up to.
“What exactly do you need to do? Perhaps I can help?”
“That is none of your business and if I needed help, you would be the last person I would ask.”
“Fine by me. Be at my hotel tomorrow evening when you are finished. We can start to make plans and…”
Annika couldn’t control her feelings anymore. “Get. The. Fuck. Out. Now!”
Kieran flinched from the fury pouring from her. He really was going to pay for threatening Saving Grace. He gave her a short nod and walked out the door. He heard it slam behind him. Well, they were off to a lovely start.
CHAPTER 7
Annika was livid. Her pulse was racing and her head was pounding. How dare that son of a bitch threaten Saving Grace? She took a deep breath to calm down. Not working. She took another, and another. Finally, her pulse lowered and she felt some semblance of control returning. She had an important job to do tonight and couldn’t afford to be distracted.
Kieran had been correct. Annika had opened and been operating Itch for the past five years solely with the intent to make money to fund Saving Grace. Annika had never needed wealth or other fineries. She’d grown up with it and what had it gotten her? Nothing but heartache.
Instead, she worked hard and poured all of her profits into Saving Grace. Kieran was correct. Annika took a very small salary from Itch. Enough to rent her apartment—which was indeed crappy--put some food on her table and buy clothing that wasn’t threadbare. The rest of the profits all went to Saving Grace. But it was never enough. With so many charities in New York, Annika couldn’t depend on private donations or federal and state grants. She had to dredge up the money mostly herself. And outside of working at Itch, the only other way she knew to get money for Saving Grace was to steal it.
Yes…that made Annika a very bad person. Immoral most would say. But she could care less. She lived in a world where there were people that were far more immoral than she was. And she truly did try to redeem her actions. She stole from the rich and gave to the abused. A modern day Robin Hood so to speak. Without the goofy tights and hat.
And it wasn’t just any rich person she would steal from. No…Annika’s targets were carefully researched and chosen especially by her. She targeted only those people that deserved to be robbed. That were immoral, just like her.
Her target tonight was Candace Weinburg, a wealthy socialite that lived in a Park Avenue apartment. She had made a career of marrying rich, marrying old and outliving her previous two husbands. On the outside, Candace lived a squeaky clean life. She, herself, was on the boards of many charities and considered quite the philanthropist. Annika knew different.
Before Candace Weingburg became Candace Weinburg, she had been Candace Sanderson. Same life, just a different apartment on Park Avenue. Before she had been Candace Sanderson, she had been Candace Peebles. Candace Peebles was from a tiny town in south New Jersey and had gotten pregnant at the young age of eighteen. She never married the baby’s father but went on to raise him on her own. Some may call that admirable…except for the fact she raised a monster.
Candace’s son was Brian Peebles. He was twenty-nine years old and worked in construction. He was also a raging alcoholic and a wife beater. His bride of three years, Sarah Peebles, was currently living at Saving Grace. She had moved there two months ago after leaving the hospital with a crushed eye socket, broken collarbone and cigarette burns across her breasts. All courtesy of Brian Peebles.
Now, Annika wasn’t necessarily blaming Candace Peebles Sanderson Weinburg for raising a monster. She knew that you could be the best parent possible and produce little monsters. She was blaming Candace for aiding and abetting her monster of a son in almost killing Sarah. For on the night that Brian Peebles went into one of his drunken rages and attacked Sarah, he did so while his mother Candace watched and egged him on.
Brian was convinced Sarah had cheated on him and his mother accepted that as truth too. Now whether Sarah had cheated on Brian was none of Annika’s business. But even if she did, she didn’t deserve what Brian handed out. She certainly didn’t deserve his bitch of a mother egging him on, screaming at Brian to hit her harder.
That