He was back and hell was begging to be paid.
Chase Hunter stared through the cockpit windshield as the small private jet made its final approach into Granite Falls Regional Airport.
Nestled at the foothills of New Hampshire’s White Mountains, and bordered by the Aiken River on the west, Lake Crystal in the northeast, and Lake Aubrey in the southeast, Granite Falls had always been a picturesque town. In twelve years, it had flourished into a little metropolis that matched the glamour and excitement of any of the big cities Chase had visited around the world.
The majestic mountain ranges in the north and west provided breathtaking backdrops for the sprawling billion-dollar estates at the peak of Mount Reservoir, and for the multitude of modest family homes scattered across its foothills. Directly below him, the glowing sunset bounced off the tops of historical landmarks and the mass of modern high-rises in the downtown area—many of which had been erected since Chase’s absence from Granite Falls and its sister town of Evergreen to the east.
It was hard to imagine a town, especially one located in a remote mountain range, expanding at this rate, but when the population included four billionaires with growing families—all of whom were dedicated to making Granite Falls, and now Evergreen the best little towns in the region—then anything was possible.
A mixture of rage and pride spread through Chase like a California wildfire as his eyes scaled the tops of Fontaine Enterprises, Fontaine Towers #1 and #2, and Fontaine Conference Center—the tallest buildings in Granite Falls. That son of a bitch had stolen so much from him. Not only his ideas and his reputation, but also his chance to make a life with the only woman he’d ever loved. The woman he’d had to put out of his mind for twelve heartbreaking years.
It was bad enough that he’d been chased out of town, but even worse was the evidence that had sentenced him to being forever scum in her eyes. If a picture was worth a thousand words, the incriminating video featuring Chase as the star of the show was worth ten thousand. There was no argument that Chase had been a willing participant in the private homemade movie.
No siree, he thought, as the plane touched down and sped along the runway. He could, however, argue that he’d had no idea the video existed, much less that it would be shown to a room full of the elite residents of Evergreen and Granite Falls.
Irresponsible. Narcissistic. Degenerate. These were just a few of the names the love of his life had hurled at him in front of all those people that night. And those were the nice names, Chase thought, as his gut contracted at the memory of the contempt that had flashed in her eyes.
Stay away from my daughter, you repulsive reprobate. You come near her again, and I swear to God I will shoot you, her father had threatened when Chase had attempted to see her the next day.
It hadn’t taken Chase long to figure out who’d set him up, and why. Chase had confronted the SOB and sworn to make him pay, but his enemy had another ace up his sleeve. Somehow, he’d gotten wind of a Hunter family secret—a secret Chase hadn’t known existed until that day. And if that secret were made public, it would have destroyed Chase’s mother’s world.
With his love’s contempt for him, and her father’s threats against him, Chase had had nothing more to lose when he’d been given two days to leave Evergreen, forever.
Forever, for Chase, turned out to be twelve years—twelve years during which he’d had time to plan his revenge, build up his arsenal to take on, and now take down the bastard who’d robbed him of his life and his happiness with his one true love.
“Welcome home, Mr. Hunter.” The pilot turned and gave Chase a big grin once the jet came to a complete stop.
“Thank you, Hector. And thanks for the ride.” He unbuckled his seatbelt.
“It’s Mr. Fontaine you should be thanking. He paid for the gas and the Scotch, sir.”
Chase smiled at Hector’s sir. That’s one name he’d never been called before, at least not in these parts. “The ride was smooth. You’re topnotch, and if you weren’t so happy at Fontaine Enterprises, I’d hire you in a flash.”
“Make sure you share your sentiments about my value with my boss. I can do with a raise.”
“I’ll mention it the next time I see him,” Chase said with a chuckle, as the pilot began his post landing procedure. Hector’s family was one of the few Hispanic families that lived in the twin towns when Chase was growing up. Chase had had a short fling with Hector’s younger sister, Celia, during their senior year at Granite Falls Prep.
