5. Linda
LINDA
The heavy mid-morning humidity hung thick over the hotel driveway, but inside the lobby, the air conditioning kept the air crisp and clean.
Linda checked her wristwatch, noting the numbers ticking ruthlessly toward her appointment.
She reached into her canvas bag, pulling out a faded navy baseball cap and tugging the brim low over her eyes before she stepped through the side exit doors.
She was dressed in a manner that felt completely foreign to her daily routine.
Instead of her usual immaculate, tailored linen shorts or her elegant summery blouses, she was wearing plain denim jeans, a simple cotton T-shirt, and old, worn-out sneakers.
Even when she spent hours working down at the pool excavation site, she always managed to maintain a touch of classic sophistication in her wardrobe choices.
Today, however, she was intentionally aiming for total invisibility.
She had a high-stakes, secret rendezvous to catch on the other side of the island, and the last thing she needed was to draw the attention of the local townspeople.
Her plans for a quiet escape vanished the moment she rounded the corner of the shaded veranda and ran straight into Lily, Emma, and Sophia.
"Gran!" Sophia called out, halting her stride on the concrete path.
She frowned, her bright eyes narrowing as she took a thorough look at the outfit.
"Hey, where are you going?" She looked down, her eyebrows shooting up as she spotted the footwear.
"I've never seen you wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a baseball cap before. Are you actually wearing old sneakers?"
Linda let out a quiet, inward sigh, adjusting the canvas strap on her shoulder. She had to invent a plausible cover story before the girls started digging any further into her sudden stylistic transformation.
"I'm heading out to help Penny look over a few structural details at her new mansion," she lied smoothly.
"Oh!" the three girls said in unison, nodding as they accepted the reasoning without a second thought.
"Can we come with you?" Sophia asked, her expression turning eager. "I love the architecture of that old Mediterranean estate, and I've been dying to look inside the main rooms before the renovations start."
"Uh..." Linda paused, caught off guard by the unexpected request. Her mind raced to find a gentle deflection. "Aren't you girls supposed to be on your way to find Dr. Reed? I thought you were scheduled to assist him and Aunt Anna with the artifact cataloging grids today."
Sophia let out a heavy sigh, her shoulders dropping. "Oh, right. I forgot about the morning shift."
"Maybe you can tag along with me another time, I promise," Linda offered, reaching out to ease the disappointment.
"Okay," the three of them chorused together, their youthful compliance returning.
Linda leaned down, pressing a gentle kiss against the top of her granddaughter's head. "You three go have fun down at the basin," she said, offering them a warm smile. "I really like this kind of fun for you."
Sophia snorted softly, a playful glint in her eyes. "Only because it's educational."
"It's still fun, though." Linda gave a sly grin, tilting her head. "Especially now that a lot of the local high school students are taking part alongside the varsity ones."
Lily let out a deep, dramatic sigh, her posture relaxing. "Oh, yes. Like Colt Harris."
"Oh gosh, yes, and Simon Grady," Sophia added, her eyes instantly taking on a dreamy expression as she adjusted her canvas tote.
"I like Thomas Simpson," Emma chimed in, her cheeks warming with a faint pink flush. "He's so incredibly intelligent, but he's still dreamy."
Linda shook her head with a soft chuckle, her amused gaze drifting over the trio.
*I wasn't going for that...* She gave them a serious, protective look. "Just make sure you stay focused on the safety protocols and be careful out there, okay?"
"Yes, we will," they called back, waving over their shoulders as they turned down the path heading toward the rear pool enclosure.
The moment they were out of sight, Linda bolted toward her vehicle. She checked her wristwatch yet again, her heart quickening its beat. She had to make it to the quiet diner located on the dusty outskirts of town within a matter of minutes, and she was running seriously late.
She navigated the winding coastal roads with practiced efficiency, pulling her sedan into the gravel parking lot of the diner a short while later.
Dust billowed behind her tires as she killed the engine, adjusted the brim of her cap, and hurried through the screened front door.
Pete, the longtime owner of the establishment, greeted her from behind the laminate counter with a slow, knowing nod.
Linda moved closer to the counter, asking in a low whisper if the person she was scheduled to meet had arrived yet.
Pete nodded toward the rear corridor, his voice quiet. "Yes, they're waiting for you in my private office."
Linda slipped down the narrow hallway, her heart giving a sharp jolt against her ribs as she turned the brass doorknob.
She stepped inside the wood-paneled room, closing the door securely behind her.
The person she was scheduled to meet was sitting behind the owner's cluttered desk, their head bowed as they flipped through the white pages of a thick legal contract.
The person looked up at the sound of the latch clicking into place, their eyes instantly lighting up with relief. "Hi. I'm so glad you came. I was beginning to wonder after the massive disaster that happened in the lobby this morning."
"Of course I came," Linda said, moving toward the center of the room. "We went over the logistical steps yesterday."
Her knees felt slightly shaky under the weight of the lingering tension from the confrontation yesterday, so she sat down in the leather chair directly opposite the desk, trying to steady her breathing. She looked at the white documents curiously.
