EXCERPT FROM BETRAYED - A romantic suspense novel | Page 16

MORGAN ST. JAMES okay?” I hated when she called me Pavlova, but I kept quiet about it because I didn’t want her to get mad at me. A shiny black convertible was parked in front of my house. “You got the car! Wow! A convertible. I love it.” ~~~~ Sherry made a sweeping motion with her arm. “What a joke. Who would believe it? D’Angelo’s this pimp with his elegant mansion on Miracle Mile—well, I gotta hand it to him. He sure knew what he was doing when he bought this place.” The echo of her voice broke through my stupor, hollow, like it was at the end of a tunnel. Tommy said, “You bet. Clever guy, that Sal. He rubs elbows with Chicago society like he’s one of them, and they have no idea he’s nothing more than a high-priced whore-monger.” “Yeah, even if some nosy neighbor watched everything that goes on here, they would never suspect a thing.” Sherry laughed. “I’ll bet some of those old biddies see the bigwigs getting out of limos and simply figure Sal knows all the right people. Their kinda guy. Hmmph. They would keel over in a dead faint if they knew how he really entertains his guests. “ Tommy stared at his watch, then shook it. “I think this piece of junk is broken. It must be close to seven.” She shrugged her shoulders, twirled a strand of hair around her finger, then released it and twirled it again. “For Christ sake, Tommy Boy, relax. This is the third time you’ve said the same thing. It’s only a quarter after six. We just got her ready too early. Screwed up, that’s all.” ~~~~ The more I tried to make sense out of what was happening, the more confused I got. Everything hurt, I had no idea where I was, and the image in the mirror didn’t look like me, Sherry and Tommy terrified me. The shots made me sleepy. I just wanted it all to be over. I wanted to go home. 10