Beyond Chance (29 page)

“I thought you couldn’t get off to come over
here?” I narrowed my eyes at my brother.

“It was all part of the master plan,” he
laughed. “I just do what I’m told.”

I turned and stared at Aaron. “How long was
this planned?”

“A very long time. I asked your father for
your hand in marriage before I even knew we’d be coming here. The
rest was the easy part,” he laughed as my father and mother made
their way over, congratulating us both and hugging me like never
before.

“I guess you’re not my little girl any
longer,” my father whispered.

“I’ll always be your little girl,” I said,
tearing up again.

“You’ve got yourself a wonderful man,
Brandy. I couldn’t have chosen better if I tried,” my dad said,
turning to shake Aaron’s hand as my mother came in for another
hug.

My dad turned to Ayden and gave him a huge
hug just as I squealed with delight and hugged Lily. “I can’t
believe this.”

“I can’t believe this either,” Lily said,
sniffing in between breaths. “Ayden told me Aaron was going to pop
the question and it took everything I had to keep it in.”

“You’ve got to be kidding. I knew Ayden was
going to pop the question because he emailed me.”

Ayden and Aaron both laughed and pointed at
each other. “We knew we had to throw you both off somehow. You’re
far too suspicious for your own good.”

I couldn’t deny that. Gabby gave me sly grin
and hugged Jason. “Guess who knew both of you were getting the
question popped? This girl.” She pointed her thumbs at her chest
and Jason picked up Katie and walked over so she could give me a
hug and look at my ring.

“Pretty,” Katie said, before resting her
head back on Jason’s chest.

My night couldn’t have turned out anymore
magical. I was with the man I loved with all my heart and family
and friends who would do anything for me, and I had a sneaking
suspicion I might be an aunt soon. Or I could be fiercely wrong.
Only time would tell.

But one inarguable fact was that I was
deeply in love with Aaron Sullivan, and I couldn’t imagine my life
any other way.

Note from Karice:

Thank you for taking the time out of your
busy schedules to read the Beyond Love Series. I hope you’ve fallen
in love with the characters as much as I have. I’m excited to
announce the Island County Series, debuting in 2015.

The first book in the series will follow
Mason Rhodes as he finds love in an unexpected place. I’m
absolutely thrilled about linking these two series together and
starting off the first book with Brandy’s single brother is a
dream. For more information, be sure to join my
mailing
list.

And don’t forget to follow Lily and Ayden as
they head down the aisle in Beyond Promise, but nothing is as it
seems…

AVAILABLE 2015

Beyond Promise

and

Beyond the Mistletoe

And the Island County Series featuring Mason
Rhodes from the Beyond Love Series.

Keep reading for an excerpt from Hidden
Sins

Croissant French Toast

6 eggs

2 tbl honey

1/3c milk

1 tbl vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

butter for frying

5 croissants

Whisk together eggs, honey, milk, vanilla,
and cinnamon. Slice croissants in half. Melt butter in skillet on
low. Dip each side of croissant in prepared liquid and place as
many slices as will fit in the skillet. Cook for about four minutes
(until golden brown) and flip and cook on low until warmed through
center.

Ham Strata

9 eggs, whisked

3 c milk

1 c ham, cubed

1 onion, chopped

1/2 pkg frozen spinach, chopped

1 tsp salt

2 tsp pepper

4 tbl butter

2 c cheddar

1 loaf of French bread, cubed

Sauté onions in 2 tbl butter until golden.
Add spinach, salt, and pepper and cook for five minutes on medium
heat and remove from burner.

Coat casserole dish in remaining butter and
layer bottom of dish with 1/3 of cubed bread and ham. Pour 1/3 of
egg and milk mixture of bread, sprinkle with cheese and repeat
until all ingredients are gone.

Cover and refrigerate overnight. Allow
strata to sit out for twenty minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
and cook strata, uncovered, for 40 – 50 minutes (until it’s golden
brown).

Prologue

Hannah

“Have you found her yet?” The male voice cut
through my soul as I peered down from the hayloft. It was Miles,
the father of the man I was supposed to marry. It was an arranged
marriage. One that I couldn’t accept, but I never would’ve guessed
that his father was involved in this. Then again, for the first
twenty years of my life, living here had seemed like an amazing
gift, not a horrific nightmare that I couldn’t wake up from. I
steadied my breathing to ensure I wasn’t heard as I watched the two
men below me. I needed to stay in control. I had planned too long
to fail now.

“No. It looks like she took off. Maybe two
days ago. She left most of her belongings behind, but I’d say
enough was missing to indicate that she’s on the run. Her mother
went through the house to confirm that there were items missing,”
the younger man said. There was something about his voice that was
familiar, and I tried to focus on his features, but I couldn’t
place him, which was odd. The community I grew up in wasn’t huge,
but it was large enough that people could blend in somewhat. I
guess a face could be missed here or there.

“She knows too much, Eric,” Miles said,
rubbing his temples.

Eric! I knew an Eric in high school, but we
were told he’d left the community. Obviously not.

“Just like her sister,” Eric responded. I
saw a trace of a smile touch his lips as he shook his head. “But we
took care of that problem, and we’ll take care of this one.”

