Desire for Love (The Club #13) Read Online Free PDF

pulled
over to the curb to dry her cheeks and blow her nose. Fifteen but already showing
signs of the man he’d become. Looking out for his older sister.
    She wiped away the last
of her tears. It’s not like me to be so emotional. Must be hormonal. It
certainly has nothing to do with being suckered by a guy with an engaging grin
and warm blue eyes.
    After digging her mobile
out of her handbag, she checked for messages, in particular looking for a
response to the text she’d sent Jet’s business mobile last night.
    Nothing.
    Next she scrolled through
her list of contacts until she found Sasha Childs, who had been rostered on to
work in the main bar last night. Madeline brought up the details and address.
Of all the other staff in the Club, Sasha had always been the friendliest.
She’d even sent Madeline a Christmas card with her address on it and an
invitation to come over any time. To date, Madeline had managed to come up with
plausible excuses and as their working hours rarely aligned, she’d been able to
avoid alienating Sasha with her reluctance to be friends.
    She checked the time.
Nine o’clock. Probably a bit early for a visit for a woman who’d worked most of
the night before but Madeline didn’t want to waste any time. She needed this
job issue sorted, fast.
    She tossed her mobile
onto the seat and pulled out into the traffic. Sasha lived in a new apartment
building situated in the old quarter of town. Some enterprising developer had
pulled down the gloomy Victorian structure that originally stood on the
allotment and built an imposing building of glass and pre-cast cement painted
black. Madeline had to cruise around two blocks to find a parking spot and then
slog her way back to the apartment, huddled deep in her overcoat.
    After pressing the buzzer
to Sasha’s apartment, Madeline stamped her feet and shivered as a blast of icy
wind buffeted her. When Sasha tinny voice asked who was there, Madeline spoke
her name. The lock released and she hurried inside to take the elevator to the
fourth floor. Sasha answered on her third knock, only opening the door a crack
revealing her swollen, red-rimmed eyes and a white woolly dressing gown she
clutched at her chest.
    “Madeline. You shouldn’t
be here,” she said in a flat tone.
    Madeline frowned. There
was a hard-edged note in her work colleague’s voice she’d never heard before.
“Is everything okay with you?”
    “Why wouldn’t it be?”
    “Um, I don’t know, you
look…. My mistake. I’m sorry for barging in on you like this, but you’re the
only one who can help me. I need Jet’s private mobile number or email address.
Or even Brittany in accounts. I’ve tried their business ones and haven’t had
any luck.”
    “Not gonna happen.” Sasha
made to close the door.
    Madeline pushed against
it with her full body weight. “Wait. Please. I don’t know what you’ve heard but
I need this info.”
    “Shit, Madeline, it’s all
around the Club. Probably all around Karim by now, too. I can’t help you. No
way do I want a police record as an accessory.”
    “What?” Madeline’s heart
thundered in her ears. “What are you talking about?”
    “You stole money from one
of your clients. Took it from his wallet while he was showering. Roberta says
the client intends to sue the Club and its owners personally and report you to
the cops. We’ve all been told not to speak to you in case we come under
suspicion too and investigated as accessories or worse, that we’re involved in
a bigger scam. Roberta hinted there’s money missing from the bar till last
night before you left.”
    Madeline squeezed her
eyes shut for a moment, remembering how she’d helped herself to a small glass
of white wine. And how the bar crew had been busy retrieving dirty glasses from
a party in another room. There’d been no one around at the time. Shit. She’d
opened the till and placed a five-dollar bill inside as payment—that meant her
fingerprints would be all over