Page 100 of The Beach Hut on Plum Island
“I don’t want anything from you!” Estelle’s voice wobbled with emotion, and Harriet’s heart broke for the woman.
The doorbell rang again.
“That should be the chemist,” Gloria’s face lit up as she looked at everyone in the room. “Don’t worry, it’s not that painful a death.” She looked at Harriet. “I’m glad you dropped in because it saves me having to try and kill you again. I wish I could find whoever pulled the fire alarm and thwarted my plans that night. The sleeping powder in the dose I put in your bed should’ve killed you.”
“You didn’t pull the fire alarm?” Harriet frowned.
“I did!” Estelle said. “I heard Gloria say she was going to make sure you didn’t stand in her way again. She was on the way to your room, so I pulled the fire alarm. I didn’t know she had the sleeping powder until she paid me a visit earlier.”
“You little meddling brat!” Gloria hissed.
A commotion erupted in the entrance hall once again.
“What is going on!” Gloria turned and glared warningly at everyone in the room. “Don’t try anything because the men have been told to shoot, and I don’t want to clean up that mess.”
“That’s really cold,” Harriet told her, stopping her from walking out of the room.
“Cold?” Gloria spun, and her eyes blazed with hatred. “You have no idea what I’ve had to put up with since your father jilted me for your mother.”
“Actually, my father didn’t jilt you.” Harriet knew she was teasing a snake, but she had to keep Gloria busy while Scott and his men took out her guards. “He was never going to marry you because he already knew just how crazy you were.”
“Harriet!” Julie warned.
“Why you…” Gloria’s eyes went from blazing to nuclear eruption as she pounced at Harriet, who quickly stepped out of the way.
Gloria missed, and before she could swing back around, Harriet grabbed her and twisted her arm painfully behind her back.
“See what you’ve made me do,” Harriet said to her. “You’ve made me attack an older person.”
“My guards will shoot you,” Gloria told her. “Let me go.”
“Not a chance,” Harriet told her. “You’ve hurt my father, my brother, my mother, and a lot of other people I care about. You’re not going anywhere but to a nice padded prison cell.”
“Let Lady Gloria go,” a deep voice said, and something cold was pushed against Harriet’s back.
“Harriet!” Finn’s voice called from the other side of the room.
The next few minutes went by in a blur as the man behind her crumpled to the floor, and she turned to see Estelle had hit him with a brass candlestick. Gunshots echoed through the entry hall. Finn and Scott turned and ran towards it.
“Secure these two,” Harriet pushed Gloria toward her mother and Titus, who had stood and come to Harriet’s side.
More gunshots echoed through the entry hall, and Harriet’s heart went wild as she thought of Finn. As she cleared the living room door, her breath caught in her throat when she saw Finn lying on the floor, struggling beneath a huge thug.
“Finn!” Harriet yelled and, without a thought for her own safety, ran toward him. “Help me!” she called as she tried to pull the big man off Finn.
Scott appeared by her side and pulled the thug from Finn.
“Finn!” Harriet ran her hands over him.
“I’m fine,” Finn assured her. “Pushing himself up and wincing as he grabbed his head. “Just bumped my head when the man tackled me. I managed to wrangle his gun, but it went off.”
They turned and saw it was the man who had tackled him who had been shot. Harriet helped him to his feet. “Are you sure you’re alright?” Her eyes scanned him.
“I’m fine. Are you alright?” Finn asked her.
“I’m fine,” Harriet assured him. “Everyone that’s here is fine.”
Before she could say anything more, Finn dragged her to him, and their lips locked together in a soul-shattering kiss filled with emotion. When he pulled away, their foreheads were pushed together.
