Hunter's Fortune (River Jewel Resort Series Book 2) by Madison Sevier Read Free Book Online Page B

was a leper.
    “How about this?”
    Scarlet again waved her hand and Hunter was watching as Lee wandered out of the woods. There Hunter sat on the gravel road, kicking and screaming like a child.
    “But I was alone. Anyone would act like that if they were stranded on a deserted road. You can’t be serious.”
    “Just watch.”
    Hunter saw the amusement on Lee’s face as he watched her. He wasn’t making fun of her. He wasn’t some deranged mountain man. And when Lee approached her, she’d grabbed a stick, ready to kill the man.
    “How would you react? I thought he was some kind of killer!”
    “Of course you did. Because you are that damned important, right? In the grand scheme of the universe, the focus is on you.”
    ‘Why are you being like this?”
    “Just keep watching.”
    The scenes played in front of her like a movie on a screen. She’d clearly treated Lee like garbage. Her heart broke as she watched the way she’d behaved. How could she be such a bitch? Why was she like that?
    “How about this one?”
    Now, the moments of her childhood and adolescence passed in front of her. The day her mother had walked out, when she was too young to speak up. Later, when her father was too busy to come to her school functions, birthday parties and of course, the many Christmas mornings she’d spent alone or with the maid.
    Tears were steadily streaming down her cheeks and she let them flow. “Why did they leave me alone? How could they do that? I was just a little girl. I just wanted them to love me, to be proud of me.”
    “Of course you did.”
    “Is it any wonder I turned out the way I did?”
    “Is it? Could you have been any other way?”
    Hunter didn’t know. She’d spent years telling herself to be strong like her father. Who would want to be like a mother who’d abandoned them? Hunter had no choice. She had to be tough and she had to guard herself.
    “I didn’t want to hurt anymore. So, I stopped allowing it to happen.”
    “Yes, you did. How has that worked for you so far?”
    She wiped her tears and smirked. “Obviously, not well. I’m alone. I’m hated and I’m miserable. The only happiness I’ve had in years happened a little while ago. Sitting with Lee and watching Morgan eat her marshmallows was amazing and I screwed it up.”
    “No, my dear. You didn’t mess anything up. It was destined to happen. This moment is the one you were meant to arrive at.”
    Hunter stood there, listening as Scarlet explained.
    “Now that you know who stole your money, do you feel any better? Did it fix everything? Will you be happy to just go back to the company and continue on?”
    No. Hunter had never really wanted the company. She’d loved the money and even the power, but she wasn’t happy. But what else did she have?
    “I think you need to go back to your suite and figure some things out, don’t you?”
    With a wave of her well-manicured hand, Hunter once again found herself standing in the elevator. Scarlet was gone.
    “Seriously?” Hunter threw her hands up. “You show up out of nowhere, take me on some kind of time-travel trip, rip me a new one and then you disappear? Nice.”
    The elevator doors slid open and Hunter headed back to her suite.
    “If there were ever a day for drinking, this would be it.” She went to the gourmet-style kitchen, poured herself a hefty serving of red wine and leaned against the granite countertop as she sipped.
    “This has to be the weirdest day on record! Maybe it was all a dream? How the hell could I have gone back in time? Christmas is over. I’ll say one thing for this resort, it’s unique.”
    She pondered all that had happened throughout the day and knew there was more to it. She was missing something and Hunter hated not knowing all of the facts. A few moments later, she grabbed her diary out of the nightstand drawer in her bedroom of yesteryear. It was time she faced whatever was in it.
    Hunter sipped her wine and flipped through page after page of