Since Hector never mentioned it, or gave him attitude, Chase assumed he wasn’t privy to that information. But even so, Hector worked for Bryce Fontaine, and no smart Fontaine employee would consciously offend someone Bryce considered a friend or a colleague. Luckily for Chase, he was both, all because of a chance meeting several years ago.
Hector was Bryce’s most valued and trusted pilot, so when Chase had voiced concerns about his own private jet landing at GFR and thus defeating his element of surprise, Bryce had sent Hector to fly him from Iowa.
He wasn’t overly concerned about being recognized as Chase Hunter since most of the people he’d grown up with had left the area. It wasn’t as if he had many male friends, anyway. His companions had been predominantly women, and many of them had either married, moved away, or both. The younger generation and new blood that now occupied the twin towns had probably never heard of him, and if they had, they wouldn’t be able to pick him out of a lineup.
The cockpit door opened and the inflight attendant stuck his head in. “Mr. Hunter, your driver is here. We’ve loaded the duffel bags into the car and dispatched your other luggage to your hotel as you instructed.”
“Thank you, Nigel.”
“See that you stay out of trouble,” Hector warned as Chase vacated the seat.
“I’ll try, but you know me. Trouble just seems to find me no matter how hard I try to avoid her,” he said, as he squeezed his large frame through the cockpit door.
In the plush cabin, he gathered a leather satchel and the rolls of tracing paper—drawings he had been studying before moving to the cockpit—disembarked, and made his way across the tarmac, through the sprawling terminal, and out the other side.
The air was cool, as was expected for a mountain town—much more tolerable than Iowa’s evenings, and it smelled a lot better, too, Chase thought, as his nostrils picked up the mixture of floral scents heavy on the westerly evening breeze.
His heart skipped a beat as the memories of Evergreen’s Flower Maze—located just across Granite Falls’ southeastern border—finally caught up to him. During the approach, Chase had astutely kept his eyes and thoughts away from that garden. There were just too many…
“Chase!”
Chase stopped short as he approached the line of limos on the curb outside the terminal.
“Chase Hunter. It is you. Oh my God.”
There went his element of surprise. Chase groaned when the young woman wearing a classic chauffeur uniform—white blouse, black skirt, and cap—alighted from the driver’s side of a limo and began running toward him.
Damn it. It was Lisa Yarwood, his true love’s cousin. Curvy, attractive with a moon-shaped face and straight black hair, bleached blond at the tips, Lisa hadn’t changed much from the woman Chase remembered, except for the fact that she looked older.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Chase Hunter in the flesh,” she said, smiling up at him. “Only one man I know who walks like a jungle cat,” she added, as if to answer the first question that popped into his head.
“Lisa.” Chase raked his fingers through his wind-tossed shoulder-length hair, wondering how he’d gotten so unlucky fifteen minutes after his return. This town was really too damn small, and seemed to be filled with too many bags of bad luck with his name written on them.
“Oh my God, you remember me. It’s been like—how long, ten—”
“Twelve years,” he provided, forcing a grin.
“Oh my God.” She threw her hands around his neck and gave him a big squeeze. “Welcome home, Chase.” She stepped back and frowned up at him. “Desire is going to chip a nail when she sees you. Did she know you were coming home? We had dinner at Francine’s last night. You remember Francine’s, that ritzy French restaurant in Evergreen where I used to waitress? Desire talked about some big changes she will be making in her life.” Lisa sped on without giving him a chance to respond to her questions. “But she didn’t specify—” She clasped a hand over her mouth. “Oh my God, is it about you? Was it supposed to be a surprise?”
Chase’s heart raced at the mention of Desire’s name. It was the second time in twelve years that he’d heard someone utter her name, and it fueled his excitement to see her. But what kind of big changes could she be making to her life—changes that she hadn’t shared with her cousin with whom she used to be very close? “Nope, Desire’s life changes have nothing to do with me.”
