The Revealed by Jessica Hickam Read Free Book Online

as he begins gliding across the floor with me. It’s the sharp cut of his features that takes me off guard. The childish lines have faded, replaced by striking cheekbones and a firm jaw. But his dark hair falls across his forehead in that way it has since we were children, and that mischievous look in his green-gold eyes still spells trouble.
    “Kai!” I try to pull away, but he holds my hand tighter, keeping our steps perfectly in time. “Why are you doing this?” I keep my voice low through clenched teeth, even though I want to scream at him.
    Another flash.
    We’re in the middle of the dance floor. There is no way I can hide my face from photographers.
    Kai holds my hand tightly. “Relax.”
    “Relax? You and your father are trying to ruin everything!”
    Kai Westerfield is trouble. The kind of trouble I’ve always tried to avoid. I haven’t said a word to him since we were children. The last time I was near him, it was the day I was hiding under the bleachers, and he was telling his best friend what an ugly snob I was. I’m not the least bit interested in the way he goes through women or his affinity for partying. I know it, even if the rest of the country wants to paint him as the military hero. He’s just like his father.
    “Lily,” he snaps, “if I wanted to ruin you, I would have left you with my father.”
    “Oh, like this is any better!”
    “The press is much more interested in you and me dancing than in my father having a five-second discussion with you. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that paparazzi aren’t hard to please. Better pictures of you and me on the cover than you and my father.”
    “What about the other pictures your father has?”
    “I’ll take care of it,” he says.
    “You’ll take care of it?” my voice rises skeptically.
    He purses his lips, amused, like he’s watching a two-year-old throw a tantrum and knows that intervening is not worth the energy. “Yes. And your father should be able to as well. He’s the one who reinstated all these journalists, right?”
    My stomach sinks to my feet. Though my father is the last person I want to share those photos with, I don’t have a choice. I haven’t even been at this party for fifteen minutes and already I’ve ruined the night and possibly the election. Imagine the headlines, “Atwood can’t even control daughter, how will he handle the country?” Then a nice shot of me handing over the keys.
    “If you had simply left,” Kai continues, pausing for a moment to spin me in a circle, then pulling me close again, “the media would have immediately picked up that something was wrong. But now it looks like we’re friends. Now the press can write about how great the Westerfield and Atwood families get along. It might even be wise for your father to slip in a couple words about how he and my father go way back. We both look good.”
    Slowly, I nod my head. His words are beginning to make sense. It still doesn’t change the fact that his father is now out to make my life a living hell. Leave it to Kai to know how to manipulate the press.
    “Aren’t you supposed to be on some military mission or something?” I demand.
    “I’m on leave right now.”
    “So you decided to come crash our party?”
    “Actually,” Kai twirls me around again and this time when he pulls me back I worry for a moment that our heads will collide. But he’s in control, stopping me just before we hit. Enough to both shock me and make me realize how close we’re dancing. “I was invited.” His eyes don’t waver from mine, and I suddenly feel like we’re the only two people left in this ballroom. “Despite what you think, our fathers are actually more alike than different. They are both masters of PR.”
    The song ends, and there is light applause as I realize that most of the guests are watching us on the dance floor. My cheeks are deep red by now, I’m sure.
    I catch sight of my mother in the crowd; she looks like she’s waiting for the