A Bitch In Time (Marina: Part One: Naughty Nookie Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

children.  I know Jessie has a grandmother dying of
cancer in a hospice.  I know Parvati has family back in India, who have no
idea what she does for a living and if they did, they’d disown her in an
instant.  But they rely upon every cent she sends back to them.
    Do the Russians know all that?
    No and they don’t care either
way.
    It’s hard to breathe.  I
feel light-headed, glassy-eyed.  Guilt passes through my blood with the
velocity of white water rapids.
    It’s amazing to think
twenty-five minutes ago, arousal was swirling through me.  Followed
swiftly by the sense of loss, of being lost.  Now, I just feel
frightened.  I hate admitting to such a weakness, but it’s there too.
    Mona and Edwina are more than
friends to me.  They’re more than sisters!  If Mona has been
targeted, then Eddie will be next.
    But I can’t sell to the
mob.  I can’t.
    Neither can I disband this
operation, because if I do, the girls will have lost their income.  I’d
hope they have the foresight to create nest eggs, but it’s a futile wish. 
    Eloise has her college tuition
to pay for and Britney can’t let two months pass without changing her
cellphone.
    The weight of the world
settles on my shoulders as I stagger over to the daybed.  As I sit, the
feathers part to cushion my weight in a welcoming embrace.  However,
through it all, after Anna’s confirmation, my attention has returned to the
fire.
    Footsteps alert me to my PA’s
presence.  As she sits down, her weight atop the cushion jostles me a
little and she brings an arm around my shoulders to comfort me further. 
She squeezes and the scent of her flowery perfume, subtle yet strangely
powerful—an oxymoron, I know— fills my nostrils.  I lift a hand and clasp
my fingers in hers, holding tightly like a child holding a teddy bear after
awakening from a nightmare.
    Anna has been with me since
the beginning.  A friend, a colleague and an advisor.  Too old to be
on the game, but one who has the experience that I didn’t have at the start,
she’s been a fountain of wisdom.  Without her, this operation wouldn’t
have been so successful.
    She’s more than just a
PA.  She’s my right hand woman.
    “What do I do, Anna?”  I
hate that my lips are quivering; emotion making them tremble.  Making me shiver and shake in her hold.
    Nausea returns at the
ceaseless burning of Mona and her neighbors’ homes.  The flames lick the
sky.  Arching upwards to caress the stars.  Wind has them flickering
in fury and the furious flow of water from the firefighters’ hoses can’t seem
to keep up with the inner rage of the conflagration.  And it’s all because
of me.  This destruction rests on my soul, because I will not sell
to the mob.  I won’t give them what they want and like spoilt brats,
they’ve decided to play mean.
    It’s a ridiculous time to feel
this way, but I’m so tired.  I feel as though it’s a million years since I
last slept.  A part of me wishes this were just a bad dream.  That I
could wake up after eight hours on this daybed, stretch and feel relief that it
was all just a nightmare.  That Mona’s building was as crappy as ever,
falling to pieces but not because of a fire, simply because it was never
maintained and that the mob weren’t scratching at my door, wanting a piece of
the tasty pie that is my business.
    But this is reality.
    Hard reality.
    “Tell me, Anna?  What do
I do?”
    Her sigh is heartfelt. 
She shares my pain and horror at the destruction these men are willing to
commit in order to get their hands on Papillon.  She feels for me.
    “You can’t sell to them. 
You’ve been too good to the girls, Mona.  They’re used to you and the way
you work.  As soon as they come in, they’ll change the structure of the
business and the girls will become expendable.”
    “But if I close the doors,
they’ll just go elsewhere.  Maybe somewhere that won’t look after them the
way I do.”
    “Yeah, but that’s