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Cards All Out On The Table
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The Deal With The Devil No Time To Die
SiennaMy phone comes to life, startling me.I catch my breath, put the sheet of paper down.Taking my phone, I absently enter my password and look at all the missed calls.I listen to the first from Deirdre telling me she'd work extra hours until I got back, then another from Jim at the garage telling me about a newer model Ford Escort that he just took in to sell and would I be interested? He says it's a good car without too many miles and makes a crack about my duct tape fender.The next two are disconnects. Probably wrong numbers.I think the one after those must be a wrong number too because it's silent at first but there's something different about this silence. It's not empty. I can hear whoever is on the line breathing.And when the caller clicks his tongue, I feel myself go rigid, feel myself grow cold as every hair on my body stands on end.How can a sound, the simple clicking of a tongue, have that kind of power over someone?How can it just erase years?Because it does jus
The Deal With The Devil Back With A Vengeance
SiennaI find the number of the Brewster Clinic and dial. Someone answers there. I assume they have someone on twenty-four hours a day."Hello, I'm looking for a patient, Ciara Williams.""Ms. Williams is no longer a patient here, ma'am.""You mean she was released?""I'm afraid I can't give out personal information.""Do you have contact information for her?" I ask."Ma'am that is all confidential. We take care to protect our—"I disconnect, frustrated, then remember the other messages.One more of those is disconnected right away, but the next one, it's from Deirdre and it takes her minute a speak like she doesn't realize it's time to."Hey hun, I was hoping to catch you. I have something here for you. That man from the other day was back. Honestly, he was more than a little upset when he heard you weren't here again. Left something for you. An envelope addressed strangely to L. B. W." I can almost hear her shaking her head. "Just a sec, dear." I hear her say something to someone an
The Deal With The Devil Go Get The Girl
GiovanniI'm walking back to the house from the cliffs beneath a heavy sky. The air is cool and damp. How I'd forgotten this. Vegas couldn't be more different and every moment I pass here the farther my life there feels. The emptier.At that, I think of Sienna.She's become important to me. A part of me. And it has nothing to do with our arrangement.My brother signed all the papers last night.I got everything I wanted.The house is mine as it should always have been. But even the text from Axel telling me they've finally picked up Williams doesn't help.I'm not in the mood for celebrating.A sound breaks into the perfect silence. I stop, turn my face to the wind and listen. It's coming from some distance, but it's there. And I know where it's coming from.Without consciously deciding, I begin to walk toward the source of the noise.The music grows louder and mixed in with it is the sound of a hammer pounding against wood.As I near the peak of the hill, the broken-down mews comes in
The Deal With The Devil Levi's Jeans
SiennaMy phone keeps losing reception and I'm lost. It doesn't help that the rain's picked up again and it's cold enough that the roads are slippery.It's been ages since I've driven a stick shift and never with my left hand.The gears scream as I shift to drive up the next hill, trying to load the map on my phone again, my attention split.It happens so fast, the turn coming out of nowhere, the rain at its heaviest, the boulder on the side of the road. I look up and it's too late, I know it even as my foot instinctively slams the brakes.The tires screech, the car slips and swerves.I scream, clutching the steering wheel, realizing I'd never put on my seatbelt as the SUV collides with the boulder, the sound of metal crushing and my own screaming all I hear as something pops and my forehead collides against the windshield, the pain sharp and instant just before I lose consciousness.-------GiovanniThe car's stopped moving.She's not much farther, but I'm stuck, cursing as I wait fo
The Deal With The Devil Tethering Propositions
GiovanniI give her that night and the next few days to rest. And all I can think about any time I look at her is what I'd thought, what I'd felt, when I'd seen her slumped over the steering wheel.It's five days later when I decide it's time we had this talk."How long have you known what's on that drive," she asks when I enter the bedroom.She's sitting up and Alice has just cleared the tray of food she'd brought up. Sienna's on bedrest. My orders."Long enough. You shouldn't have left like you did. You should have waited for me. Talked to me.""I thought Deirdre was in trouble. I thought—""You should have talked to me!" I slam my fist into one of the bedposts.Sienna jumps.I hold up my hand, mutter a curse under my breath. I don't mean to frighten her, but I do because she gets that look in her eyes, that one from the first night."I don't want to talk about it. Ever. I don't want to think about it. You can't understand what...I just...I wish I could forget. Why can't I forget?"
The Deal With The Devil A New Day Has Come
Another deal with the devil."Our month isn't—" she starts."I don't care about the month. It's not enough. This is my home. It's been my home from day one. Declan's right. I should never have left. But past is past. And I'm finished with it."I'm staying here, Sienna. Reclaiming my place. I want to watch my nephew grow up. I want to be here with my grandfather. I will rebuild the house to what it once was. No, even better. I will make it grand, as it should always have been."I lift her hair over her shoulder before brushing her cheek."And I want you to stay here with me. Make this your home too.""You want me to leave everything behind—""What is everything? What is the life you've built in Vegas?"She shifts her gaze away and I watch her eyebrows furrow."What life?" I ask again.She looks up at me. "The shop.""You don't need the shop. I'll make monthly donations to the shelter.""It's Mrs. Adams' legacy, Giovanni. I can't just shut it down.""Then I'll buy it outright. Buy the w
The Deal With The Devil Deluxe: The Mafia King's Most Prized Possession.
Note: This is a completely different story.Veronica Kingston didn't know Stefan Armando from Adam. When he showed up on her doorstep, demanding restitution for an old debt, she was convinced he got the wrong house. But he was sure he was at the right place, and her dear, old grandfather wouldn't look straight in the eye.She was to be that restitution. But because she was still a minor, Grandfather pleaded with Stefan to wait till she was eighteen to come take her.Running away wasn't an option. Stefan was a dangerous man. Head of the Tuscan Mafia, no hole would ever be big enough for him to dig if Veronica chose to hide. When her eighteen birthday came, Stefan claimed her, taking her to his Tuscan Castle, where the crumbling chapel, destroyed vineyard, and dark caller told bold tales of the man she was now married to.At last, Veronica discovered that getting married to Stefan was only the beginning of her hell.-------VeronicaChristmas 2015* * *The Christmas holiday was my fa
The Deal With The Devil 2
VeronicaAfter lunch, Robyn started to unpack the ornaments while I went up to my bedroom to change clothes. They'd still made us wear our uniforms this morning, even though most of us were just going home for the holiday. I felt sorry for the few students who spent the holiday at school.I was at the top of the stairs when I realized I'd forgotten my purse in the foyer. I went back down to grab it, mostly wanting to check my phone for messages, when I heard a low, deep male voice I didn't recognize."It's done, old man."I froze at the bottom of the stairs. Old man?"You cannot do this."My grandfather's voice was stern, his tone angry, rattled. I'd never heard him like that before. He always spoke quietly, never raised his voice, didn't need to. In his late sixties, he was still a formidable man.My mother had been his only surviving child, and I remembered well the night I'd met my grandfather. Our parents had never brought us here, and Robyn had been a baby when he'd come to our h
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