Silence Reveals Hidden Answers’ by Michael Anderson novel Chapter 35

Chapter 35

One day to the Wedding,

Harvey Prescott.

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A pool party. No, sorry-a freaking lake party. That’s what Baxter chooses for the last day before the wedding. I don’t even care. I just want to see him get married so I can be done with this, so Jennifer and I don’t have to argue about his presence anymore. Contract or no contract, the terms of his marriage are the least of my concerns right now.

Because of all the wedding bustle, Jen and her design team are running non-stop. I barely see her. It’s a bloody low-grade ache, this need to have her near. I’m just bordering on patience. Soon, we’ll be back in New York. And as it stands, I’m her man. That’s the only reason I’m now so patient.

Since I have to be up at dawn for this circus tomorrow, I can’t go to the club. A text buzzes my phone.

Jen: Passing by with the dress.

I see the moment her team cuts across the far lawn in a procession carrying Nisha’s massive wedding gown like a sacred relic. Jen’s at the front. She glances my way, mouths sorry as they hurry past towards the villa. I give her a slight nod and my eyes tracks her until she disappears inside.

My gaze swings back to the lake. It’s a spectacle. Baxter’s guests are splashing, dancing on floating platforms on the lake. Plus a DJ’s bass thumping across the water. There’s a photo booth, waiters with trays wading through the shallows. It’s a ball of their lives, and I’m sick of it. I can’t wait for this to end.

Then I hear the aggressive rev of a high-performance sports car cutting through the party noise. Baxter. Of course. The two-week window to prove himself is up, and he’s failed woefully to have Jennifer. Maybe I’ll take his car, too while I make him stand in front of everyone and apologize. He owes me pretty much.

The driver’s door swings open.

And the cigarette I was about to light falls from my lips, landing silently on the stone.

It’s not just Baxter. Jenna also steps out. And from the passenger side, unfolding himself with wicked leisure is her brother. Reign Moretti.

My blood doesn’t boil. It goes utterly, lethally cold.

Reign takes off his sunglasses and lets his gaze drift over the villa before it lands on me. Hmm, he’s got dark hair, a physique that’s almost as solid as mine yet he is leaner. The stories say his real talent isn’t in his fists. It’s in his hands, with a blade,

I watch him chuckle when he sees me.

He dips his hands into his pockets just as Nisha emerges with Jenna out of the car, both carrying shopping bags. So they all went out together.

It’s obvious. Reign manipulated his way into this arrangement for one reason: to stand face-to-face with me. I don’t know how he managed it, but Baxter has always been an idiot.

…

12:40 Wed, Feb 4 M.

Chapter 35

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(66)

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“Oh, you’ve met Harvey, right?” Nisha says to Jenna.

“I… think I’ve seen him.” Jenna pretends.

“He’s Harvey. My half-brother.” Baxter.huffs out the words with an eye roll.

You know …I think something has shifted in my dear brother after he watched me fight. Maybe he finally understands what the tats stands for…and that I really do this shit in the paint. Or maybe he just accepted he’s lost, that Jennifer and he will never belong in the same sentence again.

“I’m Reign.”

The crown prince of shadows extends a hand toward me. I don’t take it. He’s here for two things: to size me up, or to finish what his men failed to do. Or both.

“Harvey, his dad’s a Don. They’re actually good friends with our father.” Baxter adds, filling the silence with useless information.

“Hmm.” I reply, sounding as bored as I possibly can.

Reign withdraws his hand when he sees I’m not stupid like my brother. He offers an amused chuckle, and his eyes… they’re scrutinizing. So dark I can barely tell if his fucking pupils are open or closed.

“Harvey, you just—” Baxter starts, then shakes his head. “Doesn’t matter. Anyway, the party’s happening at the lake.”

“Come on, Jenna, let’s get ready. I think the stylists have taken my gown to my room-…you have to see it,” Nisha says, tugging Jenna along. Then she adds something that makes me curse: “We would be such good friends in New York, I swear.”

“Two weeks is up. Make sure you get the story right.” I tell Baxter, but my last look is for Reign.

“What story?” Reign asks.

“You are a guest so can you not? It’s between brothers.” I say answer,

“Hary-”

“Baxter, come on, is this a freaking lake party or what?” One of his jock friends slaps him on the shoulder as the noise from the water grows louder and the evening sky darkens.

Throughout it all, Reign and I hold eye contact. It’s an unspoken challenge. He knows why he’s here.

Baxter finally walks away, and Reign dips his head toward me when he speaks.

“I came for you.” He chuckles, then turns and strolls lazily toward the party.

Message received.

I follow at a distance, texting Nate and David as I go: The Don’s is here. Reign Moretti. Lake. Eyes open.

12:40 Wed, Feb 4 M…

Chapter 35

66

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I spot him again, already seated casually among Baxter’s friends near the water. He doesn’t care about their conversation; he’s just passing time. Not until we’re ready to fight…until he’s ready.

I light a cigarette.

“That’s him over there?” David rubs his nose and twists around to look.

“Whoa… he looks… as dangerous as you.” Nate says quietly once he spots him.

“I can’t see him-where-” David cranes his neck in a very

obvious way.

“Stay still, you fool!” Nate hisses, slapping the back of David’s neck.

A cold thought hits me: He brought Jenna here. And she went upstairs with Nisha… where Jennifer is working.

I don’t text. I call her. It rings once, twice. I don’t wait for her to pick up. I’m already on my feet.

“Where the hell are you going? You asked us to watch him-”

“I need to see Jen. Keep your eyes on him for me.”

I cut across the lawn, past laughing guests, under a sky now pitch black. My phone feels like a stone in my hand. Walking isn’t fast enough. I break into a sprint.

When I get to Nisha’s villa, it’s swarmed by her friends in tiny bikinis, out of the entrance, lounge across the furniture, and watch me with bitten lips and bold stares.

“Get the hell out of my face, would you?” I say, when one of them deliberately sways into my path. I shoulder past, scanning the room. There are more inside, laughing, surrounded by balloons and half-empty glasses.

“Is Jennifer here?” I demand.

They just stare, wide-eyed. The blonde, the brunette, all of them.

“Is. Jennifer. Here?” I ask again, and this time, they hear the edge in my voice that says I won’t ask a third time.

They start murmuring among themselves.

“The stylist?”

“Yeah.”

“No… she left a while ago.” someone finally offers, just as Nisha comes down the stairs with Jenna beside her.

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