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  BENEATH THE SILENCE  THE THINGS UNSEEN SERIES      K. LASHAUN       Copyright © 2023 by K. Lashaun All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This book is a work of fiction. While reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations - the name, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual person’s living or dead is entirely coincidental.  Warning: This book contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language.      This one is for my grandmother.  Seventeen days into 2023, I lost a piece of my heart.  But with the same strength and resiliency my grandmother embodied, I pushed through the grief, determined to have this project released in time to honor her on her special day.  A special woman was born on March 28 and my first project since your passing is dedicated you.  Happy birthday, Granny Girl. I love you forever.        CONTENTS          Before You Dive In…       Playlist         Hakeem      1.  Eden      2.  Hakeem      3.  Hakeem      4.  Eden      5.  Hakeem      6.  Eden      7.  Hakeem      8.  Eden      9.  Hakeem      10.  Eden      11.  Hakeem      12.  Eden      13.  Hakeem      14.  Hakeem      15.  Hakeem      16.  Eden      17.  Eden      18.  Hakeem      19.  Hakeem      20.  Hakeem      21.  Hakeem      22.  Eden      23.  Eden      24.  Eden      25.  Hakeem      26.  Eden      27.  Hakeem      28.  Eden      29.  Hakeem      30.  Hakeem      31.  Eden      32.  Hakeem      33.  Eden      34.  Hakeem      35.  Eden      36.  Eden      37.  Hakeem      38.  Eden      39.  Eden      40.  Hakeem      41.  Eden         BEFORE YOU DIVE IN…      Beneath the Silence is book #3 of The Things Unseen Series, but it ends on a cliffhanger that will conclude in book #4.      TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNING      This book contains mention and/or depictions of angst, child neglect/abuse, sexually explicit content, violence, gaslighting, profanity, and murder/death.        PLAYLIST         Listen on Spotify     More Alive - LANTA Have Mercy - Eryn Allen Kane Psycho - Ty Dolla $ign feat. Post Malone Understand Me - TXS, Mike Smiff Ivory - Tobe Nwigwe Naked - Ella Mai These Arms - Luke Arms Black Bonnie - Wale feat. Jacques Teach Me - SiR The Key - Madison Ryann Ward Sometimes - Davion Farris For You - STOUT Hydration - David Michael Wyatt          HAKEEM       It’s been a while since I'd done a job similar to this. Instead of the violence I once doled out for money, I now spent my days serving part-time as the personal bodyguard for Garryn, my closest friend’s fiancée. In addition to simultaneously avoiding her probing questions. She’d gotten in good with the rest of the Uptown crew and picked up the mantle on meddling in my personal affairs to get to know me. Garryn had my loyalty and I even cared for her but she’d never truly know me. No one ever would because the real Hakeem was locked down tight, buried beneath years of shit that would taint the people I loved if I let them get too close. Like everyone else who thought they knew me best, Garryn knew the man I let them see. Before making the long drive to Dallas, Verse and Lathan had asked if I was sure about my plan. They’d wanted to clarify that I wasn’t being sent or asked to do anything because they’d promised another friend from my childhood—Remedy—that they wouldn’t. But after learning about what they had done right under our noses for