“Then it must be about her business. She’s been thinking of expanding, but didn’t have the money to do it until last year when she planned that big wedding. Yeah, it must be about her business.”
I hope that’s all it is. The thought of Desire making big personal changes that involved another man tore at Chase’s gut, even as the fact that she was still single stunned him. Could she subconsciously be waiting for his return? After all, she’d been calling him My Chase since the day they met.
It had been a hot Saturday afternoon, and Chase was carrying a box of comic books to his bedroom in their new house when a butt-naked little girl burst through the hedges that bordered the two properties. Well, butt naked except for a pair of red cowboy boots.
“Hi,” she’d said, staring up at him with large brown eyes and a pearly white baby-teeth grin.
“Hi,” he’d replied, wondering where her parents were, and more curiously why she was naked. “What’s your name?” he’d asked.
“Desire,” she’d said, tugging on her two long ponytails. “What’s your name?”
“My—” He’d stopped at the sound of a woman’s voice calling out to Desire from the other side of the hedges. “Chase,” he’d said, returning his attention to the little girl, who had climbed up the steps and was now tugging on his T-shirt.
“My Chase,” she’d said.
“No. Chase.”
“My Chase,” she’d repeated stubbornly.
“Desire, where are you?” the voice had asked.
“Coming, Mommy,” she’d yelled before descending the steps and darting back across the lawn and disappearing behind the hedges.
Chase had hurried inside, not wanting anyone, especially the child’s mother, to know that he’d seen her naked. But from that day on, he’d become Desire’s Chase. When she was old enough he’d told her about their first meeting, but she refused to believe it. He wondered if she still consider him her Chase and if she…
“Mmm. That Iowa farm has been real good to you, Chase Hunter. You look scrumptious, as always,” Lisa said, pulling him back to the present.
“So, this is what you do for a living?” Chase asked. He needed to keep the conversation on the straight and narrow. The Lisa he remembered from their elementary school days used to be pretty smart. So how had she ended up driving people around town?
“Heck, no. I’m the regional manager for Eye Spy.”
“The eyewear company? They are the biggest in the northeast. That’s impressive.”
“Thanks. I’ve been working for them since I was nineteen. Got the promotion about six years ago. I drive for Twin Town Limo Services at nights and on weekends. It’s my second job. My play money job.”
And he just had to pick her limo company. Chase wished he’d taken Bryce’s offer to have a Fontaine car pick him up and drive him to Evergreen. He’d turned it down, thinking the man had already gone above and beyond favors to help him onto his feet, and now back home, even though Chase had to consider that Fontaine Enterprises had a lot to gain from his return to the area.
“Is Chad or your mom picking you up?” Lisa asked.
“They don’t know I’m here. I wanted to surprise them.” Surprise the whole damn town.
“I’m sure they’ll be happy to see you, especially your mom.”
“I guess you’re my driver,” he said, noticing the name sign on the windshield of her limo.
“Nope. Would have been cool, but I’m here to pick up a Mr. Bennett.” She glanced around. “They already loaded his bags, but he hasn’t shown up yet.”
“I’m Mr. Bennett.”
Her mouth popped wide. “Why the alias?”
“It’s a long story. Shall we?” He took a step toward the limo in an attempt to ward off her questions.
“Ohhh, Mr. Bennett. Very mysterious. Does it have anything to do with why you want me to take you to the Forsythe mansion on Mount Reservoir, then pick you up at nightfall to take you home?” she asked, before walking ahead to open the door for him.
“It has everything to do with it.”
“Are you friends with the Forsythes?”
Of all the questions anyone could have asked Chase upon his return, this wasn’t one he was expecting or was prepared to answer. He managed to keep his cool as he searched his mind for a simple explanation. “No, we’re not friends. The house has been vacant for some time now. My boss is planning to purchase a home in Granite Falls, and he asked me to check out the property for him while I’m here, take pictures and so on.”
“Oh, that makes sense.”
