Luring Shadows (The Happy Endings Resort Book 7) Read online

  LURING SHADOWS

  The Happy Endings Resort Book 7

  KRISTINA RIENZI

  INDIGO HAWK GROUP, LLC

  New Jersey

  LURING SHADOWS (The Happy Endings Resort Book 7)

  Copyright © 2015 Kristina Rienzi

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, scanned or distributed in any printed or electronic form, whole or in part by any means, without express written permission from the publisher. Please purchase only authorized editions and do not participate in piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of author’s rights.

  Book Layout: © 2015 BookDesignTemplates.com

  Cover Design: Kari March Designs (www. KariMarch.com)

  Author Photograph: Jaime Lynn Photography (www.JaimeLynnPhotography.com)

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s creative imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  INDIGO HAWK GROUP, LLC

  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  Luring Shadows/ Kristina Rienzi. -- 1st ed.

  This book is dedicated to my mom, my angel. Our love is eternal…until we meet again.

  The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?

  ―EDGAR ALLAN POE

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1: Rayna

  Chapter 2: Max

  Chapter 3: Rayna

  Chapter 4: Max

  Chapter 5: Rayna

  Chapter 6: The Stranger

  Chapter 7: Rayna

  Chapter 8: Max

  Chapter 9: Rayna

  Chapter 10: The Stranger

  Chapter 11: Rayna

  Chapter 12: Rayna

  Chapter 13: Rayna

  Chapter 14: Rayna

  Chapter 15: Max

  Preview: A Soldier's Dawning (HERS, #8)

  { 1 }

  Rayna

  Shadows drifted along the edge of the lake where Caitlyn’s body surfaced five years ago. I shook with a chill from somewhere deep within my soul. The grotesque images of my dead sister have haunted me since the fateful day I was forever changed. Memories of the beautiful girl I loved so dearly, the girl so full of life, ever twist and turn in my mind. Although time has passed and life has gone on, her death remains a mystery and her murderer remains unknown.

  Caitlyn’s murder is officially labeled a cold case now. She’s one of millions of victims whose brutal crimes have yet to be solved. Cold because there are no leads and they aren’t any closer to solving her case than they were the day it happened. Cold because the investigator’s empathy is pushed aside, ensuring that real emotions associated with a young girl’s murder won’t skew the investigation. Cold because her body was cold when they found her floating, dead in the lake. A cold case is merely an unsolved crime, yet they don’t call it that. They call it cold because of the image it summons, one you are powerless to forget.

  I made a failed attempt at skipping rocks, then just tossed them into the lake instead. I did this often as a silly tribute to our meaningless pastime from the summers we spent at our Happy Endings Resort cabin. Our childhood getaway was now my adult home. Times had changed since then, more than I ever wanted them to, and a tribute to Cailtyn still wouldn’t bring her back to me.

  In our glory days, our tiny behinds would have been planted in the grass right next to each other, hip to hip. We would have spent our time complaining about this or that, whatever our mom and dad had said we weren't old enough to do on that particular day, like running with scissors or something equally as dangerous. Dreaming, making up stories, and singing to each other were the things us bored girls, banned from technology, did in the summers at the cabin. We were all we had back then. And now, it was only me.

  Five years. The heaviness in my chest returned with a vengeance. I should have known a significant anniversary would have that effect on my broken heart. After five whole years, I honestly thought the pain would have gotten a little lighter by now. I had been waiting for the day to come when I would no longer be consciously aware of my beating heart and its demands for my full attention out of nowhere.

  It had been more than just heavy lately. The weight had fallen hard and birthed a hollow and empty pit. It was one you could drop a quarter down and watch fall all the way into the black abyss light years below. Whatever was unlucky, or lucky, enough to fall into my abyss—love, happiness, peace—would never stop falling because my grief was bottomless. My pain for missing my sister, Caitlyn, was dark and eternal.

  I pushed hard on my chest. Please, I begged in my head. I wanted my heart to stop calling me, stop distracting me. You’re a selfish heart, you know that? Let my head win this time, won’t you? My head deserves a win. It needs a victory.

  After all of those years of persons of interest, suspects, questioning and multiple dead-end investigations ended up with no leads, Caitlyn’s case was as dead as she was and it still angered me to no end. I ripped a handful of grass out of the ground and threw it into the air. The blades fell down around me, not going very far.

  What about DNA? DNA never lies. Why wasn’t there any DNA? Hell, it was the reason I had moved into our cabin after graduation. I thought, maybe, just maybe, I would be the one to solve her cold case. I’d find a piece of old gum, or a cigarette butt—something. Perhaps I would have the honor of being the heroine who found the one crucial piece of evidence that had previously been ignored. And, alas, Caitlyn’s murderer would be captured and caged like the animal he most certainly was.

  Of course, it hadn’t turned out that way. There was no evidence left behind. No cigarette butts or chewed up balls of gum or anything else for that matter had been found. I still didn’t know who murdered Caitlyn. No one did. I had no idea what happened to my baby sister on that dreadful day, the day that dimmed the bright light inside of me forever. To this day, I have no closure, and being happy without it is not an option for me. I’ll only ever be broken apart.

