by Mia Ford
I was expecting her to say that whatever we needed to say could be said in front of the board. Instead, she looked at the smug look on Marshall’s face and decided that it was in her best interest to convene this meeting. She dismissed everyone and they left without putting up a fuss or complaining in the very least.
Once the door was closed, she stood with her hands firmly planted on the table. “I don’t know what the meaning of this is, but I can assure you that you’re not going to get away with it. It’s obvious to me that you two are working together. You have less than a minute before Susan returns. I’m going to make sure that your bodies are never found.” She looked like she had all the cards and then Marshall very casually put the briefcase on the table and opened it.
“I think that you should take a look at these.” He dropped the file folder as thick as his wrist on the table. She opened it with a cocked eyebrow and began to go over the marked details of those guys playing her for a fool. “I have it on good authority that your business would suffer if this were to get out. I have my hand on the send button for an e-mail that is going to circulate amongst journalists and business CEOs alike.” It did pull her back on your heels, but she wasn’t about to stand for this.
“Go ahead and do what you need to do. It won’t matter. The both of you will be gone shortly never to be heard from again. My business might suffer, but I will rise above it like I always do. You are foolish to think that I was going to give into your demands. I’m sure that your one and only demand is for me to leave the both of you alone. That is the one thing that I can’t do. I can’t stand betrayal in any form. I hope that you have made your peace.” She really did want us both gone. I think that her main focus was Marshall, but that was before I decided to jump into bed with him literally and figuratively.
The door opened and we were all expecting to see Susan return with armed guards to take us into their custody. Instead, Julia looking a little disheveled with her eyes bloodshot from being drugged out of her mind walked in and took center stage.
“That same e-mail that will give you a black eye also contains my affidavit about you imprisoning me against my will in an institution for the criminally insane.” She was wearing a pair of jeans and a sweater. “I can have you imprisoned, but unlike me, you’ll have no way to escape.” The color in Lillian’s cheeks vanished and she was left with this ghostlike appearance. “I have statements from the doctors and they were most anxious to throw you under the bus. I think that I can be reasonably sure that you won’t be able to survive hard time. This won’t be some cushy little Sunday school prison where you are treated like royalty. You can make all of this go away by signing the document at the back of all of those pages in front of you. Don’t worry, we’re not asking you to step down. All we want is for you to be responsible for our well-being. If something were to happen to us, then your company will revert to a proxy of our choosing. I’m thinking about having it sold and the profits given to various charities.” Julia looked like she had gone through the wringer.
With Marshall’s influence and money, it didn’t take all that much to get her released into our custody and care. She was angry, understandably so, but she didn’t think that her testimony would hold up in court. She didn’t want to take the chance of being grilled mercilessly on the stand until she broke down in hysterics.
“I’ll sign your damn paper. You won’t have anything to worry about when it comes to me. This does not concern the contracts. That is something that is separate from all of this.” I thought that Marshall was going to put up more of a fight, but he was happy just to get that paper signed and have our lives back.
The door opened and there was a buzz of activity outside in the hallway. Susan was in handcuffs and the police came in and read Lillian her rights. “I thought that you said that all I had to do was sign the paper and all three of you would leave me alone.” She was confused, but she was about to learn that she had to learn to listen.
Julia wanted to be the one to break the news. “I said that I wouldn’t press charges, but I said nothing about the doctors that you bribed. They weren’t exactly happy with the way that you used your influence. They decided that you had to be called in for your actions. I’m not going to testify, but I don’t have to. They already have my affidavit and that is a matter of public record.” I thought for sure that she was going to scream bloody murder, but she stayed perfectly calm and let them lead her away in shackles. It didn’t take much to learn that Susan was responsible for having Julia drugged. We just had to wait until the police could arrive with a warrant for her arrest.
Everybody filed out and business was closed for the day. It left me and Marshall in the conference room looking at each other and then at the table. “I’m sure that she will get off on some kind of technicality or maybe pay for Susan to take the rap for the both of them. In the meantime, I think that we should leave a lasting impression on the very table that she conducts business.” I jumped up and grabbed him by his tie, pulling at his belt and then dragging his zipper down until I was able to reach into those black silk shorts for what I was after.
“I like the way that you…THINK.” His voice raised an octave as I wrapped my hand around his length. “I think that can be arranged. I don’t think that I have ever been as excited about defiling a piece of office furniture.” I lifted my skirt slowly letting him see a hint of thigh until he was witnessing the fact that I wasn’t wearing panties. I had shaved with the lips looking puffy and quite inviting.
“I would say that we have to make this quick, but I’m not sure that we know the meaning of that word.” I squeezed the head, pulling him into position and letting him feel his sausage being ground into a hole that seemed too small for something of his unique size. I stretched open with my body responding in kind to that invading force between my legs.
He pulled me toward him abruptly and began to make sharp thrusts that had that table groaning in response to my ass polishing the top of that table.
“I know who you are… Shelly or should I say… Oh, my god…. I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to…I don’t know what I…excuse me” Tina had figured it out, but now seeing us going after each other in the boardroom had made her back away from the door and run like her skirt was on fire.
