by Xavier Neal
Contents
COPYRIGHTS
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Dedication:
Warning:
Playlist Selects
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
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COPYRIGHTS
Dark Reign (The Bennett Duet #2)
By Xavier Neal
©Xavier Neal 2020
Cover by Dana Leah, Designs by Dana
Photographer: Wander Aguiar
MODELS: LUCAS LOYOLA & AMBER
All Rights Reserved
License Note
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without authorization from the author. Any distribution without express consent is illegal and punishable in a court of law.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Dedication:
To the Universe...Thank you for giving me the chance to have a kingdom of words.
Warning:
This duet contains dark themes, graphic content, and adult situations as well as adult sexual choices that may differ from your own. Some readers may find content triggering. Please proceed at your own risk.
There are multiple languages used in this book. Google translate was used to the best of its ability, which means some translations may not be exact. Please be mindful of that as well. Most things (and all of the important things) are translated for you during the book either in italics, by the character, or given to you by context clues.
This novel is the SECOND part of a duet and the first half DOES need to be read in order to understand what’s happening.
Again, please proceed at your own risk.
Thank you.
- Xavier
Playlist Selects
Here are ten songs from “The Bennett Duet” playlist!
Feel free to follow the playlist on Spotify to find more songs I felt related to the book.
1. Power – Kevin Gates, Dermont Kennedy (Rap)
2. H. – TOOL (Rock)
3. Savage – Tank (R&B/Hip-Hop)
4. Crazy – Kiana Lede (R&B)
5. The Way It Will Be – Gillian Welch (Country/Folk)
6. Black Bonnie – Wale, Jacquees (Rap)
7. Be Italian – Fergie (Broadway)
8. I Burn – Toadies (Rock)
9. Loyalty – Kendrick Lamar ft Rihanna (Rap)
10. No Ordinary Love - Sade (Sophisti-pop)
More songs: http://bit.ly/BDuoXNPL
Chapter 1
Ninety hours.
Five thousand, four hundred minutes.
Over a hundred thousand seconds.
Over a hundred thousand seconds and counting.
Each additional second that ticks on taunts me more than the last.
Instills me with additional rage.
Allows the beast that I am, to barbarically consume feasts of resentment and rancor, appetite refusing to be sated until the blood of everyone responsible is dripping from the very hands I will hold my pregnant fiancée too firmly with.
Pregnant.
The single word momentarily shuts my eyes.
How could she not tell me she was fucking pregnant?
Why did I have to discover that information for myself?
Why didn’t she tell me the instant she thought that’s what her body was doing, instead of scribbling it down for pages in her leather-bound trusted vault of secrets?
A vault I opened out of desperation the night she disappeared.
A vault whose code wasn’t difficult, so much as tedious, to decipher.
The exchange of the letters for similar looking numbers wasn’t original; however, using fractions and decimals to make the sounds certain letters would make was the level of cleverness I had come to anticipate from a woman so brilliant.
So unique.
Once the pattern was understood, reading it was simple.
It was like I could hear her voice through her writings.
It was clear and concise.
Snarky and yet…so sensitive.
I knew it was wrong. I could fucking feel it was wrong, but it was the only hope I had in what has become a hopeless situation.
I read it and hoped she had written down something useful, something that could lead us to answers or clues that we might’ve missed.
I read it and clung to the hope that I would get to see her write in it again, that I would get to enjoy the way she would glance over, bite her bottom lip, and giggle to herself like a crazed schoolgirl with a crush rather than a grown woman with the power to bring a man to his knees.
This man.
I tasked myself with searching for answers between the sacred pages while Miko took a levelheaded handle on the situation.
The previous proclamation of not burning down the entire forest to find a hidden creature now seems to be one of the most viable options I have.
There is only one above it, and if it fails, I will not hesitate to light a match.
“Mr. Bennett?” a male voice calls to me from across the boardroom.
My head slowly shifts from the angle it was hanging to meet his curious gaze.
Kit Annette nervously adjusts himself in his seat under my staring and prods for the feedback the entire room is most likely wanting. “Is it possible to receive those details at this time?”
I swallow down my cluelessness regarding his request.
I have no fucking idea what it is he wants.
I know I don’t want to be here.
I know I would rather be pacing the floor of my home office, yelling at Miko to do more, to let me review the footage we have of the evening for the fiftieth time – like one more scrutinous watch will reveal to me everything and everyone involved, yet I am here.
Yet, I am in this meeting as though the missing status of my fiancée…my pregnant Mia Bella, hasn’t left me mortally wounded.
