The Last Summer at Seabrook

Elias’s voice was heavy with regret. “The kind that deals in secrets and lies. The kind that would do anything to protect itself.”

Maya’s face was pale with shock. “And you knew about this? You were a part of it?”

Elias nodded, his eyes filling with tears. “I was young and ambitious, and I thought I could handle it. But I got in over my head. And now… now they’re back.”

“Back?” Aris’s voice was sharp with alarm. “Who’s back?”

Elias’s gaze was haunted. “The people I used to work for. They’ve been watching the hotel, waiting for the right moment to strike.”

“But why?” Maya demanded. “What do they want?”

Elias’s voice was barely audible. “They want what’s hidden in the hotel. The evidence I’ve been sitting on for all these years. The evidence that could bring them down.”

Aris’s mind was reeling. “Evidence? What evidence?”

But before Elias could respond, a sharp knock sounded at the door. Detective Harris stood in the doorway, his expression grim.

“Elias Vance,” he said, his voice ringing with authority. “You’re under arrest for conspiracy, money laundering, and obstruction of justice.”

Maya’s face went white with shock. “No! You can’t do this. He’s sick!”

Harris’s expression didn’t waver. “I’m sorry, Ms. Vance, but I have my orders. We’re taking him in.”

As the detectives led Elias away in handcuffs, Maya turned to Aris, her eyes wide with panic.

“What do we do now?”

Aris’s jaw was set with determination. “We find that evidence. And we take down whoever’s behind this, once and for all.”

Because he knew now that the Grandview’s secrets ran deeper than he’d ever imagined. And if they didn’t uncover the truth soon, it wouldn’t just be the hotel that paid the price.

It would be the entire town of Seabrook.

“Why are you really here?” Aris asked, his gaze sharp and assessing. “It’s not just to see your father, is it?”

Maya met his gaze unflinching, her chin lifted in defiance. “I have my reasons. And they’re none of your business.”

Aris’s lips quirked in a humorless smile. “Fair enough. But if you’re planning to stir up trouble, you should know that I’m not going to stand by and watch this place fall apart.”

“And what makes you think I want to stir up trouble?” Maya shot back, her eyes flashing. “Maybe I want to save this place, too.”

Aris scoffed. “Save it? From what I’ve seen, you haven’t been around in years. What do you know about running a hotel?”

Maya’s face flushed with anger. “I know that this place is my legacy, my birthright. And I’m not going to let it crumble to dust, not without a fight.”

Aris shook his head, his expression hardening. “You don’t know what you’re getting into, Maya. This town, this hotel… they’re not what they seem.”

Before Aris could respond, a crash echoed from the lobby, followed by a muffled cry. They exchanged a startled glance, then took off running.

In the lobby, they found Elias on the floor, his face pale and contorted in pain. Maya rushed to his side, her heart pounding. “Dad! What happened?”

Elias gasped for breath, his hand clutching his chest. “I don’t know… I was just standing here, and then… the room started spinning…”

Aris knelt beside them, his brow furrowed with concern. “We need to get him to a hospital. Now.”

Maya nodded, her eyes wide with fear. “I’ll call an ambulance.”

At the hospital, they paced the waiting room, their worry growing with each passing minute. When the doctor finally emerged, his expression was grave.

“Your father has had a heart attack,” he said, his voice gentle but firm. “He’s stable for now, but he’s going to need surgery. And even then, his recovery will be long and difficult.”

Maya’s knees buckled, and she would have fallen if Aris hadn’t caught her. He held her steady, his arm around her waist, as the reality of the situation sank in.

“He’s going to be okay,” Aris murmured, his voice low and reassuring. “He’s a fighter. He’ll pull through.”

Maya nodded, blinking back tears. “I know. But what about the hotel? Who’s going to run it while he’s recovering?”

Aris hesitated, his gaze drifting to the window. “I don’t know. But we’ll figure it out. Together.”

* * * *

In the days that followed, Aris and Maya found themselves thrust into an unlikely partnership. With Elias in the hospital, they were the only ones left to keep the Grandview running. They worked side by side, their initial animosity giving way to a grudging respect.

