I hung up the phone with my best friend stressing about my situation. I ran to the other side of the bed.
“Gianna, open up now.”
I placed my hand on my chest.
“I’m coming.”
It was only Brad. I could finally breathe, but that didn’t mean I was at ease. I opened the door with shaky hands. Brad burst in and surveyed the room. Rufus stopped barking. He walked into the room and stood next to me. I rubbed his head to comfort him. He must not have liked that I left him with the bodyguard.
“Why did you lock yourself in the room?” Brad asked.
“I… nothing. I just needed a minute.”
Brad walked to the walk-in closet and the bathroom while Rufus and I crawled onto the bed. The second I touched the soft bed I realized how exhausted I was.
“Is that all?” He asked when he came back.
I didn’t know what he was looking for, Silas. The bodyguards must have
I decided to leave Rufus at the kennel another day. There were so many boxes for me to unpack. Mom and Lilly were busy so I took on the task on my own. While unpacking Brad’s clothes I realized how much I missed my husband. I buried my face in his suit jacket and inhaled. Tears nearly sprung from my eyes. I decided to leave his belongings alone and focus on the kitchen. I got new appliances that needed unpacking.When I called Brad his phone was either busy or out of reach or he just wouldn’t answer. When I tried to call him again when I settled down completely exhausted in the evening I realized I called Brad seventeen times today and he didn’t pick up once.I slammed my phone on my brand-new white sofa chair. I wasn’t jealous I just wanted my husband to answer me. The blistering headache I had was not helping my mood and being neglected wasn’t helping either.I was thinking about ordering a pizza and heading to my room to eat since I hadn’t ordered any curtains for the living room.
My headache from last night hadn’t gone away now my head was pounding. I woke up with an upset stomach. When I was awake I realized the pounding in my head wasn’t my head at all it was the front door.I grabbed my robe and rushed to answer the door.“Yes?” I answered.The sun hit me right in the eyes and I winced.A tall man in a black and white suit stood on the other side. He had black shades on. I needed those. He wasn’t there at the park. They must have a roster of who protects me every day.“Mrs Wolfe, we searched the property last night and there wasn’t any sign that someone broke in.”I was sure I saw a flash. I didn’t see the person, but I know a camera flash.“Oh, that should be a good thing right?”“We thought so too, but we found this.” He pulled out a plastic bag from the back of his waistband.He held two broken pieces of a black object. It was partly covered in mud I couldn’t make out what it was.“What is it?”“One of your security cameras. It was supposed to be in fron
“I don’t see why we have to leave so soon. Mason wanted to see France.” Sydney cradled her son.“Mason needs to get home to his father where he’s going to be comfortable,” I said.“You’re not going to be bitter about that are you?” Sydney scrawled. “I wasn’t sure okay. And you had no right to have a DNA test on my baby without asking me.”“It was either that or have you rob me blind,” I muttered.“Stop you too. Mason will still be in Brad’s family. You’re his uncle. You did a good thing for your family.” Nora said.Sure Mason was Gianna’s nephew. I glanced at my phone again. It was seven thirty in the morning and I hadn’t gotten a single call from Gianna. Not even a missed call.We arrived quickly. I made sure of it. I tried calling her cell but it was disconnected.“Is something wrong Brad?” Nora whispered.“Gianna won’t answer the phone.”“Her father left me a dozen calls last night. I just hope—”I didn’t let her finish her sentence. I was dialling Ronald’s number seconds later. He
This is Lilly's story with Rocco. Stay tuned for this short novella. I searched the ground for my clothes. I knew I couldn’t keep this up. I knew this would come down and hit me on the head. It was dark and I couldn’t bring myself to function enough to turn on the lamp on the bedside table.Tears swelled in my eyes and sobs clogged my throat. He was coming back. What was I thinking that he wouldn’t come back? Chad arrived in town and was expecting to find me at my apartment.It was a little before midnight. If Chad had told me he was coming back tonight, we would have avoided this whole show. I spotted my shoe near the piano. I stood to get it but got caught in the sheets and hit the carpet.Rocco chuckled. I remained on the floor for a minute. Who was I? I had to admit Rocco gave me the best sex of my life and more! He promised danger and excitement. Adventures I would never have on my own. Sure, there was the fact he was a loan shark and owned several strip clubs and an escort serv
The red lingerie came in the morning. A set of a red push up bra and a crotch less underwear and leg rings. I let out a shaky breath as I stared at myself in the mirror.“This is going to be okay,” I told myself.I grabbed a light coat from my closet. I’d always wanted to walk around in a coat and nothing but lingerie underneath.“I’m going to forget about Rocco.”He’d clearly forgotten about me. I ended things last night and there hadn’t been a text or a call. I should expect as much from a loan shark. I was nothing but sex for him.I locked my apartment and climbed into the elevator. I should have been at work today to make up for all the days I hadn’t gone in. I had gotten caught up with Rocco going to who knows where having the time of my life.I squeezed my eyes shut and groaned. If only you could burn the memories in your mind. Chad didn’t know I was coming this was going to be an epic surprise. This was something we never did. I made it to his office in fifteen minutes.The bui
“I don’t have any money… I don’t have that kind of money.”“Answers I don’t like to hear.”“Rocco I never borrowed from you or bought anything from you! You know that.”“I only know what’s on the paper and the paper says you owe me over five hundred thousand dollars.”“Mr. Laurence—”“I took his building and his debt is paid. How are you going to pay me?” His eyes ran down my neck until the opening of my coat. I tugged it close.“You own the building?”“I own all of this honey. You don’t own a house and your car won’t do much. Your savings are sad, to say the least.”“Hey!”He circled me. The second he was gone from my view I shut my eyes and inhaled his scent. I bit my bottom lip to keep the moan in. He leaned against the desk and pulled back so I landed on him. My
“You haven’t touched your food. You should this will be the last time you have a decent meal in a long time,” Rocco said slicing into a mid-rare steak. The lobster in front of me begged to be eaten but my stomach was in knots. I was drowning in debts that weren’t mine and Rocco wasn’t going to cut me a break. “I don’t know if I should be taking charity from you. You might just add it to my debt. Debt you know isn’t mine.” “Every document I have says it’s yours.” “What happens if I go to the police?” I narrowed my eyes at him. He picked up his napkin and wiped his mouth. I thought I struck a chord. “Then you’d be potentially sending the only man that sets you on fire to jail. Do you really want that, Lilly?” “Could you really go to jail?” “Of course not. You can go to the police if you want but it won’t do you any good. Now, you can pay everything you owe plus interest. Because we’ve been such good friends I won’t include daily interest in your debt. See, I’m not a monster.”
I took a taxi home. I was relieved I didn’t have to dance in front of a bunch of old men, but this wasn’t me. I didn’t do things like this. What would my mother think? She would disown me. She would run me over herself. There was only one person who knew what I was going through but even she didn’t have to become a stripper.I stared at Gia’s number for over twenty minutes while I sat alone in my bed. I couldn’t bring myself to call her until the phone rang and it was her calling me. I guess the power of best friendship was real.“Hey?” I said with a sigh.“Lilly, Brad won’t get me ice cream,” Gia sobbed.“Oh my gosh,” I giggled.“I brought you three tubs of ice cream.” Brad groaned in the background.“I don’t want those ones,” Gia sobbed.“My love I’ll get you all the ice cream in the world but I don’t think you really want it.”“Those pregnancy cravings are getting to you, huh?” I asked.“Maybe, I really want something sweet.”“I’ll bring you an apple pie tomorrow.”“Yeah? You’re a