Excerpt:
Grinding her teeth, Holly marched down the hospital hallway, away
from the emergency room cubicle where her father was being treated for
a broken arm. All this time she’d been working her butt off at her
father’s art gallery, and for what? She should have seen her father’s
betrayal coming. And in a sense she had. She just hadn’t wanted to
believe he thought so little of her. Her throat tightened. They
weren’t extremely close, but their relationship was good, wasn’t
it?
Her footsteps faltered. She wasn’t being the best daughter. Only
hours ago her father had fallen down the staircase in his Upper
Manhattan duplex apartment. No, other than a broken arm, he was fine.
Besides, he had his newest girlfriend at his side. The same girlfriend
who would no doubt soon be his traveling companion. Now that he’d had
his epiphany that life was too short to continue to run the Ellison
Gallery.
Her blood pressure rose again. But instead of passing the reins onto
her, his only daughter, the daughter who had been working for him
since high school, the daughter who basically ran the gallery when he
was gone, he would hire a “professional” to manage the place.
A professional. What was she? A trained monkey?
She pushed open the door to the street and braced herself for the
early December nighttime chill.
Sure, she’d never gone to college, but she’d learned on the job. That
had to count for something. Her father had given her an office and put
her in charge of various aspects of the business. Had that merely been
nepotism? His way of showing affection—a pat on the head and, once in
a while, telling her she’d done a good job?
A biting wind hit her, but the cold wasn’t an issue. Not tonight. She
was too hot under the collar for the icy temperature to affect her.
Maybe she should walk all the way to Tess’s apartment. It might cool
her off, so she sounded halfway sane when she vented to her best
friend. Best friend? The one who kept secrets from her. Ugh. She
should go home. A glass of low-cal wine might help just as well.
She rounded the corner of the building and came face-to-face with a .
. . masked man? Holy hell! Holly turned tail but got only two steps
away when she was grabbed around the waist from behind. Her heart
beating so hard it might leap from her chest and pound on the guy for
her, she screamed and twisted in his hold as he stuffed a silver
compass into his pocket and dragged her toward a parked car.
“No! Let go!” She lost her purse in the midst of stomping on his
feet, kicking his legs, elbowing him anywhere and everywhere. The few
times she made contact had little effect. “Help,” she yelled as her
attacker opened the car door to the back seat and shoved her
inside.
Thank you for having The Goddess of Magic on your blog today! I hope everyone loves reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome! :)
Delete