The Prize: An Enemies-to-Lovers Romance (Diamond Lake Romance Book 3)

by K. L. Middleton

  “Damn, this might just work,” I said, grinning as we headed toward the room.

  “If we can get in there.”

  “We can only try.”

  We stopped outside of the room and I peeked my head inside. It looked pretty empty. As if the guests had checked out. Considering it was a Saturday, I had a feeling my assumption was correct.

  One of hotel maids stepped out of the bedroom and noticed me. “Can I help you?”

  “Sorry, this was my room. We just checked out a while ago and I noticed that I’d forgotten my sunglasses somewhere.”

  “Oh.”

  “Do you mind if I took a look around?”

  “No. Go for it. I have to grab some more cleaning supplies anyway,” the woman replied.

  “Okay. Thank you.”

  She disappeared out of the suite.

  “Meet me upstairs,” I said to Rory.

  “What if you can’t get in through the balcony?”

  “Remember, Earl said the lock was broken.

  “Oh, yeah.”

  He left and I hurried into the bedroom and then out to the balcony. Looking up, I knew climbing it was going to be a bitch. But, I’d made it that far. It also definitely looked feasible.

  Taking a deep breath, I leaped into the air and grabbed onto the metal grates above. Growling in the back of my throat, I pulled myself up and eventually, ended up on the balcony above.

  I’d made it.

  I slipped into the suite and opened the door for Rory, who stood on the other side with a large hotel towel hanging over his shoulder.

  “What did I tell you?” I said, grinning. “It worked.”

  He smiled. “Never doubted you for a minute.”

  We bumped fists.

  “Towel?” I said.

  He handed it to me.

  I rolled it up and stuck it in the door, to keep it from closing all the way.

  “Hopefully, nobody will be up here snooping around before we return with the girls,” I said, as we headed back to the elevator.

  “It’s the weekend. Earl said there wouldn’t be any construction. I think we’ll be fine.”

  “True.”

  We headed down to the lobby, left the hotel, and walked over to the bungalows to meet the girls.

  “Did you get in?” Chloe asked.

  “Hell, yeah we did,” I replied, grinning.

  “So, now what?” Blair asked.

  “We enjoy the rest of the day until we need to start plan B,” Rory replied.

  Everyone agreed.

  41

  Chloe

  We spent most of the day by the beach and had an early dinner. Although it was enjoyable, the four of us were distracted by our evening plans. Then, at six-thirty, the guys brought us up to the eleventh floor of the hotel and showed us the “haunted suite”.

  “You know, it felt eerie last night. But, today I feel nothing,” Rory said, frowning. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his Bermuda shorts. “What a fucking joke.”

  “Yeah. I had high hopes for this place,” Adam said.

  “Why have they waited so long to renovate this room?” I asked, noticing the old décor. It was definitely odd that the entire suite had furniture from decades ago. The shag carpeting was also pretty old and cruddy.

  “Earl claims there have been a lot of accidents and setbacks,” Rory said.

  I snorted. “Forty years’ worth?”

  “Well, either it really is haunted or the hotel has been slacking,” Adam replied.

  “As strange as it is, I’m not holding my breath for it to be haunted.” Rory checked the time. “Shit. We should get out of here. You girls know what to do?”

  “Yeah,” we said in unison.

  “Remember, don’t leave until we come for you,” Adam said, sliding his arms around my waist.

  “I know. We’ll be fine,” I told him. “Just keep them out of the closet.”

  “Of course.” He smiled. “Thanks for doing this.”

  “Anything for you.”

  His eyes searched mine. “You’re not scared?”

  I snorted. “No. You said so yourself, it’s probably not haunted.”

  “Exactly. But, if you do get spooked, send me a text and we’ll figure out a way to get you girls out of here.

  “Okay.”

  After they left, Blair and I took out the supplies the guys had given us and started setting things up. The plan was to create our own ghost noises while they tested Mara’s “powers”, hoping she’d feed them a line of bullshit they could call her on.

  “Do you think this is really going to work?” Blair asked.

  “Hopefully. I just don’t know if they’re going to be able to get their original ten-thousand dollars back.”

  “If they can get her on video, admitting that she was lying, then they should be able to get something. I mean, they could take her to court, right?”

  “Yeah, but getting her to confess won’t be easy. Especially on camera.”

  In fact, I doubted they’d get a true confession out of her. Mara was obviously pretty intelligent and sneaky. At the very least, they could upload the video and save the next poor sucker from falling for her bullshit.

  After everything was set up, we checked the time and then hid inside of the bedroom closet.

  “I know these guys are disappointed with everything, but this has honestly been the most fun I’ve ever had. Seriously,” Blair said as we sat together in the dark.

  I smiled. “Yeah. Same for me.”

  A noise from outside caught our attention.

  “Someone is here,” whispered Blair.

  I looked at my phone. “They’re early. By fifteen minutes.”

  “Turn your light off,” she hissed.

  “Sorry.”

  The bedroom door opened up and we heard voices. One of them was Earl’s.

  “When we enter the suite, you want to wait ten seconds and then play the recording.”

  “Okay.” The other man chuckled. “They’re going to piss their pants when they hear this.”