It didn’t really, but he was happy she thought so. Chase slid into the backseat. “Lisa, can you keep all this between us? I don’t want anyone outside of my family to know I’m back, or about what I’m doing. Not until I’m ready to make my presence known. That goes for Desire, too. And no one is to know that I’m using the alias Bennett.”
She gave him an animated grin. “No problem, Chase. Your secrets are safe with me.” She pulled a card from her blouse pocket and handed it to Chase. “Call me if you ever need a ride.”
“Thanks, Lisa. I might take you up on that offer.” Chase shoved her card into the back pocket of his jeans.
* * *
Under cover of twilight, with two duffel bags in one hand and his key ring in the other, Chase stole across the front lawn of 72 Crawford Avenue, past the two parked cars in front of the closed garage, and made his way toward the back of the house and the stairs that led to the private entrance to his bedroom. The kitchen was the only room lighted, which meant it was the only currently occupied room in the house.
Chase smiled. His mother had a thing about not wasting energy. When he and Chad were little, she used to make them turn off the lights of the unoccupied rooms in the house. If they’d fallen asleep, it didn’t matter what time she came home from her shift at the hospital, she would wake them up and make them go around the house and turn off all the lights. Eventually, they had learned to check before they went to bed.
“Thank you, Mom,” Chase whispered as his key slid smoothly into the lock of his bedroom door. Some things still fit and worked. From force of habit, before turning the knob, he glanced across the lawn to the wraparound porch of the house next door. It was pitch dark. No one was home.
He tucked away the sweet memories and let himself quietly into his bedroom. He waited a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, and his nose to the smell of pine-laced Pledge. Warm feelings of affection enveloped Chase at the thought that even in his absence, his mother never neglected to dust his room and polish his furniture. Those simple acts of filial love had made it easy for Chase to sacrifice his own happiness for her. He loved his mother.
Placing his bags on a chair in one corner, Chase tiptoed across the floor and opened the door leading into the hallway. As expected, the doors to the other two bedrooms were closed, but he could distinctly hear the murmur of voices—one male, one female—coming up the hallway from the kitchen.
Taking a deep breath, Chase began his stealthy walk toward the stairs, praying that the floorboards hadn’t begun creaking in his absence. He breathed a sigh of relief and began his descent. His mother’s and brother’s voices grew louder as he got to the bottom step, but it wasn’t until he was halfway across the open living and dining area that he was able to make sense of their conversation. The mention of one name in particular halted Chase in his tracks.
Pain ripped through him as if someone had hacked his chest open and torn his heart out of him.
His mother’s scream and the screech of a chair against the tiled floor were simultaneous. “Oh my goodness, Chad, I’m so happy for you, son. That is the best news a mother could hear tonight. You know I love her like a daughter. Of all the women you’ve dated, she is the only one I’ve ever envisioned as the mother of my grandchildren.”
“So you don’t mind the color thing, or about what happened eleven years ago?”
“Chadwick Hunter, when have you ever known me to be concerned about the color of anyone’s skin? As to what happened all those years ago, every family has its secrets and its shame to bear. We all live in glass houses, so none of us should be throwing stones.”
Chase’s gut tightened.
“When did you propose?” his mother asked Chad.
“Three days ago. We had dinner at Odyssey, the Greek restaurant on Remington Drive. Afterward, we drove over to Cedar Lake. I proposed there under the stars. I wanted to make it special, you know.”
“Three days ago? Why are you just telling me?”
“We decided to give ourselves time to think about it, and if we were still in agreement at the end of three days, we would inform our families, separately.”
Chase frowned. Who does that? People in love don’t wait. Oh yes they do. He’d waited and now…
“She’s telling her family tonight as we speak. We’ll make it public in a day or two, and then she’ll begin wearing that big rock I gave her. Wait till you see it, Mom. I went all out. It set me back a bit, but—”
“Oh Chad. That is absolutely wonderful. We have to call Chase right away. He’s going to be so thrilled.”
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