From Manhattan With Revenge Boxed Set Read Online Free PDF

that overlooked 53rd
Street, were a man and a woman, who Carmen guessed were Addy and Tootie
Staunton-Miller.  
    Beside
them was a young woman with long, curly dark hair who was creating something of
a stir and for good reason.   She was
wearing an intricate, thirties-inspired evening dress crafted in silver
beadwork that stopped just short of her knees.   Ropes of diamonds hung loosely from her
neck, a thick diamond bracelet was at her wrist and in her ears were two of the
largest teardrop diamonds Carmen had ever seen.   Standing there, with the diamonds and the
dress and the room’s waves of orange light all conspiring in her favor, she
looked otherworldly, a dazzling exclamation point gleaming in front of the
windows’ wavering mesh curtains.
    Carmen
knew who she was.  
    She
recognized her from the press, but also from her time with Vincent Spocatti,
the assassin she worked with a year ago who failed to bring her and other
members of her family down two years before.   She was Leana Redman, the estranged
daughter of the billionaire George Redman, both of whom were famously shot by
the now-deceased businessman Louis Ryan, who went to great lengths to ruin the
Redman family due to a personal vendetta.
    Carmen
studied Leana.   Given her height,
her looks and her figure, she would have been mistaken for a model if she
didn’t have such an intelligent, mischievous look in her eyes.
    She was
standing next to a man somewhere in his late thirties.   He was tall and dark and had a body that
rivaled Alex’s.   He was either
Italian or Sicilian--Carmen couldn’t tell which, though he was so good looking,
she decided she really didn’t care.  
    She
watched Leana step forward so the press could photograph her.   They called out her name and actively
singled her out.   But why?   What had she done?   Carmen scanned the room for
Jean-Georges.   He didn’t appear to
be anywhere in the crowd, which still was filing in, making it so impossibly
tight, it was becoming difficult to move.  
    There
was a sudden rush of applause.   Carmen looked back at Leana and her lips parted in surprise.   She was stepping forward to give
Jean-Georges Laurent a hug.  
    Alex’s
attention was on those who were pressing in.   She reached for his hand and motioned to
the windows across from the pool.   “Look.”
    “About
time.   Who’s he with?”
    “Leana
Redman.”
    “Why do
I know that name?”
    “She’s
infamous in this city.”
    “What
makes you infamous in New York?”
    “Having
a billionaire for a father helps.   For her, what sealed the deal is that she was the victim of a murder
plot that ended in the death of her sister and another billionaire.”
    “So many
billionaires,” he said.   “Maybe the
people occupying Wall Street should occupy the Four Seasons.   What’s with the photos?”
    “No
idea.   Do you have a make on
security?”
    “Throughout
the crowd.   No drinks.   Not smiling.   Moving too much.   Edgy.   Some aren’t as obvious.   They’re good.   But most won’t be a problem.”
    “We
don’t know what any of them will be, so keep your eye on them.”
    He put
his arm around her.   “Looks like
someone’s getting ready to speak.”
    Addison
Miller, the closeted gay husband of Tootie Staunton-Miller, was handed a
microphone and tapped the top of it as he walked to the right of Jean-Georges
and Leana.  
    Tootie,
who wore her many diamonds as if they were a suit of armor that braced herself
against the poor, formed her mouth in the way the very rich do when they knew
they were under the microscope by their peers.   Her lips were barely lifted.   Her face, either frozen due to plastic
surgery or through sheer force of will, was otherwise expressionless.
    Alex
lowered his head to Carmen’s ear.   “You know,” he said, “we might want to reconsider.”
    “Reconsider
what?”
    “Our
plan.   I wasn’t expecting the crowd
to be so dense.   It’s almost
impossible to move and