Without a Net Read Online Free PDF

everything in her lap, Eva couldn’t sleep. Night after night, the images flickered across her brain, like a montage from some low-budget skin flick. Flesh spilling out from spandex and leather, blood red lips and fuck-me heels. Stained sheets and nondescript hotel rooms, trash-strewn back alleys and graffiti-covered bathroom stalls. And Roger, her husband, the father of her child, straining and sweating, teeth bared as he grunted and pounded into perfect strangers from behind.
    There was a reason sleep deprivation was used as a torture device. By the time Angie had cornered her, alarmed by the hollowed cheeks and dark shadows beneath her eyes, Eva was ready to spill everything.
    And that was even before she’d known about the money. Before she’d been served with the thirty-five page complaint alleging that she and Roger had received a series of transfers totaling $6.3 million, a sum that significantly exceeded Roger’s original investment. Before she’d learned that the term “net winner” wasn’t actually a good thing, at least when it came to Ponzi schemes. Before she’d been able to trace, with Angie’s help, where those funds had gone. Before she’d discovered the lapsed life insurance, and the depleted bank accounts, and the fact that Roger’s business interests were all tied up in the same legal quagmire she was now facing.
    Angie’s voice broke the silence. “Do you have a court date?”
    Eva shrugged. “Your friend Quinn is working on it.”
    When it came to litigation, Angie claimed she lacked the experience needed to ensure Eva good representation in court. Somehow she’d managed to convince Quinn Kirkpatrick, one of the senior securities fraud attorneys in her firm, to take on the case, even though Eva didn’t have a clue as to how she was going to pay him.
    “Don’t worry about that,” Angie told her. “Quinn and I will work something out.”
    Eva scraped back her chair. “You want some coffee?”
    “Would love some.” Angie rose to help clear the table. “Any chocolate to go with it?”
    Eva eyed her sister’s slim form. “Where do you put it all?”
    “I’ve got an incredibly fast metabolism. Plus I run three miles a day and hike on weekends. So, about that chocolate…?”
    “How about some brownies instead?”
    Angie grinned. “There’s a reason you’re my favorite sister.”
    Eva rolled her eyes. “Grab a cup.”
    Angie was halfway through her second brownie before she spoke again. “Did you go over the paperwork I emailed you?”
    “Yes.” Eva set down her half-drunk coffee. “I don’t know, Angie. It seems somehow wrong to apply for the hardship program when there are so many people who are worse off. It’s not like we lost all our retirement savings, or had to declare bankruptcy.”
    “Not yet,” Angie muttered.
    “The sale of the house should cover what I’m being asked to repay. As long as Quinn can knock the total down to just the net gain.”
    “You shouldn’t have been forced to sell in the first place.”
    “We’ll be fine,” Eva soothed. “This place is too big for just the two of us anyway.”
    “What does Ben think about having to move?”
    Eva fiddled with her mug. “I haven’t exactly told him yet.”
    “What?”
    “I didn’t see any need to worry him. It’s not going to happen until after the school year ends. If we find a place nearby, he can stay at the same school, keep all the same friends. Considering what’s already happened, whether he lives in a rented apartment or a McMansion won’t make that much difference.”
    “If you say so.” Angie pursed her lips. “But do me a favor, fill out the application. It’s worth a try. At the very least, it’ll buy you some time. Even if everything goes well, and Quinn gets the court to agree to revised numbers, and the house sells, you’re still in the red. Don’t forget you’ll owe capital gains tax on the house. And you’re writing big monthly checks for the payment plan we worked