Summer Vows (Arabesque) Read Online Free Page A

decided to exercise a modicum of independence.
The result was a livelier and unrestrained gathering with an ever-increasing
number of children running around in abandon.
    Arm in arm they left the restaurant and walked out into the
brilliant late-spring Florida sunshine. Ana placed a pair of sunglasses on the
bridge of her nose, Tyler following suit. “Where are you parked?”
    He pointed to a late-model silver sedan. “I’m right here. Where
are you parked?”
    “I’m around on the other side.”
    “I’ll walk you to your car.”
    “That’s all right.” Going on tiptoe, Ana pressed a kiss to
Tyler’s cheek. “If I don’t see you before you go back to Mississippi I’ll
definitely see you for Thanksgiving.”
    Winding his arms around Ana’s waist, Tyler pulled her close.
Dipping his head, he whispered in her ear. “Stay out of trouble.”
    “What are you—” Her words stopped when a sharp sound pierced
the humid air. Tyler’s arms fell away as he crumbled to the ground in
slow-motion like fluttering confetti. All warmth fled from her body, replaced by
an icy-coldness that wouldn’t permit Ana to move. It seemed like an eternity
where it was only seconds before she was able to scream when she sank to the
ground beside her cousin’s body. The screams kept coming until people in the
parking lot raced over to see what the commotion was about.
    Her eyes wide with fear and panic, Ana screamed, “Help me!” She
cradled Tyler to her bosom, her white blouse stained red with the warm blood
seeping from his chest wound. His eyes were closed and his breathing shallow.
The wait seemed interminable, but off in the distance she heard the sound of
wailing sirens.
    “Let me have a look at him.”
    She glanced up to find an elderly man kneeling beside her. Her
brain refused to process what had just happened. How could someone shoot Tyler
and she not see them? She hadn’t noticed anyone close to them in the parking
lot. Ana tightened her hold on her cousin’s neck. “No.”
    “Please, miss. I’m a doctor.”
    “No!” She screamed again, this time when a pair of strong hands
pulled her up and held her fast. Ana fought like a cat, crying and clawing, but
she wasn’t able to free herself from the arms that held her like manacles.
    Some of the fight went out of her, and she slumped against the
wide chest of a man who towered above her by a full head. The wail of sirens
came closer and closer and within minutes first responders and police officers
filled the restaurant’s parking lot. She was barely coherent when she gave an
officer the account of what she didn’t see.
    Working quickly, the paramedics stabilized Tyler, placing him
on a gurney as she stood numbly by. A crime-scene unit had arrived as Ana was
helped into the rear of the ambulance. Reaching for Tyler’s hand, she closed her
eyes and prayed.
    * * *
    Ana sat in the family room at her parents’ house,
reacting like an automaton. She’d become a prisoner. Easygoing, laidback David
Claridge Cole had turned into a tyrant, taking the keys to her car and condo,
while declaring he had no intention of burying any of his children and if he had
to shackle her to keep her from leaving, then he would. Ana knew her father was
incensed because she hadn’t divulged the details of the negotiations to sign
Justin Glover, and she’d argued because he was no longer involved with the
day-to-day operation of the recording label she wasn’t obligated to apprise him
of the proceedings.
    And the media had exacerbated the situation when headlines
blared about the attempted murder of a member of one of Florida’s most prominent
families. An undisclosed source told a reporter at The
Miami Herald about the alleged ongoing feud between Slow Wyne Records
and Serenity Records, and that Dr. Tyler Cole unintentionally had become
collateral damage. Ana prayed the source hadn’t come from Serenity, because all
the employees had signed a confidentiality agreement as a condition