What about my sister? I’d been told she left
the community, ran away. My stomach turned into itself as I thought
about my family. Did they know what was going on here? Was my mom
actually concerned about my safety or only helping to lead them to
me?

Miles took a seat and propped his elbows on
the desk, glaring at Eric. “We don’t actually know that you took
care of Hannah’s sister. Now do we?”

“I watched her fall from the cliff,” Eric
argued.

“No body was ever recovered.”

“The authorities said that with the
currents, it might never be.” Eric stood his ground.

Miles shrugged as if to dismiss the argument
that couldn’t be won. “You’re sure Hannah saw something? Two in a
family calls too much attention…”

Eric paced across the floor. “We found her
in the bushes close to where the other issue had been taken care
of. If Hannah didn’t see what unfolded, the gunshots and screams
surely would’ve alerted her. From her vantage point, she could’ve
seen everything. And the wild look in her eyes…”

I know more than you bastards could ever
imagine.

“Enough said. Add that to the fact that
she’d already gone to the authorities about Tina,” Miles shook his
head. “And we’ve got a big problem on our hands. A problem you were
supposed to take care of. We’re just lucky that Mark was the
officer on duty when she went to the police station. We don’t run
our organization on luck, Eric.”

My heart was pounding as I listened
intently. One of the nails in the wood beam poked my ankle
something fierce, but I didn’t dare move.

“She couldn’t have gotten far. We’ll find
her. My guess is she’s headed to Florida, and I’ve got people
already headed that direction,” Eric said.

“What makes you think Florida?”

“I found some notes on different cities in
Florida. They were tucked under her mattress.”

“If this woman is smart enough to vanish
without a trace, do you really think she’s going to forget or leave
behind a few key pieces of information? Come on. You’ve got to be
kidding me. She’s just sending you on a wild goose chase.” Miles
pounded his fist on the desk. “I’m taking this over. You’re done.
And don’t tell my son any of this. You understand?”

Eric balled his fists together at the
commandment. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Did that mean Brandon, my fiancé, wasn’t
involved? I pushed the lump down in the back of my throat as I
thought about my entire life being highly orchestrated for some
cause I didn’t even understand.

Miles stood up, obviously agitated, and both
men walked out of the office. It would take them several minutes to
walk through the stables that the office was connected to, and I
had no plans to come down from my perch until well into the
midnight hour. I’d gotten what I came for; the last of the
documents were securely tucked into my waistband. It was just an
added bonus to catch Miles here, discussing my fate. At least my
hunch was right. If they caught me, they’d kill me.

I shifted slightly, moving my ankle away
from the nail, as my mind drifted to my sister. Four years ago she
had vanished without a trace. My mother was in hysterics, but my
father and brother had been completely stoic, dismissing my
sister’s disappearance as if the cat never came home for the night.
Eventually, they had convinced both my mom and me that she had
chosen to live a life outside the community. It wasn’t unheard of
so I was willing to blindly believe that assumption, even though my
sister never gave me any reason to believe that she wanted out. In
hindsight, that was my tipping point.

With every passing minute that I was stuck
in the rafters, I began to doubt my plan that I’d worked on for
months. I was only buying time, trying to save enough to get me out
of here without looking like I was doing anymore than usual to earn
money. Everything was going according to plan until three nights
ago. That’s when everything changed in my world. Instead of just
wanting to escape, I wanted answers.

When I saw her eyes—my best friend’s
eyes—filled with terror, I knew I couldn’t just walk away so I
followed. She asked me not to, told me to stay away, but I followed
her from a distance as she walked through the pasture toward the
woods. I didn’t know if she knew I was following until it was too
late. I watched her trembling hands as she covered her face, and
she sank down into the dirt, crying. She had told me that she’d
been having troubles with her husband—another arranged marriage,
and another reason I had no intention of following through with
mine. I halfway expected to see him meet her in the woods.

Instead, two men came from nowhere, wearing
masks. She didn’t fight, and I didn’t know what to expect. I closed
my eyes quickly and took a deep breath as I readied myself to run
up on them. When I heard the first shot, my eyes flashed open as
her gaze landed on mine. She knew I’d followed her. Another shot
echoed into the air followed by laughter from the one I could now
identify as Eric.

My body trembled as the images flooded
through me, and I knew if I was going to survive long enough to
expose everything, I needed to create a new life. I had to forget
as much as I could about this old one, until the time was
right.

Chapter One

Hannah

I let out a sigh as I sat in the dusty, blue
truck that had miraculously managed to make it across the country.
Between the funny interior smell, the engine knocking at speeds
over fifty miles-per-hour, and the tricky method for locking the
driver’s door, I hadn’t even been sure I’d actually make it out of
my hometown. I found a ’99 GMC Sonoma for only eight hundred
dollars, and I bought my way out of a life that wasn’t my own. Or
at least, I hoped I had. Only time would tell. I turned off the
radio and watched a family wander into the Starbucks. My chest
tightened as I thought about who I’d left behind. But it had to be
done. I couldn’t second-guess my decisions now. There was no
turning back.