  “Earl laughed. “No shit. Play it again, Terry.”

  So, Earl’s cousin Terry was helping him. No surprise there.

  But, why?

  There was a pause and then we heard a woman moaning in sadness. It was followed by a shriek so loud, Blair and I both flinched.

  “I’ll make sure that you have enough time to escape. Just climb down the balcony like you did before,” Earl said.

  “You sure somebody isn’t staying there?”

  “It’s unoccupied. You checked out of there this morning, didn’t you, Mara?’

  “Yes,” she replied.

  The bitch was there with them! Now it all made sense. The three were probably splitting the money.

  Realizing it too, Blair grabbed my arm.

  “What if something goes wrong? I mean, what if they burst into the bedroom before you can stop them?” Terry asked.

  “Just run to the closet,” Earl said.

  Oh, no.

  “Is there room in their?”

  “Should be,” Earl said, his voice getting closer.

  Blair’s fingernails dug into my arm and I felt like I was going to pee my pants.

  The closet door opened up.

  Earl stared down at us in horror. “Fuck.” His face turned red with anger. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!”

  42

  Adam

  We were supposed to meet Mara and Earl by the elevators at seven. They were both late.

  Rory looked at his phone. “It’s already ten after. Where in the hell are they?”

  “I don’t know. I could see one of them running late. But both? Something is up.”

  “Mara is staying at the hotel. It’s not like she’d get stuck in traffic or anything.”

  “Yeah.”

  My phone began to vibrate. Someone had texted me.

  “It’s Chloe.” I read her text and it was confusing.

  “What’s up?”

&nb
sp; “She wants us to come up and get them. They’ve changed their minds and don’t want any part of this,” I read.

  Rory looked as confused as me. “What the hell?”

  “Maybe they saw something up there,” I replied.

  His eye slit up. “Maybe it’s really haunted and something scared the shit out of them?”

  “I don’t know. Look, I’m going up there. You wait for Mara and Earl.”

  “Okay.”

  I got on the elevator and as I was going up, she sent me another text.

  Chloe: You both need to come up here now. We really need to talk to you.

  Frowning, I was about to reply that it would just be me when my gut told me that something else was going on here.

  The girls had been more than willing to help us with Mara. Now, both she and Earl were late.

  Were they working together?

  The thought had definitely entered my mind earlier. And hadn’t Rory claimed that Earl was the one who’d recommended Mara?

  Shit.

  I didn’t get off on the eleventh floor. It felt like a trap and I needed time to think. Still on the elevator, I sent Rory a message, telling him what I thought.

  He called me.

  “What do you think is going on?”

  “They want us to come up. Both of us. I think someone found the girls in the closet. My guess would be Earl,” I replied.

  He swore. “Do you think they’re in danger?”

  “I hope to hell not but who is to say what Earl would do for money.”

  “Not to mention if they’re committing fraud, they could go to jail.”

  My stomach clenched. “Exactly.”

  “Maybe we should call the cops.”

  “If nothing is going on, though, we could be the ones getting into trouble. We broke into the room.”

  “So, what do we do?”

  My mind raced and then I had an idea. I told him.

  “I hope it works.”

  “It’s got to,” I replied.

  43

  Chloe

  Blair and I sat against the wall, watching our captors. It was taking forever for the guys to arrive and they were getting anxious. Unfortunately, Earl had a gun, so we were too afraid to make a run for it.

  “Why don’t you just let us go?” Blair asked angrily. “I mean, what do you think you’re going to accomplish by all of this?”

  “We want the rest of the money, Bimbo,” Terry said, glaring down at her.

  “Would you shut the fuck up?” Earl snapped at him. “They don’t need to know every fucking thing.”

  Terry clenched his jaw

  “What makes you think they’re going to give you the other ten grand?” I asked.

  “They will if they want to see you live,” Earl said with a gleam in his eyes. Somehow, I knew he wasn’t just trying to scare me.

  “You’ll get caught and go to jail. But… if you let us go now, you can keep the money and we’ll forget any of this happened,” Blair said in a shaky voice.

  “Besides, why are you risking going to jail for twenty grand?” I added.

  “Because we owe someone else money and they’ll kill us if we don’t pay up,” Terry said.

  “Are you serious right now?” Earl hollered. “Didn’t I just tell you to pipe it?”

  “I’m tired of the fucking questions. If they realize how important this is, they’ll know we’re not fucking around,” Terry growled back.

  “You guys need to quit yelling,” Mara muttered. “Someone’s going to hear you.”

  Earl walked over and put his arm around her. “Don’t worry, darlin’. This entire floor is shut down. Nobody will hear anything.”

  “Let’s hope not.”

  “You need to relax. All of this will be over soon and our worries will be gone,” he said, trailing his finger across her cheek lovingly.

  “I’ll believe it when I see it,” she replied.

  I had an idea. “So, you two are together?”

  Earl turned and looked at me. “Damn, you’re bright.”

  “I was just curious considering how she kept flirting with my boyfriend. In fact, she even talked about giving him a discount if he fucked her last night.”

  Earl gave her a dirty look. “A discount? What the fuck, Mara? You know we can’t afford that.”

