Page 47 of Written with Love

“No Dos?” he asked.

“He died a couple years back.”

When they reached them, her mother beamed. “Juliette! Max! What a lovely surprise.” The dogs instantly settled at her feet, as if done with the attention.

“Morning, Mrs. Elliot, Mr. Elliot,” Max said, shaking her father’s hand after he stood up to greet them.

Her mom’s sharp eyes darted between them, her lips twitching as if she wanted to say something but held back. “Did you two enjoy your breakfast?”

Juliette sighed. “Mom⁠—”

“It was great,” Max cut in smoothly, shooting Juliette a grin before looking back at her parents. “Nice to see the town so lively this morning. I guess summer is finally here.”

As they chatted, a few more locals passed by, stopping to exchange pleasantries. Eventually, her parents excused themselves, leaving Max and Juliette alone again.

She let out a breath. “That wasn’t so bad.”

He smirked. “Told you. Parents love me.”

She rolled her eyes but laced her fingers through his, tugging him back towards the shoreline. “Come on, let’s keep walking. I’m not ready to head back just yet.”

A few hours later, as they were walking through his front door, her phone chimed with a message. His phone followed a second later.

Max barely had time to glance at the screen before another notification followed. Then another.

“What the hell?” he muttered as he looked at his phone.

Juliette was already reading hers, her expression shifting from confusion to disbelief. “Max…”

His phone buzzed in his hand as he unlocked it, but before he could read the flood of messages, a notification popped up with a link to a live press conference. And there, standing in front of a row of microphones, was Gabriella, her perfect blonde waves blowing in the breeze, a knowing smile painted across her lips.

“…Max and I have always had an undeniable connection,” she was saying in that soft, practiced voice of hers. “We may have had our ups and downs, but the truth is, we always find our way back to each other.”

Max felt his stomach drop as the cameras flashed, reporters hanging on her every word.

Juliette exhaled sharply, her grip on her phone tightening. “What is she talking about?”

Gabriella continued, tilting her head just slightly, as if she were sharing an intimate secret with the world. “He’s been working so hard on the house for us—our future. It’s really beautiful, isn’t it?” She gestured and he realized they were holding the press meeting on the beach entrance just down from his property.

Juliette gasped. “She’s still in town.”

The image zoomed out to showcase a shot of his house, taken from a distance, capturing the newly built deck and the stunning ocean backdrop.

Max’s jaw clenched. “How the hell did she⁠—”

But Gabriella wasn’t done.

“And, of course,” she continued, her voice dropping to something softer, more sentimental, “he promised me something special this time in way of an engagement present. A token of his love, one that means everything to us.” She sighed wistfully, then looked directly at the cameras. “The Ocean’s Heart diamond.”

Juliette gasped. “No.”

Max’s blood ran cold. “How in the hell did she know about it?”

“The Ocean’s Heart diamond?” one of the reporters asked.

“Did Max find the lost diamond?” several reporters shouted.

Gabriella smiled coyly. “Not yet. But I’ve heard that the rare blue diamond lost on the property will be all mine when he finds it. He told me it belonged to me, that it was always meant to be mine. As a symbol of our forever love.”