I have to maintain the appearance that I am not weakened by the attack, for the first waft of blood that fills the air to expose my injured state will have the wolves mistakenly circling.
Planning.
Predicting who can have the power that belongs to me.
What most fail to realize is that I have adapted to be something greater than just an apex predator among the ruthless and ravenous. I have trained myself to become whatever animal I need to be in order to thrive in whatever situation I have entered.
Spotted hyenas sniffing at my heels turned me into a lion.
Wolves prowling my patience will turn me into a fucking grizzly bear.
And, I will not hesitate to stan
d upright onto my hind legs.
Roar.
Rip apart any and every creature that so much as breathes my direction.
This is my jungle, and it will remain that way even if this means I’m the only animal left with inhabitancy.
“I think,” Elle Waithe cautiously speaks up, tiny fingers toying with the ends of her platinum-dyed blonde hair, “what Kit is really wanting to know is do you already have employees in mind for the transfer, or are you looking for volunteers for the transition?”
Her follow up to his question indicates what it is I missed while, once more, finding myself occupied by the thoughts of my lost love.
And, she is simply lost.
And, she will be found.
She will be found – no matter how high the cost may be.
No price is too high for the piece of my soul that is missing.
“I have absolutely no interest in moving to the middle of Wisconsin,” Gabriel Mendes bluntly announces. “None.”
“And, I did not ask for your frame of mind, Mr. Mendes,” I immediately inform. “Your wants or preferences do not hold merit in the decisions regarding when and where employees shall be moved or relocated. Your interests – which appear to be that of a spoiled child in need of disciplining – do not possess value in reference to the business model presented to me by a team of highly intelligent individuals whose entire existence revolves around actively contributing ideas and information that will continue to make me billions.”
His darker complexion pales as he struggles not to sink into his seat.
“You will move wherever I deem fit whether that is to a promising prospect like Vlasta, or to the pits of Poland – where they work out of one windowless room to do the same job I am paying you to do now, yet somehow they manage to do it better.”
Gabriel’s gaze drops to his tablet in front of him.
“I will disclose the details of our new branch and what that entails for all of you when the time has arrived for me to do so. In its wait, I suggest you focus more on how this branch plans to surpass the previous year’s holiday sales given that those crucial moments are upon us.” I rise to my feet in a clear indication I am done with this dreadful meeting even if they aren’t. “Either that or you can begin polishing your resumé.” My hands find their way to my pants pockets at the same time I taunt, “I wonder what would be worse, Mr. Mendes. Living in a place that gets cold during the winter or living out in the cold during the winter.”
His brown eyes widen in fear.
“It would be wise to invest in a coat.” The menacing retort is proceeded by me motioning my head to Miko that I’m ready to exit.
Two steps out the door, he casually states, “Penso di aver bisogno di un nuovo cappotto.”
I think I need a new coat.
The unnecessary comment causes me to cut a glance in his direction.
“Forse uno farcito con piume di pollo.”
Maybe one stuffed with chicken feathers.
“Oche.”
Geese.
“No…” Miko immediately shakes his head in denial. “Sono abbastanza sicuro che sia pollo.”
I'm pretty sure it's chicken.
Bafflement and outrage over the idiotic conversation we’re having sends my jaw to the ground in preparation to tear him apart regarding his ability to maintain his unshakeable levity that doesn’t seem to comprehend appropriate boundaries when someone unexpectedly interrupts the impending scolding.
“Excuse me, Mr. Bennett.”
It takes everything in me not to glare at Phillip Harrington, my future wife’s second in the office. “Yes?”
“I need to speak with Chantal and haven’t been able to reach her.”
Just hearing her name threatens to unravel me.
“It’s rather urgent.”
So is finding her.
I slide my hands into my pockets to help assist in maintaining my composure. “She is currently indisposed.”
His eyebrows swiftly lift in concern.
“I will not allow her to answer anything work related until I am convinced her health is in a more suitable position to handle such stress.”
He doesn’t hide his worry. “Did…did something happen to her this weekend? Is she alright?”
“She’ll be fine. There’s no reason to be alarmed.” My fingers curl tightly into fists to control the rage rushing through my veins. “However, whatever this urgent matter is, you’ll have to manage on your own without Miss Brooks’ expertise. You are in the position underneath hers. Surely, you have enough intelligence that you can fall back on, or should interviewing for your replacement be the first business she tends to when she’s allowed to return?”
“No.” Phillip promptly shakes his head. “No. I can…conclude which reports Julianna should be sent on my own. It’s just your fiancée is technically the boss and major responsibilities are on her and-”
“Why would you refer to her as that?”
