The Ultimate Merger Read Online Free PDF

head. “I don’t want to get you dirty. I-I just…” Her
face crumbled.
    “What happened to you?” This was the worst
she’d ever seen her.
    Three months had passed since they last saw
each other, and Sabrina had begun to wonder if her cousin had died.
She’d never stayed away this long before. She hadn’t even called
once the entire time. Sabrina called the police and checked at
hospitals, each time sagging with relief when no one fitting her
cousin’s description was in either location.
    Her gaunt appearance terrified Sabrina. When
had she last eaten? Other than drugs, what else was she putting
into her body?
    Jewel kept her eyes trained on the floor.
“I’m sorry, Brina. I need your help. I don’t know where else to go.
I tried to reach you at home, but…but you were never there. I
didn’t know how else to get in touch with you.”
    Sabrina had been having a good time, spending
every possible moment with Renaldo, when her cousin had needed her.
The weight of guilt came down on her conscience.
    “I’m here for you. You know that.”
    Jewel covered her face and cried. She barely
made a sound, which made it even more heart-wrenching. Sabrina
gripped her cousin’s arms. She was so stick-thin that Sabrina’s
fingers touched her thumb.
    “Look at me. Look at me, Jewel.” Her voice
shook, because she was scared. She knew what could happen. They’d
been raised together and were practically sisters. They’d both lost
their mothers to drugs. She couldn’t lose Jewel, too. She wouldn’t
let it happen.
    Jewel’s empty, tear-filled eyes finally
lifted.
    “We’ll beat this, okay? We’ll do it together.
You and me, just like always.”
    Jewel nodded like a child, looking needy and
trusting.
    Sabrina rushed around her desk and grabbed
her bag. She picked up the phone and told Ernestine she had a
family emergency and was leaving for the day.
    “Come on,” she said, pulling Jewel behind
her. First, she had to get her cousin cleaned up and give her
clothes to wear. Then they’d go to a doctor.
    She didn’t even want to know what Jewel had
been up to. She already knew what happened when women ran out of
money because she’d seen her mother do it. They used their bodies
as currency.
    ****
    Renaldo stared at his phone on the desk in
his suite. He rubbed his fingers across his jaw. He tried not to
succumb to the need to call Sabrina again. He’d already texted and
called her this morning. It was now mid-afternoon and he still
hadn’t heard from her. Very unusual.
    He didn’t like not having answers. He picked
up the phone and examined it, checking his list of texts to make
sure he hadn’t missed any. No missed voicemails, either.
    Where was she?
    Should he be worried? Was she busy today? Or
was she blowing him off?
    ****
    Thursday morning, Renaldo sat in the real
estate closing signing documents. The deal was done, yet he had
unfinished business.
    He hadn’t seen Sabrina in three days, the
longest period since they’d started their affair.  A short
text from her didn’t explain much except that she was very busy
with a family issue. Her explanation surprised him because he could
count on one hand the number of times she’d provided any
information about her family. When he offered to help, she’d turned
him down, stating she could take care of it on her own.
    Whatever “it” was took up a lot of her time.
Not only had she cut off contact with him, but when he showed up at
her job unannounced, he discovered she’d taken leave from work.
What was going on that caused someone like her to leave work?
    With a flight booked to leave for Brazil
tomorrow, he wanted to see her before he left. Maybe he was being
selfish, but he needed to see her. Needed. Not wanted. Needed.
She’d become as important to him as breathing.
    “Last one,” the attorney said, pushing
another piece of paper at him to sign.
    He scribbled his signature in blue ink and
then rose from the chair.
    “Congratulations.”
    Renaldo