AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Seeing her mother cry, suddenly Jade realized what was going on. Amber was gone and it was all her fault.
Maybe her sister had seen her changing her clothes and got upset? Maybe she knew that Jade no longer wanted to look like her and she ran away? Maybe Amber hated her.
Tears filled Jade’s eyes, and she held onto her mama and cried for her sister while her father let the police into the house.
CHAPTERONE
Jade stood on the beach and looked towards the massive three-story building with a smile on her lips. While everyone else on the beach looked out over the crystal-clear teal water, Jade focused instead on the massive resort in front of her.
More than a hundred guests were within her view. Most were on the beach, enjoying the sun and water while relaxing on the lounge chairs or sitting under the umbrellas that the resort supplied. The Emerald Resort’s logo was on all of the umbrellas and chairs.
A lot of guests were at the large U-shaped pool that faced the ocean. There was a fully stocked tiki bar in the middle of the pool, but at nine in the morning it wasn’t open yet.
The expansive grounds had three swimming pools, including an adult’s only pool tucked between two buildings, which specifically housed couples without kids.
The resort boasted five hundred standard rooms, twenty executive suites, and two dozen bungalows. There were four bars, two different dining venues, and a large gift shop in the lobby. And for the next six months, she was in charge of it all.
Taking a deep cleansing breath, she made her way back up the sand and walked through the pool deck towards the black glass doors of the main building.
She’d recently cut her hair shorter in a very stylish bob and had dyed it a shade blonder than she normally did. Today’s work clothes—a pair of casual tan cotton dress pants and a teal top— contrasted with the swim attire of the vacationers who surrounded her. She was obviously at work while everyone else was at play.
Jade had always walked with a purpose. There was nothing lazy or relaxed about her. Even when she spoke, she did so with purpose. She’d always felt that, since she was the one who’d lived, she had to make everything count.
Over the next six months, Jade would prove to herself that she could take over the job of ensuring that the place was profitable, a task she’d been training for since her early teens. Now, at twenty-seven, her parents had finally forced her hand. She’d been putting off leaving Miami in childish hopes of finding Amber. Now, it was time for her to step up and try to run the place and for her parents to try and live the retired life.
It wasn’t as if uprooting herself from her cushy job in Miami was difficult. After all, she’d been bouncing between jobs since graduating college anyway. Even leaving her apartment just outside of Miami was easy since the Sunset Suite at the resort had always remained empty for her family’s use.
The massive three bedroom, twelve-hundred-square-foot suite boasted its very own kitchen, laundry room, patio, outdoor entertainment area, and yes, a private pool and jacuzzi. And it was on the very top floor, overlooking the clear emerald waters. It was more apartment than she’d left behind.
She’d grown up living in the suite until shortly after her eighteenth birthday when she’d moved back to the Miami area for school. She’d returned at least three times a year for visits to her parents or mini vacations with friends.
Still, all of her life, part of her had wanted to be back in Miami where she’d been when Amber had disappeared. Jade couldn’t explain it, but she had hoped that if stayed there, somehow, her sister would find her way home.
No matter what she did, part of her would always be in Miami. Which is why it had taken so long for her parents to convince her to try her hand at running the resort.
Not that she hadn’t been ready before. She had. Or at least capable. Mentally, however, she hadn’t been near ready. But then her parents had given her a final ultimatum. She’d look after the resort for six months, and if she couldn’t cut it, they would sell the place and officially retire.
She loved the Emerald too much to just let it go. It was almost as if her parents were asking her to choose the resort or her hope that she’d one day find Amber.
She knew her parents understood that she had just been wasting her life. Bouncing from job to job. Not really living life to its fullest.
When they’d dragged her to Bahamas at thirteen, she’d hated her parents for the move. Hated them for giving up the search for Amber. Years and years of counseling as a child hadn’t done much to quench the thirst to look for her sister. What had finally done it was age.
On her twenty-fourth birthday, she’d realized that if Amber could return to her, she would have done so years ago. Sitting alone in a bar in Paris on her birthday, she had realized the truth. Amber was gone. Forever.
It was three years later now, and she was at peace with it. She’d even had a makeshift memorial for her sister where she’d returned to their old home and had buried a small box on the edge of the property. The box had contained the last of Amber’s possessions that she’d kept. The blue-and-white swimsuit that had matched the one she’d last seen Amber in. A small stuffed animal that Amber had loved. And a drawing her sister had done, which had been on the refrigerator for years after she’d gone missing.
When Jade stepped into the air-conditioned lobby, she was greeted by Diane Howze. The middle-aged woman had been hired more than ten years earlier as the resort’s executive assistant. Basically, it was her job to oversee most everything that went on at the resort.
Over the years, Jade’s father hadn’t gotten less hands-on at the resort, and Diane had taken over to see that things ran smoothly. She and a dozen or so permanent staff all made sure that the Emerald Resort ran smoothly. There were hundreds of seasonal or temporary staff that came and went at any given time.
All in all, it took more than fifteen hundred staff to fulfill all of the guests’ dreams and wishes.
Jade had always liked Diane. She was a lot like Jade—quick to get to the point and all business when the moment called for it. On the personal side, Diane was easy to get along with and friendly to everyone she met. She was incredibly stylish, which always helped with some of the wealthier guests.
“There’s been another incident at the family pool,” Diane said with a frown.
Jade groaned inwardly. “Already? Is Marco on it?”