  Happy.

  It’s funny how one word can change your entire perspective on the world depending on the situation. One day, happy is a bright and never-ending rainbow, although you don’t appreciate it in the least because happy is your normal. Until the next day when happy has morphed into a jet-black ball of negative energy that you couldn’t run away from fast enough if you tried. That’s when you beg your former happy to bring its color back into the world, but the best you can hope for is for your happy to become a version of gray one day. And even that is too much to ask.

  My world lost its color forever the day my sister was killed.

  I shook off my thoughts and headed back to the cabin.

  The screen door creaked as I pushed it open. The night air wafted in when I entered my house, scents of musk permeating the space around me. I glanced at the window and caught sight of the neon sign that shone brightly on the other side of the lake.

  WELCOME TO HAPPY ENDINGS RESORT.

  I huffed. What a crock. Caitlyn’s ending was far from happy. Her story belonged at Horror Endings Resort, the place where run down trailers were nestled high atop the Rocky Mountains, miles from any semblance of life. Caitlyn’s ending belonged in the campground where no one made it out alive, not even the bright, young, beautiful girls who had the universe in the palms of their hands. And especially not my bright, young and beautiful sister. Especially not her.
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  Five years. My eyes drifted to the middle of the lake. I listened closely. I waited a beat until the night’s silence morphed into our familiar melody, the one we both knew so well. I hummed along with her voice singing the words we penned so long ago in my head.

  Sister, Sister, hold me near.

  I waited, although the thing I had been longing for after all of this time would never come. I knew this, but I waited still. The one piece of my cracked open heart was much too far to reach. The only thing to stop me from running away from my reality was that I’d never see her crystal blue eyes again. Living was all I could do.

  Sister, sister, have no fear.

  My truth lives there, smack dab in the middle of the lake, right alongside the echo of her sweet voice. I stared in disbelief at the place where the muddied water met the dry unkempt land on the other side.

  As a distraction, I closed my eyes, as I always did when I desperately needed to remember her. It stopped my mind from going to the dark place. Instead, I was instantly transported back in time. It was the summer of 2010, our last summer together. The scent of barbecue surrounded me and I breathed it in deeply. In my head, my safe place, Caitlyn was standing right beside me. I reached my hand out and imagined holding hers, our fingers intertwined. I breathed a sigh of relief. In the safety of my mind, I wasn’t with Caitlyn in death anymore. Behind my eyelids, our lives were still being lived out under the sun and deep within our hearts. Memories, my real-life time travel, always kept her alive.

  Sister, sister, I’m always here.

  A hot tear rolled fast down my cheek. My daydreams both comforted me and caused me terrible pain. There was no relief in the loss I felt, not even in her memory, as much as I tried to fool myself.

  All of these years, I had waited for her killer to be identified and apprehended. I prayed he would be locked up so he would never hurt another person again. For me, however, it wouldn’t change a thing. Nothing would bring Caitlyn back.

  Oh, my sister, I love you, Dear.

  I responded to my memory aloud. “I love you more.”

  It had been five years since Caitlyn was brutally murdered and left for dead in the lake behind our cabin at Happy Endings Resort, our sacred place. Yet, it felt as if no time had passed at all. Until her killer was found, I’d never be able to move on, and she would never be able to rest in peace.

  I uncorked the chilled Sauvignon Blanc and slowly poured it into my souvenir glass from the first annual music festival dubbed, “Caitlyn’s Concert” in 2010. As I drank down the perfect white wine, I knew exactly who would force me into closure. After five years, it was time for an in-person reunion.

  { 2 }

  Max

  “LET'S DO THE last verse one more time.“ I leaned into the notes, strumming my guitar until I felt the music coursing through my veins. My bandmates rocked out behind me like they were on stage in front of one hundred thousand fans. Once the notes reached my soul, I let loose. “Let me go, little woman. Let me go.“

  Josh Levin, my bass player and backup singer, joined in. “Go on, little woman, go on and let him go.”

  I let my guitar fall to my side as I grabbed the microphone with purpose and passion, always with passion.

  I sang the words I wrote so many years ago. “Your love made me a sinner and my love made you a saint. God knows I'm no outlaw, but you turned my love right into hate.” I stepped back and waited for the music to slow almost to a stop. Then I sang the chorus of a rock song turned ballad. “Let me go, little woman. Let me go. It's time, little woman, to let us go.”

  That was when the loud screech of tires tore my attention away from the song and into my driveway instead.

  “Speak of the devil.” Brad Harmon, my drummer, nodded toward the front of the house.

  We all looked up to see Cheri’s sports car skidding across the pavement in front of my house. She pulled up short right before crossing the threshold of the blacktop and into the garage where we were all standing.

  “Christ Almighty. Watch it!” I yelled at my soon-to-be ex-wife, which was the standard course of action in our relationship, especially these days.

  Josh laughed aloud. “Well, well. I guess that's what happens when you don't answer your phone for a few days. These psychotic bitches find you no matter where you are, even states away.”