“I can always count on you to do something that’s going to shock others. I would never ask for you to quit your job.” He didn’t have to ask me and I was already unemployed. I had given my resignation. I told my boss that if he had a problem with that that he should talk to Marshall.
We crawled over the table. We were in the middle of it with both of our bodies slamming repeatedly against each other in a cacophony of sexual sounds that was not exactly the kind of sound that you would hear from a boardroom.
We were sprawled on top of it. He lifted himself one last time and buried it. “Marry me…Oh, god… MARRY ME.” I thought that he had just gotten a little carried away, but then the feeling that he was stirring in me was going to give the very answer that he wanted to hear.
“Yes… Yes… Yes… Yes…YESSSSSSSS.” I wasn’t sure if I was responding to his marriage proposal or if I was just going along for the ride with an orgasm of my own. It was a little from column A and a little from column B. He was so happy that he gave me an early wedding gift.
He kept up with the demand and he stayed the course for almost a full hour before he finally gave me my just desserts. I only had to pull down my skirt and he had to pull up his pants. He reached into a pocket and presented me with a gorgeous diamond ring. I leaped into his arms, kissing him passionately and I think that he took my orgasmic cry as confirmation.
“With you by my side, Gillian, there is nobody including Lillian that is going to stop us.” I liked that we were united and that we were a force to be reckoned with. He was my centerpiece and I had the perfect place to put him…right in my bed in my embrace. I was looking forward to spending my life with him. I had this feeling that it wasn’t going to be boring. I was still going to work with those t
hat wanted to know the truth. That was how I met Marshall.
The marriage was scheduled for a year from that date. With Lillian taking a plea deal of six months, it gave Marshall the opening that he needed to swoop in and buy her building out from underneath her with the board’s approval. We had even sent an invitation to her in jail.
It stated that her presence was requested for our nuptials that were going to take place right in that very same boardroom.” I could almost hear her screaming from her cell and it gave me a sense of satisfaction. I wanted to be there to present it to her myself, but I thought that might have been a little below the belt.
I thought that my heart was frozen, but Marshall had somehow thawed the ice surrounding my heart. I was ready to love again and I could say the same thing for him. He was no longer caught in a never-ending line of sex partners. I’m sure that he was going to mention spicing things up, but I would cross that bridge when I came to it.
There are more bonus stories ahead…..just look what you want to read next via the Table of Contents (TOC)
Mia’s Hot Seller - Torn (Complete Story)
Blurb
The day my fiancé was brutally gunned down before my eyes, my entire life changed forever. Gone was the sweet and innocent bride-to-be who wanted nothing more than to get married and have babies. She was replaced by a tattooed biker bitch hell bent on revenge. I’m going to make The Wright Brothers pay for what they’ve done. I’ll see them all dead if it’s the last thing I do…
I strolled into that dive bar with the intention of killing Rick Wright, the gang leader responsible for the death of my fiancé. He might not have pulled the trigger, but he was the man in charge, so I was holding him personally responsible. I had it all planned. I would seduce him, get him alone, then put a bullet in his head.
The one thing I hadn’t counted on was him being so charming, not to mention smoking hot. He had a smile that he used like a weapon. All he had to do was point it my way and I melted in my panties.
Once I got him naked and in my bed, would I be able to put a bullet in his head, or would the site of his naked body and the surge of my own desires wash away my need for revenge forever?
PROLOG: SANDY DUVAL
I met the love of my life on Tuesday, January 26th.
He asked me to marry him on Saturday, May 3rd.
The wedding was scheduled for Saturday, October 15th.
He died in my arms on Sunday, July 24th.
I decided to kill the man responsible for his death at the exact moment the last breath slipped from my lover’s body.
Now, it’s all I think about.
Killing Rick Wright.
A man I’ve never even met, but can’t wait to kill.
SANDY
I missed those long nights when I’d lie awake thinking about my wedding day. I thought about how best to wear my hair, how I’d do my makeup, who would help me get ready, what song we’d dance to for our first dance and a thousand other things.
I already had my dress, which, as wedding dresses go, was a pretty simple design.
On a hairdresser’s pay, I couldn’t afford anything fancy with a long train and a veil, not that I wanted anything like that. I was a simple girl with simple tastes, and I was marrying a simple man.
Brent worked in the service department at the local Ford dealership. I cut hair at Cost Clippers. Together, we’d make enough to have a nice, simple life, like our parents.
Funny, how I keep using that word: simple.
Sad, because nothing is simple anymore.
I bought my wedding dress off Craig’s List for two hundred dollars from a bride whose marriage had lasted less than a year. It was a lacy white dress that was bought off the discount rack at David’s Bridal; floor length, with a high neckline and long sleeves. The girl kept calling it “antique looking”, which I think meant that is was purposefully made to look old.
I remembered trying it on in the girl’s bedroom, staring at myself in the full-length mirror she had mounted to the back of the closet door. It fit like it was made especially for me. I’m tall for a girl, like 5’8 in bare feet, but I’m also curvy. My sister, April, always said that I got my big boobs and wide hips from my mom and my short temper from my dad.
