I’ll be at his door with a signed complaint and a rape kit filled with his DNA.”
The words go fuck yourself were right there on her lips, but she held them back. Daryl didn’t issue idle threats. Even if she were foolish enough to believe that the truth would come out, the damage would have already been done.
She couldn’t allow that. Matt was going into the Navy, his dream to become an elite SEAL. She was going away to college to earn a degree of her own, one that would allow her to protect others from controlling, manipulative assholes like her brother and her father.
She hoped that someday, she and Matt would cross paths again, and when they did, there would be nothing in their way. But until then, the choice was clear. She couldn’t—and wouldn’t—allow Matt’s final days in Sumneyville to be fraught with scandal.
* * *
Matt
Matt’s eyes scanned the crowd again. The annual Winston Summer Bash was in full swing—one last big blowout before graduating seniors headed off to college, trade school, or the service. Nearly all of Sumneyville had shown up to the resort for the festivities. All, except the one person he really wanted to see.
“No sign of her, huh?” his younger sister, Rebecca, asked.
“No.”
A scowl pulled at Rebecca’s mouth. “Maybe her father forbade her to come.”
Matt was certain he had, but that had never stopped Hayley before. Hayley’s spirit was one of the things he found so attractive about her. Had, since he’d first seen her face down a bully twice her size in kindergarten. It still amazed him how such an intelligent, beautiful, amazing woman could have been born into a family of bottom-feeders like the Freeds.
Uneasiness crept through him, stronger now than it had been in those first few days after he dropped her off at her friend Kim’s. He hadn’t seen or heard from Hayley since that incredible night by the lake, and that worried him.
Had her father discovered that she’d snuck out to see him? Darius Freed was a mean son of a bitch. His son, Daryl, wasn’t much better. Now that Daryl had become a cop, he’d gotten even worse, throwing his weight around, a big shot with a badge.
Matt had even said something to his father about it, but Sam Winston had told him not to worry. That as long as Mitch Feeney was the chief of police, Daryl would be held in check and accountable for his actions.
“Maybe she’s waiting until things die down,” Rebecca suggested, “so you two can sneak off for private time without anyone noticing.”
Matt narrowed his eyes at her. “What do you know about that?”
“Nothing,” Rebecca said innocently, but the smile on her face gave her away.
Little sisters.
“Matt! Hey, Matt!” one of his football teammates called, jogging up to him. “Rick Obermacher’s shooting his mouth off again. He challenged us to a chicken fight in the lake. What do you say?”
Matt was torn. Putting Rick in his place was always satisfying, but if Hayley came by, he didn’t want to miss her.
“Go,” Rebecca urged. “I’ll keep an eye out for her.”
“Thanks, Bex.”
Rick Obermacher had more brawn than brains, which was why he’d gotten a full ride to a Division I university despite barely scraping through high school. To be fair, he was a damn good linebacker. However, he was also good friends with Dwayne Freed, Daryl’s son, and that was more than enough reason to want to best him in anything.
Matt and his crew won despite Rick’s blatant cheating. They’d been prepared for that. Rick and his buddies always played dirty. Also expected was that Rick would make rude comments about Hayley as a means to get Matt to lose his cool. Rick’s strategy had worked but not the way he’d intended. Rick would probably be pissing blood for the next week.
When Matt returned to the pavilion and Rebecca told him there had still been no sign of Hayley, he knew something was terribly wrong. This was their last chance to see each other for God knew how long, and Hayley wouldn’t have missed it, not if she’d had a choice.
“Cover for me, will you?”
“You’re going after her, aren’t you?” When Matt nodded, Rebecca said, “Be careful, Matt. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
He did, too.
He ignored the split lip—a lucky shot—and his bloody, throbbing knuckles as he used the secret underground tunnel to get him to the manor house without being seen, checking the chambers along the way, just in case. Less than five minutes later, he was back in the tunnels in clean, dry clothes, taking a different path toward the old greenkeeper’s shed and the dirt bike he kept there.
He went to Hayley’s house first, a ramshackle, secluded place on the outer edge of town. From the road, it appeared dark and empty, reminding Matt that Darius was having a party of his own out at his hunting cabin, just like he always did when the Winstons hosted a community event. It was Darius’s version of a fuck you, the antithesis of the kind of celebration Matt’s parents put on.
Matt didn’t bother checking the cabin. Hayley wouldn’t be anywhere near that, and based on what he knew about Darius’s parties and the people who attended, he was glad for it.
Darius was well known for his booby traps, and the Freeds were the type to shoot trespassers first and ask questions later. Matt stashed his bike in the woods along the creek and then went the rest of the way in the shadows and on silent feet.
Climbing the tree outside Hayley’s bedroom window was child’s play for someone with Matt’s athletic ability, especially since he’d been working extra hard to get in shape before heading off to the Naval Academy. The window was unlocked, as always, and he let himself in.
Hayley wasn’t there. In fact, nothing was. Her walls were bare. Her closet and bureau drawers devoid of contents.
Rick had been telling the truth. Hayley was gone.
Matt sank down on the bare, shabby mattress, his mind a jumble of questions. When had she left? Why had she left? And why hadn’t she told him?
The sound of tires on the gravel driveway brought him out of his fog. Matt quickly left the way he had come, exiting through the second-story window and shimmying down the sugar maple. He was almost to the tree line when the outdoor floodlights came on, eliminating the shadows that had been cloaking him.
Matt looked back to see two massive rottweilers sniffing around to do their business. They must have picked up his scent because a moment later, they started growling and barking and moving his way.
The shouts followed shortly after, as did the unmistakable sound of a sharp blast from a 12-gauge shotgun. Dirt kicked up just inches from Matt’s feet as he put on a burst of speed, sprinting into the woods and across the creek. He was on his bike a moment later, tearing his way through the darkness, no longer concerned with stealth and thankful he knew the trails as well as he did.
Matt made it back to his place, once again employing the tunnels beneath the Winston property to avoid being seen. He was just stepping out of the shower when his father knocked on his door, telling him Daryl Freed was downstairs and wanted to talk to him.
“What’s this about?” Matt asked, joining his father and Daryl in his father’s private office a short while later.
There was no doubt in Matt’s mind that Daryl suspected he’d been at the house, but he also knew that Daryl hadn’t gotten a good enough look to say for sure. Lack of evidence wasn’t something that typically stopped Daryl. However, even Daryl wasn’t stupid enough to think he could go up against the Winstons with nothing but suspicion and personal dislike. Besides, enough people had seen Matt at the party—including Daryl’s son, Dwayne, and his friends—to provide a viable alibi.
Only after Daryl left did Sam Winston turn to his son and say, “I hope she’s worth it, son.”
She was. She was also not the kind of person who would up and leave without having a damn good reason. He just hoped that someday, he’d have the chance to find out what it was.