  “It didn’t happen,” she shrugged. “No biggie.”

  It looked like Earl was only pissed off about the discount. Not his girlfriend getting laid by another guy.

  As if reading my mind, Earl walked over and kneeled down next to me. “You thought I’d get pissed off about your boyfriend and Mara having sex?” He grinned wickedly. “See, we have an open relationship. We’re voyeurs too. I like to watch her and she likes to watch me with other women.” He tweaked my nipple through my T-shirt.

  I swore and slapped his hand away.

  Earl laughed and stood up. “I gotta say, Mara, I was fantasizing about the two of you going down on each other last night.” He grabbed his crotch. “Even thinking about it now is getting me hard.”

  “Dream on. I wouldn’t touch that bitch with a ten foot pole,” Mara said, giving me a dirty look.

  “What in the fuck is taking them so long?” growled Terry.

  “Maybe we should text them again,” Earl said, pulling my phone out of his pocket.

  Someone knocked on the door, startling all of us.

  “About time,” muttered Earl. He headed to the door and flung it open.

  “Hey, Earl,” Rory said.

  “Where’s Knight?” he asked, not happy.

  “Waiting for you. What’s going on?” Rory asked.

  Earl pulled out his gun. “This is what’s going on. Get the fuck in here.”

  Rory stepped inside and pretended to be shocked. Blair and I both knew he’d probably caught on when Earl had texted Adam, pretending to be me.

  “Where in the hell is Adam?” Mara asked, looking frightened.

  “Like I said, waiting for you two.” He looked at Terry. “What are you doing here?”

  “Don’t tell me you’re really that stupid,” muttered Terry.

  “I guess I am,” Rory said, still playing the game. “Because I don’t know why you’re here or why Earl is holding a gun. Can someone fill me in?”

  Earl growled angrily. “We want the rest of the money you owe Mara. And if we don’t get it, the three of you are going to die. That’s all you need to know.”

  “But, we haven’t gotten our ghost footage yet,” Rory replied.

  Terry got in his face. “Fuck the ghost footage. And don’t play dumb. We know you figured things out since these two bitches were hiding in the closet.”

  Rory raised his hands in the air. “Now, just calm down. I’m sure we can work all of this out.”

  “Damn right we can work all of this out. But only if you send the other ten thousand dollars to Mara’s account,” Earl said.

  Rory nodded toward the gun. “And what if I don’t? You’re going to shoot me?”

  “Something like that,” Earl replied.

  “You’re going to get caught and thrown in jail. You realize that don’t you? Either way,” Rory replied.

  “Nope. The three of us could kill you and walk out of here just fine,” Earl said. “That is, after we get Knight up here too.”

  “But, what about the hotel? When they find our bodies, they’ll connect us to you,” Rory replied.

  Earl grinned. “I quit yesterday, after stealing the keycards. Plus, my name isn’t even Earl. It’s Ted. I used a fake ID and social security card to get this here job.”

  “Earl’s his middle name,” Terry explained.

  “Thanks, dumbass,” Earl snapped at him. “You really need to lay of the Mary Jane.”

  “They’ll connect Mara with our deaths,” Rory said. “There’s the emails and the appointments.”

  “Those accounts are fake too. The website has already been taken down and she used a fake name to set up the email.” He grinne
d. “If you haven’t figured that out yet either, Mara isn’t her real name either.”

  Rory grinned. “Wow, you guys are good.”

  Earl glared at him. “You’d better take this seriously, asshole. Get Knight up here now!”

  “Fine. I guess I don’t have any other choice, do I?” Rory replied.

  “That’s right. You don’t,” Earl said.

  I noticed that the master bedroom door was opening slowly and knew it had to be Adam. Rory had also been watching for it, because he tensed up. Fortunately, Earl had his back facing the bedroom door, and the other two weren’t paying attention - Mara was looking down at her phone and Terry was by the kitchen, looking through his pockets.

  My pulse raced as Adam slipped through the doorway. He pounced on Earl, grabbing him by the neck and knocking the gun out of his hand. Meanwhile, Rory leaped at Terry and tackled him to the ground.

  Blair and I shot up.

  “Grab the gun,” I said to her.

  She snatched it up.

  Mara made a run for it and I chased after her. She headed down the hallway to the stairwell. She disappeared through the EXIT door, but I caught up to her.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” I snapped, grabbing her arm. I pulled her back up to the landing and shoved her hard against the wall.

  “Fuck you.”

  She pushed me away and tried leaving again, but I blocked her.

  “Sorry, but no. We’re calling the cops and you’re going to jail.”

  She glared at me and then tried swinging at me. I blocked it and then punched her in the face.

  Mara gasped and grabbed onto her bloody nose. “You bitch!”

  “You started it.”

  The door above us opened.

  “Chloe?” Blair called out.

  “Yeah. Down here. I have Mara.”

  Blair raced down the stairwell, her face flushed. “Oh, thank God. The cops are on their way. Adam has the gun now.”

  I sighed in relief.

  Noticing Mara’s nose, Blair looked at me and smiled. “You and that left hook. Remind me to never piss you off.”

  “She threw the first punch.”