At first, Aris dismissed it as the quirks of an old building. But then, one night, he heard a sound that made his blood run cold. A scream, sharp and terrified, echoing from the top floor.

He and Maya raced upstairs, their hearts pounding. In one of the guest rooms, they found a maid, her face pale and her eyes wide with fear.

“I saw something,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “Something that shouldn’t be possible.”

Undeterred, Aris and Maya began to investigate. They combed through old records and guest logs, searching for any clue that might explain the strange occurrences. And slowly, piece by piece, a picture began to emerge.

The Grandview Hotel, it seemed, had a dark history. A history of secrets and lies, of hidden rooms and forgotten tragedies. And at the center of it all was Elias Vance, a man with a past shrouded in mystery.

As they delved deeper, Aris and Maya found themselves drawn together, their shared purpose forging a bond between them. They spent long hours poring over old documents, their heads bent close, their voices low and urgent.

* * * *

“Mr. Thorne? Ms. Vance? Do you have a moment?”

Aris and Maya looked up from the stack of old guest registers they’d been poring over in the hotel’s cramped office. Mrs. Gable, the Grandview’s head housekeeper for the past thirty years, stood in the doorway, her expression pinched with concern.

“We’ve just had a call from the Seabrook Historical Society. They’re asking about the hotel’s original blueprints. Apparently, there’s been some confusion about the building’s layout.”

Aris frowned. “Confusion? What kind of confusion?”

Mrs. Gable twisted her hands together, her gaze darting between them. “It seems there are some discrepancies between the official records and what’s actually here. Rooms that shouldn’t exist, hallways that lead nowhere…”

Maya’s eyes widened. “You think someone’s been tampering with the blueprints?”

“I don’t know,” Mrs. Gable said, her voice barely above a whisper. “But folks in town are starting to talk. They’re saying the Grandview is cursed, that it’s not safe anymore.”

Aris leaned back in his chair, his mind racing. “Thank you for letting us know, Mrs. Gable. We’ll look into it.”

As she left the room, Aris turned to Maya, his expression grim. “Looks like our investigation is stirring up trouble.”

Maya nodded, her jaw set with determination. “Someone doesn’t want us digging into the past. But we can’t stop now, not when we’re so close to the truth.”

* * * *

Their first stop was the Seabrook Historical Society, a small, cluttered room tucked away in the town’s public library. The society’s president, a frail, white-haired woman named Agnes, greeted them with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion.

“We don’t get many visitors here,” she said, peering at them over the rims of her glasses. “Especially not from the Grandview.”

Aris flashed her a disarming smile. “We’re just trying to get a better understanding of the hotel’s history. We’ve heard there might be some… irregularities with the original blueprints.”

Agnes’s eyes narrowed. “Irregularities? What kind of irregularities?”

Maya leaned forward, her voice low and conspiratorial. “We’ve been told that there are rooms and hallways in the hotel that don’t appear on any of the official records. We were hoping you might be able to shed some light on that.”

Agnes hesitated, her gaze shifting between them. “I’m afraid I can’t help you with that. The Grandview’s blueprints are confidential.”

Aris raised an eyebrow. “Confidential? Why would they be confidential?”

“Because,” Agnes snapped, her voice suddenly sharp, “some things are best left in the past. The Grandview has always been a source of pride for this town, and we don’t need outsiders poking around where they don’t belong.”

Maya’s eyes flashed with anger. “Outsiders? I grew up in this town. The Grandview is my legacy.”

Agnes’s expression softened slightly. “I know, dear. But you’ve been away a long time. Things have changed.”

* * * *

Back at the hotel, Aris and Maya pored over the blueprints they’d managed to dig up, comparing them to the hotel’s current layout. It didn’t take long to see what Agnes had been talking about.

“There’s a whole section of the hotel that’s not on the blueprints,” Maya said, pointing to a cluster of rooms on the third floor. “It’s like they just… don’t exist.”