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  “I guess I should thank you for freeing me.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “When I’ve finished training you, I’m free. My contract will have been fulfilled.”

  “Do you really hate it here?”

  “No,” Tina said, shaking her head. “But it can be hard. I will miss the incubus, though.” For the first time since Stacy had met Tina, she smiled.

  “Incubus?”

  “Yeah. They were definitely a perk once you get used to them. Though you will walk funny for a few days following an experience with them.”

  It felt weird to be discussing something so obviously sexual with a woman she’d just met. It was hard to wrap her mind around the thought of the sexual creatures being real. “You mean as in the mythological incubus? The creature that will assault a sleeping woman and use her to appease his lusts?”

  “Yes. Though, I have to say, I have yet to meet the incubus who had to do much forcing. They typically have women all over them. For some, it is a compliment of the highest form that they wish to be with you. Several of our clients are in very high demand.”

  Stacy stared at Tina, wondering how she could possibly be expected to take all of this in.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll show you a reputable bookstore where you can find books on almost everything you need to know. We’ll talk more on the way. We need to get started if you’re going to be ready by tomorrow night.”

  “Where do we start?” She was almost afraid to know the answer. “What do you mean, ready by tomorrow night?”

  “Yes, that’s when Demetri will require your services. And as for where we start, well,” Tina said as they exited the office. “I assume you’re getting a divorce...or are you getting widowed?”

  “Divorce,” Stacy said with conviction. She hated her husband, but she wasn’t sure that she wanted him dead. At least not at the moment. It had scared her the previous night when she’d considered asking for his life. It was then that she’d decided to force herself to wait before she chose her revenge. She wanted to make sure whatever she asked for would be something she wouldn’t regret.

  “Then we need to get you an apartment first.”

  “Doesn’t that take time? Checking referrals, credit history, references, and all that good stuff?” Stacy cringed at the thought. Her credentials weren’t exactly spotless.

  “Stacy, you are a part of BSC. Trust me, you’d be amazed at what kinds of doors that opens up. We’ll take my car, if you don’t mind.” She didn’t and soon they were driving down the street. “So, what kind of apartment do you want?”

  “Pet friendly. I don’t have any pets now, but I’d like to have the option.”

  “Okay, that’s a good start. Some of our clients have been known to be a little wild, and that will help. Go on.”

  “I think I want two bedrooms. One for me, and the other I’ll turn into a home office... A balcony with a nice view.” The more she thought about it, the more excited she grew.

  “I think I can handle all that,” Tina chuckled.

  In minutes, they were pulling up to what Stacy knew was one of the most exclusive apartment buildings in the city. She’d heard people were on the waiting list for years sometimes just to get a one bedroom apartment inside it.

  “Let’s go,” Tina told her as the valet approached the car.

  “Don’t you think this is a little...” She hesitated. “Um, I don’t think even with the generous salary I’ll be making now that I can afford...Even with the money I’ll be making at BSC that I can just walk in and—”

  “Trust me.” Tina smiled. She approached the security desk. “I need to see the building manager.”

  “Just one moment, ma’am. If you ladies would have a seat, I’ll check to see if he’s available.”

  “Please do. Tell him that Tina from BSC is here.” She led Stacy over to a comfortable looking sitting area just to the side of the desk.

  Stacy was confused. Why was she being this helpful? Hadn’t this woman tried to warn her about becoming involved with BSC just an hour before? “May I ask you something?”

  “Of course.” Tina turned and gave Stacy her full attention.

  “Why did you try to warn me away from BSC?”

  “I—I just wanted you to be certain what you were getting yourself into...”

  Something told Stacy that wasn’t quite the full answer. “Was it another test?” she asked after a moment.

  “Yes. And you passed.”

  Before Stacy could ask what would’ve happened had she failed, a balding gentleman of average height was standing in front of them. He ushered them into his office and waited until they were seated before offering to get them a beverage.

  “No, thank you. But I do need an apartment today. Stacy, please tell him what you want.”

  “I don’t think that’s going to be possible on such short notice...”

  “Oh,” Tina asked, leaning forward in her seat. “Shall I call my boss?”

  The man blanched. “Give me a few minutes to see what I have available. I shall return momentarily.”

  Stacy waited until he left the room before turning to Tina. “How did you do that?”

  “This building has a standing contract with BSC. They keep several apartments open for us at all times. For out of town guests who have extended business in the area. Several of us even live here.” She smiled. “If they refuse us an apartment, no matter how short the notice is, BSC reserves the right to remove all of its clients and employees from the building with no notice and no penalties. To have so many apartments become available at once in such a prestigious building would of course crumble its reputation. Other tenants would wonder what happened, and of course—”

  “They’d look elsewhere.”

  “Exactly.”

  Stacy was still chuckling under her breath when the man returned. “I have six apartments available that would allow the lady to move in immediately.”

  “I want a balcony with a nice view,” Stacy said.

  “That narrows the list down to three.”

  “At least two bedrooms...”

  “That narrows it down to two apartments. One of them has two bedrooms and the other has three.”

  “A large kitchen...”

  “Still two apartments,” he said.