“Isn’t that what she is?”
The nonpublic knowledge has my eyes narrowing in suspicion.
“She is the boss unless you gave her a demotion that I missed reading in a memo.”
“That is not the title I was alluding to.”
“Oh.” Phillip’s expression transposes to one that feels like minor disappointment. “You meant the fiancée thing.”
My silence is the only response he’s given.
“Isn’t that what the big beach weekend getaway – she apparently got sick during – was for?”
Keeping my poise increases in difficulty. “How do you know we were away at the beach?”
“The memo you sent-”
“Simply stated she would be completely unavailable until this morning. Such details were not included nor would they be because it is not of the staff’s concern where she was located or what she was doing or who she was doing it with, Mr. Harrington.” There’s no stopping the step closer I take towards him. “The information you seem to possess is privileged.” I lower my face a tad closer and force myself to control the tone. “How did you come in contact with such limited knowledge?”
His Adam’s Apple nervously bobs prior to him stuttering out, “I-I-I I don’t know. I guess I just assumed the rumors were true-”
“What rumors?”
“That you were going to propose.”
It’s an office.
Of course, there’s gossip.
Locating the roots of who has spread what is a much more troublesome task than I have time to entertain.
“And, the beach?”
“She might’ve texted me that?” He offhandedly replies in confusion. “I-I-I-I remember we talked before she left. Maybe she called? She could’ve told me over a phone call. It could’ve been a call or maybe it was a text. I-I-I would probably assume a text. We usually text – it’s easier, ya know?”
“Why are you suddenly so nervous, Mr. Harrington?”
“Maybe because I’m not used to being interrogated?”
Point goes to the weaselly looking little shit on that one.
I swallow my possible overreaction and lean out of his personal space. “Perhaps it would be a better investment of your time to dismiss yourself to send along the reports Julianna requested rather than to inquire if the whispers around the office regarding your boss’s relationship status are indeed true.”
“Yup.” Phillip immediately nods, turns on his heels, and bolts the opposite direction of the one we’ll be taking.
Once he’s rounded the corner at the end of the hallway, I quietly state, “Miko.”
“Su di essa.”
On it.
The two of us return our walk to the elevator in silence.
Phillip could be perfectly innocent.
He could be nothing more than a babbling employee who has no valuable knowledge regarding this situation.
Or, he could know something.
Or, everything.
Just like everyone else who knew where we were, whe
re we were going to be, and when we were going to be there. The pool of suspects isn’t shallow enough for me to swim comfortably in, and not knowing who you can trust while wading in that water is deadly. There are only two people I would never question betraying me.
One is standing at my side and the other should be.
She will be.
I give the tie that’s beginning to feel more like a noose a small adjustment as the elevator begins its descent.
Miko doesn’t direct his attention away from what he’s typing to tease, “Vuoi che appenda il tuo corpo per la cravatta?”
Do you want me to hang you by the tie?
He isn’t even shot the mirth-filled glare I would normally be tempted to.
The outside world may continue to see me as it always has, as it always must, but Miko is granted access to see the specks of me spiraling.
How constantly close I am to completely crumbling.
His taunting continues, “Non sarebbe una morte rapida.”
It wouldn't be a quick death.
My lips remain closed.
“E non è quello che vuoi veramente?”
And, isn't that what you really want?
I finally drag my stare from the closed doors over to him.
“I mean, if my choices are a slow and painful death by designer fashion or a bullet to il cervello, I’m gonna choose the one and done every time. The quick and dry.” He lets the corner of his mouth kick upward. “That had an unintentional sexual overtone…but I’m gonna stand by it.”
The instinct to snap over the unwanted return of his playful nature is, once more, interrupted, although, this time, it’s by the sound of the doors releasing us to the bottom floor. Rather than waste the breath, I roll my eyes and exit the elevator. My attention sweeps the bustling bottom floor that has too many people coming and going for my liking. What was previously viewed as nothing more than a sign of success is now a cesspool of suspects to investigate.
How do you trim the disgusting, unchewable fat when you can no longer tell the difference between that and what is actually edible?
Cerise smiles widely as she waves her hand to the left to indicate the direction the gentleman she’s talking to should be taking. From first glance she appears to have herself completely put together, but if a person were to stare at her a moment longer, it’s obvious she doesn’t. Her blush pink blouse is off by a button. The lipstick shade is too bright, and the choice of flats is too plain for the ensemble she’s chosen. She’s keeping her hands under the desk out of sight because they’re shaking.