Read Online Uncovering You 8: Redemption by Scarlett Edwards - Free Book Online Page B

that you sorted things out.
    Aren’t you busy? I text back. How is the acquisition going?
    We’ve hit an impasse. Break now. Tell more soon.
    Okay, I say. Good luck.
    I make my own luck .
    I smirk. That is typical Jeremy.
    I consider leaving things at that. But, there’s one other thing that’s been digging at me all day. Since I have Jeremy free…
    Hugh came to visit me this morning.
    Silence. Jeremy does not reply
    I wait for a minute, then two. When the time between texts stretches out even more, I start to worry.
    Shit! Maybe I shouldn’t have told him that now. He has enough to deal with at the moment, more than enough on his plate…
    My phone starts to ring. It’s Jeremy’s number.
    “Hello?” I pick up.
    “What did you just say?” he demands. “About Hugh?”
    “Forget it,” I say quickly, my pulse racing. Jeremy sounds livid. Absolutely furious. “I’ll tell you about what happened after you’re done.”
    “Lilly, I just walked out of some of the most intense negotiations of my life to make this phone call. You will not tell me later. You will tell me now.”
    “Okay,” I say, feeling all sorts of guilt—and worry—over interrupting him this way. If things go poorly when he returns to the bargaining table, will he pin the blame on me?
    Or am I giving myself way too much credit for the sort of influence I have over his life?
“It was quick,” I say. “Nothing happened. Nobody else saw. He knocked on my door and asked to enter. I said no. He tried to insist. I pushed him away.”
    “Did he give you any trouble?” Jeremy asks. “Did he say what he wanted?”
    “All he said was that he wanted to talk. I refused.”
    “And that’s it?”
    “And that’s it,” I confirm. “Oh! He tried to give me an envelope.”
    More silence. I start to fidget as it stretches.
    “Jeremy?” I ask. “Are you still there?”
    “Did you take it?” he demands. “Did you take the envelope from him, Lilly?”
    “What? No! Why would I?”
    “Are you certain,” he persists, “that you are not lying to me?”
    “No, Jeremy. I wouldn’t! Not ever. Why would I lie?” My confidence starts to return, fueled by the false accusation of his words. “In fact, I volunteered this information to you, Jeremy. Nobody said I had to share.”
    Jeremy makes a displeased, angry growling noise in his throat. Part of me is glad that he’s not here in person; another part wishes he were. That way I could judge his reaction much better.
    “Lilly,” Jeremy says slowly. “Listen to me very carefully. My father was a powerful man. I crippled him. But his mind is still sharp. He could be very dangerous to you. To us.
    “You will not withhold information about him from me. Not ever. I did not grant him permission to go and visit you. He did it behind my back. I don’t know what he’s aiming at. But we have to be careful. Did he mention Rose?”
    “Rose?” I bunch my eyebrows up in confusion. “No, why would he mention Rose?”
    “The truth. Now, Lilly!”
    “No!” I emphasize. “He did not. I’m not lying to you Jeremy. Dammit! Stop accusing me of it.”
    “I have to be sure.” He pauses. “I’ve got to get back. Already I’ve devoted more time than I intended to you. I will speak to Hugh and see what he has to say. If his story matches yours, that is one thing. If it does not…” He trails off, leaving the threat dangling in the air. “There will be unpleasant consequences.”
    He hangs up.
    I stare at the phone in my hands. Unpleasant consequences? For whom? For Hugh, or…
    I swallow.
    For me?

Chapter Seven
     
     
    Jeremy’s parting comment has me in a panic. I thought we were past that stage of our lives. The uncertainty of what he means is wreaking havoc with my mind.
    I need to see him. That’s all, I tell myself as I try to find some way of keeping calm. I need to see him, in person, and all this will be solved.
    But do I want to see him, given what such an encounter might bring?
    Well. It’s