Chapter Twelve
That evening, Michael, Christina, Ren, Lia, Elise and her grandmother gathered in the study to await the dinner bell. Christina, being closest to Michael and Ren in age, related some of the childhood pranks of the two. Elise began to see a side of Michael and her brother she never knew.
“Are you saying the fight was for no reason?” Elise heard Michael ask. “That it was Vance and not Ren?”
Elise saw Michael’s sister laugh and nod her head. Then Ren burst out laughing. “I told you I didn’t do it, but you wouldn’t believe me.”
Seated near the window, her grandmother said to Ren, “You had a reputation as a horrible rake. Why would anyone believe you?”
As Christina continued regaling them with tales of Michael’s youth, and of growing up in London, Elise began to get a portra
