by Chloe Young
She could only hope to put the beach house behind them and live out the rest of their lives in some sort of peace. She no longer wanted to think about the beach house. What had transpired there tarnished even her fondest memories of her boys.
Clint couldn’t understand what had caused his son to become such a monster. He had committed heinous acts that were unforgivable. Maybe Damon had been messed up his whole life. Maybe he had been a terrible father. Either way, he had to deal with the reality of the situation.
After they learned of the truth, Susan had refused to get out of bed for a couple of months. Clint only hoped that selling the beach house would bring her at least a small sense of peace.
***
Megan pulled on her black dress. She was looking forward to a night out. The events at the beach house remained with her every moment of every day since the tragic events had transpired. She supposed that they always would remain with her.
She put on her heels and headed downstairs. Sullivan was waiting for her. “You look stunning, Megan. I can’t wait to take you out and show you off.”
Megan couldn’t help but smile. For the first time in her life, she felt as if she were with someone who truly loved her and wanted to be with her. He had saved her life in more ways than one. It allowed her to put Mark and Kristi behind her, although she would have never wished such a terrible fate upon them.
Sullivan pulled her close to him and kissed her warmly. He had learned that police work was not the most important part of his life. In fact, he was just figuring out how to live his life. It was hard for him to move past the events at the beach house. The decisions he made continued to haunt him. He was thankful that Megan had survived and that they could move forward with their lives together.
***
Horace sat on an old lawn chair outside of his shack. He had had enough of the beach. He took one last look out into the ocean. He wondered if Damon were still floating around out there somewhere. Maybe he had washed up and was yet to be found. Max had received a proper burial on the beach; it was his favorite place to be.
Horace had seen a lot of events unfold out here. He could still recall the night that he saw Damon and Jonathan go out into the water. If he had spoken up then, perhaps this whole mess could have been avoided. Maybe Max would still be alive.
What was done was done though. Now he had to accept reality and move on with his life Horace grabbed onto the one bag that he had packed. He made his way up to the main road. He had no idea where he was headed. He was just walking.
***
Charley pulled his line out of the water. There was no luck catching any fish today. He learned that some days were just like that though. Some days the fish were biting, and other days, there was not a single fish to be found.
The sun was beginning to set, and he wanted to make it home to his family before dinner was on the table. He grabbed his tackle box, fishing pole, and cooler. As he began to trudge up the shore, he caught a glimpse of something from behind a rather large rock a bit further up.
Charley approached the rock with some caution. He wasn’t quite sure what to expect. As he bent down, he saw that it was a body. With a sense of urgency, he dropped all of the items he had been carrying home. “Jesus. Son, can you hear me? Are you alive?”
Charley put his arm on the young man’s chest. It appeared that he had been badly hurt. His shirt was torn and a wound was visible on his upper chest. The fisherman pulled the body further up onto the sand. As far as he was concerned, it was a dead body. He had certainly never happened upon one of those on his daily fishing trips.
Without a phone, he decided he would have to drag the body and call the police from his house. He only hoped they could identify the body and locate the man’s family. Charley decided he could come back for his fishing supplies later. He picked up the young man’s arms and began to pull him along the beach with him. The young man was rather light, not too muscular. That made it rather easy to pull him along the smooth sand. He had dark hair and dark stubble across much of his face. He couldn’t help but assume that the young man had been murdered. The gash in his skin made it apparent that he must have bled to death.
Charley also noticed large bruises around his neck area. It was as if something had been wound tightly around his neck.
As he got nearer to his home, he began to feel some resistance from the body being pulled along. He was starting to grow weary and assumed fatigue had set in. As he turned to look at the body, he could see that the young man’s eyes were wide open.
Charley dropped the body and called out to the young man. “Son? Can you hear me? Are you okay? What happened to you?”
The man looked up at the fisherman. His voice was very weak and he could only speak in a very low whisper. “I need you to get me somewhere safe. A man and a woman left me for dead. They threw me out in the ocean to die.”
Charley looked horrified. “Okay. Let me get you home. We can call the police and get you to a hospital.
The man looked up at Charley and smiled. “No. I don’t want the police involved. I can handle the situation myself.” The young man’s voice was very fragile and he could barely hear the words that were spoken.
Charley couldn’t understand why he shouldn’t call the police. After all, this was a very serious matter. “Look, let’s get you to my place. Then we can talk. What’s your name, son?”
“Damon. I appreciate your help. I’m just trying to get back home. I have some people who I need to see. I’m sure they are missing me.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Thank you for taking the time to read this book.
If you have any questions of any kind feel free to contact me directly at [email protected].
You can connect with me on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/author.Chloe.Young
I wish you all of the best, be sure to look for my next book!
Chloe Young
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Epilogue
About the Author