The person tapped the top sheet with their thumb.
"Yesterday you asked me how you could possibly believe a single thing that is being said right now.
Well, aside from the obvious measure of checking the facts for yourself and speaking to your various contacts who know...
" The person flipped the document around, sliding the dense pages across the polished wood surface toward her position.
"How about this? Read that over. Sign it.
And if anything I tell you turns out to be untrue, within reasonable terms, because some answers might be ambiguous or a question could be misconstrued, but any blatant lies, cover-ups, or omissions will immediately put the penalties of this contract into effect. "
Linda looked down at the document, her eyes widening as she skimmed the dense legal paragraphs. She sucked in a sharp breath, her head shooting up to stare across the desk.
"This can't be real. You can't possibly be serious?" She felt shell-shocked, her mind reeling as she processed the immense liabilities tied to putting the person's signature on the page.
"That's just to prove to you just how serious I am," the person told her, their gaze unwavering as they met her look. "And to assure you that from here on out, you'll only get the unvarnished truth from my side of the table."
"Yes, but this..." Linda swallowed hard, feeling her throat constrict as she glanced back at the text. "It's way too much."
"No, it's too little as far as I'm concerned," the person clipped, their eyes glinting with raw emotion. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to gain your trust back."
Linda shook her head gently, her fingers resting against the edge of the desk blotter. "You're doing more than enough already. But I cannot sign this document."
The person leaned back against the leather cushion, their jaw setting into a rigid, stubborn line. "Then I can't offer any more assistance with the hotel defense strategy."
Linda stared at the person in pure surprise, her brow furrowing. "Are you for real right now?"
"I'm trying to prove myself to you," the person told her, their tone firm, leaving no room for negotiation.
"This shows you the exact extent of my commitment to saving your home.
" The person reached into their jacket pocket, sliding a heavy gold pen across the paper toward her hand.
"Now sign it, or I get up and walk right out that door.
I will leave the bay tonight, and you will never see me again. "
A sudden surge of panic swept through her chest, her heart thudding violently against her ribs at the thought of losing the person or not seeing them again.
There were still so many unanswered questions, and she knew she couldn’t have the person walking away now.
She glanced back down at the document, quickly scanning the two pages.
As far as her own legal eye could tell, the massive financial and personal liabilities outlined in the terms solely affected the person sitting across from her.
She let out a slow, defeated breath, shaking her head as she reluctantly gripped the gold pen and signed her name on the designated line. The other person took the pen from her fingers, immediately scrawling their own signature directly beside hers.
"There," the person said quietly, then retrieved their phone to text someone else.
Within a few short minutes, a firm knock sounded against the wood panel. Pete stepped into the office, a tall, sharply dressed professional in a tailored gray suit, following him.
"Hello, Ms. Heart," the newcomer greeted her, offering a polite, practiced nod as Pete closed the door to leave them in private. "I'm Hugh Norman, a senior attorney at Norman and Gail."
Linda's brows shot up to her hairline. Norman and Gail was one of the most prestigious, high-leverage corporate law firms in Miami, known for handling massive real estate acquisitions. "I'll be representing you personally on this matter moving forward."
Linda's head shot back toward the person sitting behind the desk, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Is Mr. Norman your corporate attorney?"
"No, he belongs to you now," the person told her confidently. "Compliments of my company."
"Again, that's incredibly generous of you, but I cannot accept this kind of retainer," Linda stated, her mind struggling to process how surreal the situation had become.
"I'm going to insist," the person said, leaning forward to rest their forearms on the desk wood.
"You see, we need to keep these discussions strictly between us, which means you can't go to your family's normal attorney.
If you do, the legal trail will alert the wrong people, we'll have to stop meeting like this, and then you won't get the specific answers you want from me.
I don't want to stop meeting like this, and you know the exact reasons why we have to maintain this cover. "
Linda let out a long, heavy breath. "Fine. But just so we're clear, I'm not happy about the manipulation."
"For now, it's what needs to be done to stay ahead of the game," the person pointed out, and Linda offered a reluctant nod of agreement.
Norman took the signed document from the desk, pulling a heavy stamp from his briefcase to formalize the signatures.
"I'll ensure the official copies are routed directly to the other parties' legal representatives, and I'll retain Ms. Heart's copy in our private vault.
" He slid a thick embossed card across the table.
"Here is my direct card, Ms. Heart. Contact me at any hour of the day should you need me for anything. "
With a final professional nod, the attorney followed Pete back out into the main dining area, closing the heavy office door behind them to grant them total privacy.
As she sat in stunned silence at what just happened, a phrase her teenagers used constantly popped into Linda’s head, and she let out a soft, breathless laugh. "Well, that just happened."
The person across from her let out a quiet chuckle, reaching for their coffee mug as their tense features finally relaxed. "So, what exactly do you want to talk about today?"
Linda leaned back against the leather cushion, her eyes studying the person across from her as a million conflicting questions swirled through her mind. But as she fixed her gaze on the person, the primary question rose clearly to the surface.
"Where exactly do we go from here?"