Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 77220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“You don’t need Robert. I promise I will be inside your body so many times this summer you won’t even have time to look at another man. If you’re doing exchanges for money, you might as well go the full mile and milk me for all I’ve got. There’s champagne, jewelry, designer wear, and vacations abroad on offer, babe.”
She looked up at me, a silent plea and hurt in her eyes.
But I was angry. How could she go with Robert? I looked down at her coldly. “Do we have an agreement?”
I detected a slight nod as she bowed her head.
“Good. I say we start with dinner this evening. Obviously don’t make plans to go home afterwards.”
I went back to my seat and began to pretend to make jottings on my notepad, clearly dismissing her. From my peripheral vision I saw her stand and turn away from me. I raised my head and watched her walk to the door. As she reached her hand for the door knob I spoke.
“Be ready by eight.”
Her shoulders stiffened and for a few seconds she remained frozen, her hand on the knob. Then she pulled the door open and closed it quietly behind her.
I sat looking at the closed door for a few minutes, replaying every nuance of the conversation with Savannah. Disappointment went through me like a knife. All of it was wrong. Her acceptance of her body in exchange for money. Her desire to still see Robert while she was fucking me. So much for the faith I had in her integrity and morals. It seemed she too had her price.
I reached underneath a pile of papers and withdrew the file Byron had dropped off yesterday evening as I was about to leave the office. I slid out the glossy pictures, the images already engraved in my memory.
Savannah and Robert looked too cozy and comfortable to be having just a casual conversation. Cru was not a restaurant for anyone with shallow pockets so this had to have been a date. For five days she had been silent. Then suddenly, after this date with Robert she was ready to accept my conditions. It did not take a genius to figure out something was amiss.
I had had Byron following Robert from the day after I got out of prison. But to date, this was the most lucrative report, even more than his meetings with potential clients who I would then target. Yes. This was now more personal. Savannah was involved.
I closed the file and slid it into my desk drawer. I spun around in my chair to look out at the city skyline.
It did not take rocket science to figure out what was going on with Savannah’s visit. If she was in cahoots with Robert, it had something to do with me. The question I now pondered was if they had already been scheming four years ago. Had there really been a miscarriage?
I remembered how broken she had seemed on Friday when she defended herself. There was no way she was acting. I paused. I had been wrong about her on so many counts. Was I wrong again? Could it be that she was just a very, very good actress? One call to my sister who had inside links to the nearest hospital could confirm her story. But I was not interested in going down that road.
At least not yet.
Now I needed to figure out what their game was and how to stay two steps ahead of them. I was a fool for Savannah but even blinded by lust for her, the play was obvious. How else could Robert know what my next move was unless he could get information from someone close to me? The moles he had planted in my company had not been doing as good a job as my moles in his company. It had been easy to identify them and feed them faulty information. If it had been anybody but Savannah in the equation, I would enjoy this game of cat and mouse even more. It would amuse me to no end to see Robert chasing his own tail. Going round and round while I crushed his business. I wondered if he would ever figure out that I had been on to him from day one, but even that satisfaction no longer mattered.
All that was important was that his fate was sealed. And with him, Savannah’s was too.
The thought was strangely painful and depressing. I turned to look out of the window and the world seemed barren and gray. Without joy. I dug among the papers on my desk until I found the one I wanted. If Savannah was a rat, I might as well start leaving some cheese for her. I photocopied and folded it. Before I left home this evening, I would place it where it could not be missed when she slept over. A minute part of me held out hope that Savannah was not an accessory to Robert, but if she took this test bait, I would have my final answer about her.