I bought the dress and rushed home to show it to April and my mom. I was so proud of that dress. I couldn’t wait to try it on and show it off to them. I couldn’t wait for Brent to see me in it as I walked down the aisle. I thought he was just gonna die when he saw me.
Fuck.
What did I say that…?
I rolled over and balled up the covers in my hands and tucked them under my chin.
I tried to sob quietly, so April didn’t hear me.
I’d moved back home, out of the apartment Brent and I had rented less than a month before he was killed. I couldn’t afford to live there on my own.
I was back in the same room April and I shared growing up. April was just eighteen, six years younger than me, and just starting junior college. She needed her space and her sleep, but she welcomed me home with open arms. They all did; April, mom, dad. They tried to make me feel like it was all going to be all right, that one day I’d wake up to find that I hadn’t cried myself to sleep the night before.
“Time heals all wounds,” my mom kept saying as if it was a mantra for driving away the spirit and memory of my dead lover.
That was bullshit.
For me, time makes all wounds grow deeper.
Time makes them fester and grow, like cancer that eats at your heart and soul, until it consumes you, leaving nothing but an empty shell and the desire to simply lay down and die.
April rolled over and sighed. I buried my face in the pillow to stifle my tears. After a moment, I could hear her snoring softly. I found some comfort in the sound of my sister’s breathing. It was so calm, so peaceful. It was the breathing of a girl whose greatest worry in the world was which pair of cute jeans she should wear to the mall on Friday night to make the boys notice her.
I remembered those days.
For me, they were gone for good.
I wiped my eyes on the blanket and forced the tears away.
I used to lie awake nights thinking about my wedding.
Now I lie awake and wonder how many good people are killed every year just because they’re in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I knew of at least one.
And he died before he could see me in my wedding dress.
For some reason, that was the saddest thing of all.
RICK WRIGHT
I pulled the black Lincoln Navigator into a spot in the parking lot in front of Crown Jewelers and slid the gear into park. I parked far enough away so no one would notice us watching the place.
I left the motor running so the cool air would keep pumping out of the vents in the dash. It was the middle of September and hot as fuck in the city.
The black t-shirt I wore clung to my sweaty back like a second skin. My next truck would have those built-in seat coolers like I saw advertised on TV. After this job, I’d go check out the new Navigators. If everything went as planned I’d be able to buy a fucking fleet of them in a couple of weeks.
I was a Lincoln man way before that fuck Matthew McConoughey started doing their commercials. I was still a Lincoln man despite him. Fuck their commercials and Matthew McConoughey. I just loved Lincolns; always had, always will.
Eddie, my little brother, best friend, and second in command, was slumped in the passenger seat with a black baseball cap pulled low over his eyes. I shook my head at him. He didn’t seem to comprehend that the heavily-tinted windows prevented anyone from seeing inside the truck. Even the upper part of the windshield had a heavy tent, obstructing our faces from traffic cams.
Funny, during a job, Eddie was the one I always worried about not being careful enough or flying off the handle and doing something stupid, but when we were casing our next job, like the hit on Crown Jewelers, he was a paranoid bundle of nerves.
> “That’s it,” I said, nodding at the strip of stores in front of us. “Crown Jewelers, next to the Men’s Warehouse.”
“Don’t look like much,” Eddie said, pushing the cap back from his forehead with his thumb. He leaned in toward the windshield and took off the dark sunglasses he was wearing.
“Looks can be deceiving,” I said.
He slid the sunglasses back on his nose and pulled the cap low again. Sitting back, he asked, “So, what’s the setup? What do they have in the way of security?”
“The setup is one small showroom lined with jewelry cases,” I said, describing the place from memory. I’d gone into Crown’s two weeks earlier to buy the vintage Rolex Mariner that was strapped to my left wrist. I loved old Rolex’s about as much as I loved Lincolns. I’d paid cash for the watch, nearly nine-thousand dollars, part of my cut from selling a semi-truck load of stolen cigarettes to a gang of goons from upstate somewhere.
Buying the watch was just part of the reason I was there. The main reason was to case the place to determine if it should be the target of my gang’s next hit.
I rested a hand on the steering wheel and aimed a finger at the storefront. “There is a fat fuck of a security guard who sits right inside the door. He has a pistol in a holster that he’s probably never even fired. He can be taken out before he knows what hit him. When I was there, he had his nose stuck in a newspaper and wasn’t paying too much attention to what was going on around him. There is one door at the back of the showroom that leads to an office, and a room where they do jewelry repair.”
Eddie nodded as he listened. “So, you’re thinking smash and grab?”
Eddie and I had been doing smash and grabs since we were kids. Basically, you run into a place, smash the fuck out of the glass display cases with a hammer or the butt of a gun, and grab whatever the fuck you can and get the fuck out. Smash and grabs worked fine if you didn’t care what you got away with. The Crown hit would not be a smash and grab because I didn’t care about the shit in the display cases. I wanted what was kept in the safe in the office.