Stilettos & Scoundrels

Acknowl
e
dgements

My dream was always to be a writer but I never had the confidence that anything I wrote would be worthwhile reading. However, I finally got to the point where I figured, why not? So here it is. My first fiction book, in print. Whoo-hoo!

I would like to thank my family and friends who never lost confidence in me and help
ed
me through this journey
to my dream
.

I want to give a big thanks to Melissa whose fantastic editing skills were able to take my book and make it even better.

Most of all thanks to my mother, LaNita, who gave me the gift and desire to write (and many
ideas for this book). I wish you were here to share this with me. I miss you!

Tha
nk you, thank you, thank you!

Lain
a

Gently touching the handle of the front door was all it took to make it swing wide open. It was late, after midnight, and everyone
in the house except Tom
was asleep
. As usual,
Tom was in his study working late. Walking carefully
and quietly
through the foyer
, the
adren
a
lin
e
began to kick in
. The intruder confidently walked into Tom’s study
.
Tom was concentrating so hard on the papers in front of him
that
he was unaware of anything else. Raising his hand
,
the intruder hit a stack of books sitting on a side table
,
sending them crashing to the floor. Tom spun around with a look of shock on his face as he recognized the person swinging a sharp object toward him. Tom
raised
his hands to protect himself but
he wasn’t
quick enough. The spikey end of the stiletto heel punctured his neck instantly
,
sending a spray of blood over the papers on his desk. He tried to cry out
,
but all that sounded was a gurgling noise as his lungs filled with blood.

The intruder set the shoe down next to Tom and backed out of the room softly, closing the door to the study and hoping no one would come looking for Tom until morning.

What was I thinking?
Did I really just tell off my boss and get myself fired?
I
smiled,
thinking back to the moment I told David Ritter I
wouldn’t sleep with him if he were the last man on Earth. Even if he promised
me
th
e new Louis Vuitton satchel, I
wouldn’t sleep with him
—and I’ve always said I
would do anything for that Louis satchel. By the look on his face, it wasn’t something he was a
ccustomed to hearing. Though I
was now unemployed, it was such a small price to pay to finally tell him off.

I made my way back to my condo, forgoing the bus in lieu of a brisk walk the few blocks from my office—well, my former office. It was a nice day out and frankly, I hated public transportation. The bus was just a necessary evil on rainy and cold days. Besides, walking the few blocks to my office would take me past one of my favorite boutiques, Element. I could hardly afford to shop there, but I loved to look. They always had the most fabulous window displays and that would be sure to brighten my outlook. I
thought back to what transpired a few hours earlier. It
had started out as a good day. My
hair turned out well
because
the low humidity
helped keep it frizz proof. I was wearing
one of
my
favorite skirts, a chocolate
-
colored pencil skirt
,
and paired it with a cream-colored cowl neck sweater. It was April but
the wind
in Chicago
meant that
it was still chilly
,
and a sweater seemed just the thing on a crisp spring day.
I
slipped on
my
brown Jimmy Choos and favorite silver earrings from Silvapada with matching bangle bracelet, and headed out the door.
I
stop
ped
at Starbucks on the way to work,
ordered a
venti Chai skinny with one Splenda, and walked in the door to the office with a few minutes to spar
e. Enough time to chat with my
best work friend Tonya, who was smoking surreptitiously out the employee entrance just underneath the non-smoking sign.

“Tonya, one of these days you are going to get caught and get in big trouble,”
I
said to
my
friend.

“Whatever,” Tonya said, waving her hands absently. “They can’t afford to get rid of me. I know where all the skeletons are buried,” she laughed.

Tonya was joking
,
but she also wasn’t far off. Working at McLaughlin Industries for the last fifteen years,
Tonya was the only one on our
floor who had wor
ked there the entire time our
boss, David Ritter
,
had. David Ritter was a sexual harassment lawsuit waiting to happen
,
and Tonya knew about everything he had done
that
the company had tried to sweep under the rug
.
She also had no problem telling him she knew what a despicable ass he was
,
and for that reason, he didn’t mess with her much. She claimed it was because he didn’t like big women. Tonya was a beautiful, full
-
figured woman with creamy milk chocolate skin. She had one of the best personalities of
anyone I
knew
—
fun loving with a great sense of humor. She intimidated David, so he just ignored her whenever possible
.
She and I
laughed about it often.

“You want to check out the spring sale at Macy’s on our lunch break?” Tonya asked.

“You don’t have to ask me twice.”

“Good
.
” Tonya twisted her cigarette against the brick wall to put it out and flicked t
he butt in the trashcan. I
was waiting for her to start a fire someday
,
but so far, she’d been lucky. “We might as well get this day started.”

About an hour after
we
got back from lunch, where
,
incidentally
, I
had the good fortune to pick up two pairs of Diesel jeans and a cute red DKNY stretchy t-shirt
—
neither of which
I
could afford
, even on sale, David called me
in to his office. Not an unusual
occurrence in itself. As the Se
nior Human Resource manager, I
had many meetings with David in his capacity as Vice President of
Sales.
I didn’t enjoy my
meetings
with him
because he was always coming on to
me and
it
had grown
tiresome.
A couple of times, I
had complained to
my
boss
Gary after David wouldn’t stop texting me
about taking
me
out or
about how I
looked that day
. I
wasn’t sure what
Gary, the Vice President of Human Resources, had
said when
he talked to David,
but David
had
mostly behaved since then. He
primarily
ignored
me
, as he did Tonya.
It was n
o easy feat
for him because he w
orked
with me
every day. When fo
rced to speak to directly to me
, he was curt and t
ense, but I
didn’t really care becau
se at least it meant he left me
alone.
Al
hough lately
I wondered more and more why I
still worked
t
here under th
ose conditions. I
didn’t trust him and
I was just
wait
ing
for his old antics to flare up again
. Today I
wasn’t disappointed.

“You wanted to see me
, David?” I
walked into his office and stood in front of his oversized mahogany desk.

“Yes. Have a seat
.
” David gestured to one of the chairs
be
side his desk, next to the small coffee table. His office wasn’t very luxurious
,
but it w
as definitely a step up from my
tiny cubicle.

I
sat down as David went to the other chair. This put
us
too close in proximity in
my
opinion, especially with the overpow
ering stench of his cologne. I
wanted to gag, but
I knew if I moved away from him, he would notice
.