Starla (The Ladies of Karnage Novella Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

system, I felt instantly better. I flushed the toilet, brushed my teeth, and then made my way into the room and opened the window to let in the cool clean air from outside. I felt my stomach rumble and went in search of something to eat, leaving Joni passed out on her bed.
    When I made it halfway down the hallway, I heard Ana from the desk. She sounded nervous, scared almost, I made it closer to the end of the hall and then I realized she wasn’t alone, there was a man in the room but I was still too far down the hall to see who it was.
    “The next time I come back here, Ana, I’m not gonna be so nice about it. I expect my money,” the man’s voice was harsh, just short of a yell, as he slammed his fist down on the counter and then turned to head out the door. I caught the glimpse of his back as he made it out the door. He was dressed nicely, dress slacks and a collared shirt, and had short cut gray hair. He w asn’t very big, a little more than five foot, but carried himself in such a way that made up for his lack of intimidating muscle.
    I took a few more steps, debating on whether to go back to my room when I heard Ana’s soft whimpers. I made my way out into the common room and saw Ana behind the small desk, bent over in her chair softly crying into her hands. I made my way to her and knelt in front of her on the floor. “Ana, it’s ok. Don’t cry.” I placed my hand on her back and rubbed small circles in an attempt to calm her down.
    “I don’t know what I’m gonna do, Starla. He wants his money and I don’t have any to give him,” she quietly sobbed.
    “We’ll figure something out. I promise you he won’t hurt you,” I assured her. I didn’t even know why she owed him money, and I didn’t really care. But I knew that I’d do whatever I could to help her.
    “He wouldn’t hurt me.” She looked around the quaint little hotel lobby, the walls covered with outdated wall paper, and old pictures of who I assumed were her family hanging around the walls. “He’d burn this place down. He know s that would hurt worse than any physical pain. My mum and dad owned this place, they both passed away a few years ago and I’ve been running it ever since,” she sniffled, wiping the tears from her face. “I don’t have anything left of theirs, sold everything to try and keep this place goin’. And last year shit got really hard. Everything that could go wrong did, the water heater burst, the wiring needed to be replaced, and the flooring, and I didn’t have the money to do it.”
    “So does he work for the bank or something?” I asked, leaning back against the wall behind me as I sat in front of her on the floor.
    “No, McCreevey is much worse.” I saw a shudder tear through her body, whoever he was this man was bad news. “He knew me dad, heard the place was going under and reached out to help. I didn’t know what I was getting into when I took his offer to help.” She let out a deep breath, “He’s a part of the IRA, Irish Republican Army. He seemed like he really wanted to help because he got along with me dad. But when it started getting harder and harder to make the payments, he started visiting more often.”
    “How much do you owe him?”
    “Close to thirty thousand euros. I was able to pay quite a bit after St. Patrick’s Day last year, but since then I’ve been scraping by, selling my paintings when the money runs out. I gave him what I had today, most of that the money from your stay, but it’s not enough, it’s never enough.”
    “We’ll figure this out. I’m not gonna let you lose the hotel,” I promised her. There had to be a way that we could find the money.
    “I hope that’s true,” Ana said, patting my hand before standing to make her way toward her bedroom.
    I stood and made my way over, grabbing a package of powdered donuts and two bottles of water from the pantry and leaving more than enough on her desk to cover the cost. I made my way back into the room, plopping