  I walked up to Cheri’s car door before she had a chance to open it and get out. I leaned inside of the window. “Don’t remember sending you an invitation, let alone my new address.”

  Cheri shrugged. “No need, Hon. The internet is this useful new little piece of technology that spits out whatever information you’re looking for. You should try to use it sometime.”

  “Please, I’m dying to know. Tell me, what the hell are you doing here?”

  “Funny you should ask. I'm actually your new neighbor. I thought it would be neighborly of me to stop by and say hello.” Cheri winked at me and then waved to the band. “Maybe you want to invite me in, you know, welcome me to the neighborhood?”

  “Excuse me?” I had the urge to kick her car door in, but I knew she would turn my inability to control my rage into an advantage in the inevitable divorce. I planned on filing soon, but needed the push. Her showing up in Endings may just be it. I wasn’t sure how much more of an advantage I would give her because she already had all of the money, and it wasn’t like a restraining order would do it for her. Whatever deceitful revenge she planned on conjuring up, I’d definitely have to pay for it if it were up to her. There was no doubt about that.

  “You heard me right.” Cheri pushed open her door until I practically fell on the ground.

  My hands formed fists at my sides and when I realized it, I let them go. I couldn’t afford to raise them and lose it all now.

  “What, did you rent the house next door?” I flung my arms. Drama was not my strong suit.

  “You wish.” She threw her head back in laughter. “Close enough though. I’m staying at Happy Endings Resort for the time being. Once I found out about my favorite band, The Black Angels, performing at the trailer park’s music festival for that poor murdered girl this weekend, I knew my arrival was meant to be. I wanted to let you know I'll be there since now it’s you who’s coming to my neck of the woods. You’ll be on my turf, so I figured I'd give you a heads up on it. God forbid you think I'm stalking you.” Cheri laughed in her crooked way.

  My stomach did a nosedive in disgust. “Technically you are stalking me. We separated, in case you forgot, in New Jersey no less, three months ago. Now, here you are showing up in South Carolina out of the clear blue. You actually followed me hundreds of miles to move into the non-luxury, non-Cheri-style campground less than a mile away from where I live. If that's not

  stalking . . .”

  “You don't know what is? Well, you never did file a restraining order against me, Max. You had every chance to stop me from coming near you, but you never did anything about it.” Cheri took two steps closer. “I’m not doing anything illegal by being here. So now, rock star, what are you going to do this time?”

  Cheri continued to walk up to me slowly. Her oversized lips were merely an inch away from mine. Any other guy in the universe would have been turned on, just like I was when we first met, but in that moment I was furious. I knew what kind of crazy she was, and there was no cure for what lived inside of her head. It was pure, egotistical evil.

  I shuffled a few steps back and put my hands up in the air. “Back off. Restraining order or not, I don't want you near me or on my property. If you don't choose to leave on your own accord, I will call the police. And then I will get whatever order I need to get rid of you.”

  Cheri rolled her eyes and flung her long blond hair back. “Well, well, well, Maximillian. You’ve certainly purchased a set of balls for yourself since you left Jersey, haven’t you? Does South Carolina sell them at the gas stations around here? I wouldn’t be surprised if they were lined up next to the cheese dip.”

  My bandmates laughed
at her sarcasm. With my hand on my gun, I shot them a look full of flaming bullets. They shut up quicker than ever before.

  I turned my attention back to the devil herself. “After you tried to castrate me, what choice did I have?”

  Josh and Brad exchanged a “Whoa.”

  Cheri spit in my direction. “You never had anything to castrate.” Then, she turned around and got back in her car. After she had revved the engine, she smiled her plastic grin at all of us. “See you on Saturday, boys.” Then she blew me a kiss and backed out of the driveway, doing a full burnout before she sped off. I had to give her credit, she could drive a car.

  “I don't know why you keep fighting it.” Brad threw his hands up.

  “Yeah.” Josh licked his lips. “She's hot. I always wondered, how crazy could she be?”

  “She's insane. Crazy isn't even in the same universe as Cheri. You want her? Take her, please.” I pushed past them.

  “I'm in.” Brad nudged Josh.

  “Me, too.” Josh rubbed his hands together.

  “Perfect.” I pointed to our equipment in the garage. “We're done for now. One more practice tomorrow and we're ready for the concert.” I walked into the house, slamming the door behind me, then headed for the kitchen to grab a bottle of beer.

  Josh followed right behind me. “Dude, we're just messing around. You alright?”

  I cracked the top of the pale ale open and took a swig. “Alright? No. I'm pissed. I can't get away from her. She's making it impossible for me to move on. It’s a living hell.”

  “It's not like she can't find another guy. She's hot and she gives it up from what I heard.” Josh looked away. “Sorry, man, it was way before you.”

  “And, during me.” I shook my head. “I should have known better. The qualities you're supposed to look for in a girl who's just a one night stand are the same traits you should run from in a girl who's relationship material. I had it backward. I fell for the girl who was meant to be with me for one night only.”