  “Shall we see them and let Stacy decide which she would prefer?” Tina asked. Stacy was positive it was more of a rhetorical question. She was certain that the manager would deny her nothing at that point.

  “Of course.” The manager excused himself again and returned with two sets of keys. “Please follow me.”

  They climbed onto the elevator and went up seven floors. He unlocked the door and stepped back to allow the women to enter. Looking around, Stacy wasn’t really impressed. She wasn’t sure what it was about the apartment that turned her off to it, but she didn’t think she wanted to live there.

  “Can we see the other one?” Tina asked as soon as the manager joined them.

  “But you haven’t...of course,” he amended.

  Returning to the elevator, they went up six more floors. This time, when Stacy entered the apartment, ironically numbered thirteen thirteen, she knew instantly this was the one she wanted.

  “This one,” she whispered to herself as she approached the sliding glass doors. The apartment had a spacious balcony with an amazing view of the river a few miles away. Taking a self-guided tour around the rest of the apartment only steeled her resolve that she had found the perfect place. The apartment even had three bedrooms instead of just two.

  “I want this one,” she told Tina and the manager. She was so taken with the apartment, she hadn’t even bothered to ask how much it would cost her.

  “Very well. If you just follow me back to my office, we’ll fill out the paperwork.”

  She couldn’t believe that within an hour she’d gotten a job that would pay her close to triple what she was making the week before and found such an amazing apartment. Allowin
g a small distance to form between herself and the manager, she began to chew on her lip as she wondered if she could afford the place.

  “BSC pays the rent,” Tina told her, placing a comforting arm around her shoulders.

  “Why? Why are they so generous?”

  “Oh, trust me, they aren’t. Okay, they are. But you are on-call at all times. I’ve had to take a client home with me more than once.” Stacy’s eyes grew round. “Once we were in my apartment, I never had to do anything that I didn’t want to do,” Tina quickly added. “They aren’t pimps. There were plenty of times that I didn’t do anything but provide supper and a conversation for my guest. But the bosses want to make sure you have someplace nice to be able to take their clients, should the need arise.”

  Nodding, she accepted what Tina told her. After all, she couldn’t exactly back out of it now. Not after she’d signed that contract in blood. Could anything be more binding?

  Within thirty minutes, Stacy was tucking the keys to her new apartment, security card and parking pass into her purse.

  “Now I just need to figure out how to furnish it,” she laughed, climbing into Tina’s car.

  “Well, maybe we can go out and look this weekend. There’s just too much other stuff that we have to do today to add that to the list. I’m sorry. Besides, what are neighbors for?”

  “We’re neighbors?” Stacy couldn’t help the hopefulness in her voice. It had been too long since she’d had any real girlfriends. Thomas had seen to that. She wondered if part of that reason was to keep her from discovering sooner that he was cheating. To prevent her from having someone to turn to if she ever did find out the truth...

  “Yup. I’m in thirteen-oh-seven. We share a view.”

  “That’s so awesome.”

  “Now comes the hard part.”

  Stacy couldn’t help the excitement building inside of her. She knew she should probably be feeling regret at what she’d done. Instead all she felt was freedom and an incredible sense of excitement.

  Chapter Three

  “Are you sure I look all right?” Stacy asked Tina as she tugged self-consciously at her clothes.

  “You look wonderful.”

  After they’d gotten her the apartment, she’d been taken shopping for everything from new lingerie to shoes to all types of accessories and clothes. The large walk-in closet was over halfway filled, thanks to her boss’s generosity. And she still had to get the clothes from her old house.

  It had been the day for surprises. Every store they went into seemed to bend over backwards to help the women. Stacy had purchased several very professional business suits that appeared tailor-made for her, and clothing that seemed to fit Ms. Pope’s style of dress. Tina had picked out many things she would have passed over, believing them to be too revealing for an office setting. She’d even gotten her hair done—copper highlights were added to her brown hair, and the style was modified to frame her face.

  When the duo stopped back by Stacy’s apartment several hours after she’d signed the lease, Stacy was shocked to find the place fully furnished. Walking from piece to piece, she was amazed that every item was something she would have chosen for herself. If she’d had unlimited resources, of course. Tina smiled and reassured her that Ms. Pope must truly like her if she’d taken care of that particular detail. It had been hard resisting the urge to bounce on the large bed like an excited child. When she indulged on sitting on it, she wondered if perhaps she’d died and gone to heaven.

  Sleeping on it had been even better.

  However, not all of the previous day had been quite so pleasant. The worst part was near the end, when Tina took her to a spa. Practically her entire body had been tortured. Her eyebrows were shaped, and her legs and pussy were waxed. Her skin still felt incredibly sensitive to touch, and at times she wondered if she were walking funny from the strange feeling of being hairless and still tender from the waxing, despite the fact it had happened the day before.

  “Are you sure you don’t mind helping me pick up my stuff from my old house?”

  “Nope. That’s what friends are for.”

  “Do you think I should change first? Or should I change afterwards?” She had no idea what to expect, just a message on the new Blackberry Tina had handed her an hour earlier that said she should be at the office by sunset for her first task.”

