This is WAR Read Online Free PDF

high-pitched, babyish voice of Sloane Liu. As many summers as she’d spent within an arm’s reach of the girl, she couldn’t remember ever hearing her speak.
    “Impossible. You know who that detective is married to, right? You think they’d actually let a Club employee or her husband anywhere near him?” This voice was lower, raspy. It reeked of cigarettes at a bar all night. Lina Winthrop. It had to be.
    “She’s right. The police aren’t an option. There’s not a single person on that boat who would dare accuse one of those boys of parking in a handicapped spot, let alone murder.” Madge’s voice was controlled. She sounded more like a beauty queen answering her final question than a grieving stepsister.
    “But how do you know … I mean … we can’t be sure it was murder, right? It was probably just an accident. There’s no way he’d ever intentionally …”
    There was a scraping and shuffling above. Rose had to stand up to try to make out exactly what was being said.
    “… know exactly what they’re capable of. And I know my sister. There’s no way she fell off that boat, and even if she did, she won the two-hundred meter at the beginning of June. Something else happened, and whatever it was, it ended with James killing …”
    Rose was out the door before Madge had even finished her sentence. She’d spent the last few weeks waiting for something to happen. Waiting for the chance to fix what was broken. This was it.
    Madge was right. Her dad had good intentions, but there was no way in hell he’d end up charging James Gregory with murder. She was tired of the sleepless nights, of the guilt that felt like it was eating her alive from the inside out, of the disappointment in Mari’s eyes. Those girls might not know it yet, but they needed her.
    She slipped out of the locker room and ducked into the parlor. It was empty, but she still cast a quick look over her shoulder before throwing her weight against the massive painting of Great Grandpa Gregory’s prize Great Dane, Wentworth, that lined the back wall. The wall creaked open to reveal a winding set of wooden stairs leading to the attic.
    The girls had gone completely quiet above. Probably preparing to ream out the unfortunate housekeeper who had stumbled upon their little meeting …
    But Rose wasn’t a maid. And the girls didn’t have the authority to kick her out. Well, not technically, anyway. Either way, she didn’t care.
    She’d grown up watching waitresses submit carefully worded resignations. She’d seen the way the hands of the overweight old men would casually graze her mom’s body. And she could still hear her mom’s matter-of-fact warning, imparted on her twelfth birthday.
    “There are certain situations that I can’t protect you from, Rosie. The Club has a lot to offer, but stay away from the dark rooms at the parties. If you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, no one will be able to save you. Not even me.”

Chapter 6
    The expression on the girls’ faces said it all. Rose might as well have stormed the attic stark-naked except for a pair of cowboy boots or a sombrero or some other ridiculous “Mexican” accessory. She was doing it again.
    She wasn’t thinking.
    And look where that had gotten her last time.
    “Get. Out.”
    The tone of Madge’s voice and the thickness of the air made Rose light-headed. She stepped backward, her memory slipping back to the beginning of July: docked, expensive yachts rocking along the pier. She’d spent an entire afternoon agonizing over the perfect outfit only to have Willa stop her in the parking lot before she’d even stepped foot on the Gregorys’ ship. Quick fingers had unbuttoned her tunic, forced her out of her shorts, and tugged the scarf from her hair, cinching it around her waist instead. Madge had bitched and moaned about wasting time until Rose’s shirt had become a dress, the scarf tightened around her thin waist, her wildhair unpinned and free. A tiny