Page 51 of Jaxon

"This development will bring prosperity to your town," Dad said.

"We've got all the prosperity we need," someone else yelled.

"I'm sorry, but there is nothing you people can do. This beach is private property, and you'll need to leave it right now or face arrest," one of the lawyers said.

"We break ground in a month, and we can't have people wandering near the building site," Dad said.

"Not so fast." A sweet, airy voice came from somewhere behind the crowd. Everyone parted, and a petite woman with a picture-perfect face and long golden hair was standing in a pair of cutoffs and a pink tank top. Two people, a man and woman, both dressed in some kind of uniform, stood next to her. The woman held a clipboard in her hand.

"Jules?" Griffin said.

"What are you up to, sweetie?" Jaxon's uncle asked.

Jules walked forward confidently. She was quite the contradiction with her porcelain doll looks and her sure steps. She smiled at her dad and the rest of them. "I told you I had a plan. You're always ignoring me. Well, my plan just saved the beach." She looked at the pair who'd come with her. The man looked a little taken aback, especially after seeing the number of bloodied lips and black eyes staring back at him, so the woman stepped forward.

"Marilyn North with County Wildlife Conservation. Who is the landowner?"

My dad rolled his eyes. "That's me, and don't give me any bullshit about this beach being protected."

"Well, the pigeon guillemot is a protected species, and see all those holes and crevices in the hillsides?" She waved her hand toward the hills. "This is their breeding ground. You can't cut down one tree or shrub on that hillside." Marilyn took some papers off the clipboard and tried to hand them to Dad. He rudely refused to take them, so she handed them to a lawyer.

Laughter started as a small rumble in the crowd and grew louder and more rambunctious until it ended in cheering. Marilyn and her shy partner said a few things to Jules and then left the beach.

Dad's face was red, and he seemed to be speechless for the first time since I could remember.

My phone beeped. It was the text from Eve I'd been waiting for. "Everything has finished processing. All good on this end."

"Thanks so much. We'll talk again soon," I texted back. I looked up and found that through all the elation and celebration there was still one upset expression in the group other than my dad's. I walked toward Jaxon.

"Bridget, come here. We're leaving. This is still private property, Officer, so arrest every fucking one of them," Dad snapped. "Bridget," he said again harshly.

"Sorry, Dad, not going with you … ever again." I took hold of Jaxon's hand.

"Don't worry, Walsh," Jaxon's dad said, "the town will buy the beach back from you … for pennies on the dollar."

Dad's face looked redder than the blood on the sand.

The locals decided to run down to the water to splash and play and show that no one was going to kick them off their beach.

The older officer had looked unsure of what to do, but it seemed his town had given him some courage and confidence. "Given that your security crew started this fight by beating up young men who'd just come here to surf, I'm not going to make any arrests. If I did, I'd start with your security detail," he added plainly.

Dad was still reeling from the blow of learning he'd paid big money for a piece of land that could never be developed, so he didn't even respond to the officer. He said something to his lawyers and pointed at the papers. I was sure he was telling them to figure something out, but he'd come up against this kind of conservation regulation before, and it had always been a dead end for him business wise.

The lawyers walked away. Dad marched over to me. He scowled at Jaxon. "Thought I told you to stay away from her," he sneered. Jaxon's dad and family members had zeroed in on the conversation, but they held back, letting him handle my dad on his own.

"You've told me, but since you mean absolutely nothing to me, I found it very easy to just ignore your demands. And you can come at us as hard as you like. Just like your pretty muscle boys here. I think we've shown you who is going to end up losing."

Dad looked at me. "You'll be cut off completely." He pulled out his phone, and his finger pounded the screen as he walked away.

"Dad? If you're planning to retrieve the money you hid in my accounts—it's too late." I was extra glad to be standing next to Jaxon as I said it.

Dad froze in place and stared at his phone for a long moment. He looked back at me with daggers shooting from his eyes. He quickly punched his finger against his phone again and waited for my bank accounts to appear.

He marched back toward me but slowed when Jaxon stepped forward to meet him first. "Where's the money? It doesn't belong to you. I only placed it there temporarily while I—" His words fell off.

"You were hiding it because you cheated a bunch of investors out of money for a development on the Italian Riviera that, much like this project, fell through because not everyone thinks every piece of this earth should be covered by ugly posh developments."

"Where's the money, Bridget?" he asked through gritted teeth.

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