  “No. Trust me, you look perfect.”

  Looking in the mirror, she gazed at the sapphire-colored satin blouse. It had a lower cut than she was used to, but it brought out her eyes beautifully. The straight black skirt ended about four inches above her knees. It was too long to be considered a miniskirt, and too short to be considered a business skirt. A pair of expensive black leather boots completed the outfit.

  “I can’t believe this is me,” she whispered more to herself than anyone else. She looked amazing. The highlights and new cut had done wonders for her. She didn’t look plain any longer, and she certainly didn’t feel like a cow.

  “It is. It always was. She was just buried deep inside. Let’s go. If we run into your ex, we want to have a little time to spare in case he decides to try to start trouble.”

  Nodding, Stacy knew her friend was right.

  Twenty minutes later, she was guiding Tina into her house. She asked the other woman to begin grabbing her shoes and coats from the closet downstairs. Grabbing a couple of duffel bags from the hall closet, she entered the bedroom. The shower was running, and she knew she needed to hurry. She went straight to the dresser and grabbed her jewelry boxes first. She may not have much expensive jewelry, but it all meant something special to her. After carefully putting the boxes inside the first bag, she started shoving her clothes inside, uncaring if they wrinkled.

  “So, you decided to come back,” Thomas said, entering the bedroom. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m leaving,” she said. She wished her voice sounded more forceful as she fought back the tears. She didn’t want them to ruin her makeup. But more importantly, she didn’t want her husband to know just how badly he’d hurt her.

  “Yeah, right. Where are you going to go? Look, let’s talk about this. I made a mistake, and I’m sorry for it. Can’t we just make up and let things go back to normal?”

  “No. I won’t bury my head in the sand again.”

  “I’m not going to let you leave until we talk about this.”

  It was on the tip of her tongue to agree. To pretend the whole thing had been one giant mistake. But before she could open her mouth, she saw a black lace bra—one that was much too small to belong to her ample bust—lying on the bed. Allowing her eyes to dart to the bathroom, she noticed lingerie half in and half out of the master bathroom. In that moment she knew beyond any doubt Thomas had brought his mistress into her house. That he’d been intimate with another woman on the bed he once shared with her. How many times had that happened over the years? Was she in the shower now even as he tried to convince Stacy to remain with him?

  “Hey...” Tina entered the room. “I finished putting your stuff in the car. We need to go, or you’re going to be late for work.”

  Stacy knew there were still a few hours before she needed to be at the office, but Tina was giving them an excuse to get out quickly. One glance at the woman told her that she either suspected the same thing, or worse, she’d also found proof of her husband’s blatant disrespect for her.

  “You’re right. I’ll finish getting my stuff later.” She handed one of the bags in her hand to Tina after making sure she’d grabbed everything from the closet. Quickly throwing the clothes from the drawers inside the second, she was amazed at how lacking her wardrobe had been. “I’ll come back later for the rest.”

  Now that she had her clothes and jewelry, though, everything else could be replaced if he decided to destroy it.

  “We’re not finished talking.”

  Tina shoved Stacy away when Thomas tried to grab her. “We’ll get some coworkers to help you move next time. Let’s go.”

  N
odding, Stacy started to turn, but stopped. “I want a divorce,” she told him in a quiet voice before she turned her back on him and walked away, not bothering to look back at the man she’d thought she loved for nearly a decade; the man she’d thought she couldn’t live without.

  “Don’t walk away from me, you bitch,” Thomas shouted. But still she didn’t look back. “If you leave now, don’t think you’re ever going to come back. Stop right this second or we won’t get back together again.”

  Stacy stopped and, looking back saw a smirk on Thomas face and a worried expression on Tina’s. She took a deep breath to calm her shaky nerves, then spoke slowly. “Do you promise?”

  Thomas stood perfectly still, speechless.

  “I’ll take that to mean that you acknowledge we are now separated. You are free to do as you please and I’ll consider myself to have the same luxury.” She didn’t wait for him to think up a witty response. Turning, Stacy strode out of the house, her hands trembling around the straps that she held in a vise-like grip.

  “You did wonderful. Ms. Pope will see to it that the rest of your belongings are in your apartment when you get home.”

  “How can she do that? How can she know what happened? How will whomever she sends know what’s mine?”

  “I’m sorry, but that’s not one of the things that I can tell you right now.”

  Stacy nodded her head. “How could he bring another woman into my house before I was even gone?”

  “Give me the keys. I don’t think you need to drive right now. And trust me, if any situation deserves a binge on chocolate, this one does. And luckily, I know a place that has chocolate so decadent, you’ll think you’ve died and gone to heaven.”

  * * * * * *

  Stacy sat behind the desk which now had a brass nameplate bearing her name on it. Her feet were tapping with nervousness under the desk, and she was thankful that the floor had a carpet so no one could hear her.

  She jumped when the door to the inner offices opened, and Ms. Pope entered the office with Tina.

  “Calm down. Tina let me know what happened. I am sorry that you had to run into your ex before your first assignment, but you must calm down.” Ms. Pope’s tone was gentle, but her expression left no room for argument.