Chapter Three

Enzo played his part to the hilt. That he was the victim of Savannah's lies and manipulations. So when Savannah ran to Matt office and related the exact story that Enzo warned Matt she would tell, Matt had been coldly furious.

He hadn't believed her, just as Enzo had said. He believed his brother. Enzo was family of course. And for a while Savannah was shocked that he had such little faith and trust in her. Why would he even want to marry her if he could believe this about her. He strongly believed that his brother wouldn't lie about something like that. 

She had tried to explain , even begged him. But he didn't want to listen. Hadn't even stopped to listen. 

Worse part, as if the pain wasn't enough, he wrote her a damn check and then he threw her out of his life.

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PRESENT DAY

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“Almost enough to make you believe in the fine institution of marriage, isn’t it?” Matt Bradford said as he watched his friend, David Forbes, dance with his radiant new bride, Emily.

The reception was taking place inside Moon Island’s small, nondescript municipal building. It wasn’t exactly where Matt imagined any of his friends would host a wedding reception, but he supposed it was fitting that David and Emily would marry here on the island where so much of their relationship had been forged.

The bride positively glowed, happiness written all over her face. They stood in the middle of the makeshift dance floor, Emily tucked into David's protective hold, and they were so focused on each other that  doubted the world around them existed. David looked like he’d been handed the universe, and maybe he had.

“They look disgustingly happy,” Dash Black, Matt's best friend, said next to him.

Matt chuckled and looked up to see Dash holding a glass of wine in one hand, his other shoved into the pocket of his slacks.

“Yeah, they do.” Matt agreed. 

Dash's mouth twisted in annoyance and Matt chuckled again. Dash himself wasn’t very far away from a trip down the aisle, and he wasn’t taking it with good grace. Still, he couldn’t resist needling his friend.

“Patchett still putting the screws to you?” Matt asked. 

“Yeah, he is,” Dash muttered. “He’s determined for me to marry Tess. He won’t budge on the deal unless I agree. And now that we’ve relocated the resort and begun construction, I’m ready to get on with the next step. I don’t want him to lose confidence over this blown deal. Problem is, he’s insisted on a dating period. He wants Tess to be comfortable around me. I swear I think the man believes he lives in the eighteen hundreds. Who the hell arranges a marriage for their daughter anymore? And why the hell would you make marriage a condition of business? I can’t wrap my head around it.”

“There are worse women to marry, I’m sure,” Matt said, thinking of his own narrow escape. 

Dash winced in sympathy. “Still no word on Savannah?” he asked. 

Matt frowned and shook his head. “No. But I only just started looking. She’ll turn up... Somehow.” he said. 

“Why the hell are you looking for her, man?" Dash asked." Why would you even want to go back down that road? Forget about her. Move on. You’re better off without her. You know I'm right about this. And I think you are out of your mind for pursuing this.”

Matt curled his lip and turned to look at his friend. “I have no doubt I’m better off. I’m not looking for her so I can welcome her back into my life.” he said. 

"Then why did you hire an investigator to find her, for God’s sake? You’d be better off letting the past stay in the past. Get over her. Move on.” Dash insisted.