The Billionaire's Forgiveness (A Winters Love Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

the second week of my “embezzlement” I had managed to amass seventy-five thousand dollars. I went by the bank on Friday and withdrew the last of it from the account I had created for it. I left just enough in to keep the account open. An account that was opened and then closed in just a couple of weeks would really send up red flags. I sat in the dark in my apartment that night trying not to listen to the guilty whispers of the seven hundred and fifty, one hundred dollar bills in the bag underneath my bed. I never fell asleep that night. I sat wide awake alternately telling myself I was only doing what I had to do and cursing myself for what I was doing. I finally fell asleep around five a.m. When I woke up I knew it was time… it was time to call Igor and get this over with once and for all.
     
    I called him on Saturday morning and he answered on the first ring.
     
    “Hello baby! I was expecting your call.”
     
    “I have the money,” I told him.
     
    “I knew you could do this. You make me so happy.”
     
    “I’m not concerned about making you happy,” I told him. “Tell me where to meet you and I will be there. All I’m interested in is making this and you, go away. Bring the marriage certificate, Igor, the original.”
     
    He laughed and said, “My sexy girl has grown up into a feisty young woman, I’m so proud.”
     
    “Shut up! You don’t get to be proud. You don’t even know me and I am not “yours” in any way. Stop making your lewd sexual comments too. You make me nauseous. Tell me where to meet you or I will hang up and go to the police.” That was the other option I had considered. I knew that reporters would be standing by for that kind of information though and again, it would reflect poorly on Aaron who was completely innocent of any wrong-doing here. In other words, it was an empty threat.
     
    Igor knew that as well as I did and he laughed again, I hated the sound of it. It was strange that the sound of a laugh can make you so angry. He let the silence hang between us for several seconds.
     
    “There is a diner on fifty-Seventh Street called, “Mauve’s”. I see you there at two o’clock. I bring what you want, you bring what I need.” Then he hung up. I looked at the time, it was ten o’clock now. I had four hours to wait. I realized after one hour passed that it was going to be a really long day. There was one more anxiety attack on the horizon and it hit hard. I fought through it and managed to be ready and get to the restaurant ten minutes early. Igor was already there, seated in a booth at the far end of the diner next to a window. I swallowed hard and had to force my legs to move and walk towards him. The bag on my shoulder was really big and really heavy and as I walked towards him I let myself imagine that suddenly undercover officers would jump out of their seats with their guns drawn and order me down on the floor. They would find me red-handed with all of the money and Igor would slip out the back door. Aaron would be so angry that he would never visit me in jail and by the time I got out of jail he would have that beautiful wife who wasn’t me and two point five kids. My imagination was beginning to get out of hand.
     
    “Hello beautiful,” Igor said when I got next to the table. I dropped down onto the seat across from him and hoped that the look on my face was relaying my distaste for him and his terms of endearment. Before either of us could speak further, the waitress was there with the coffee pot. Igor had a half empty breakfast plate in front of him. The rude thug ate without me. It wasn’t like I was going to join him for a meal, but it was bad manners for him to not ask. It was one more point against him.
     
    “Can I get you anything, hon?” the waitress asked me.
     
    “No, coffee is fine,” I told her. Once she was gone I said, “This isn’t a social meet. I want to finish our business and get out of here. I don’t ever want to see you