Tager had worked his way up from odd jobs in his youth until he found himself leading the board of directors at St. Peter’s hospital. The chain of hospitals was established by the church. While the church established these hospitals, they were isolated from the activities going on in them. His duty as the Head of Directors was to oversee the finances and management of resources at the hospital and these he used for his gain. Although, recently with the crawling economy, those gains were hard to come by. He suspected the other directors had misgivings of his management of the hospital’s resources, to cover his tracks and save the establishment from total doom he had opened doors of opportunities to aspiring investors.Of all the investors showing interest in the hospital, Matt Wolffe was by far the wealthiest. Walking into the elevator that would take him to the twenty-fourth floor where Matt’s office was, he thought of ways to sweeten the deal he was sure would be made that Thursday m

The once sleepy but busy hospital of that morning was suddenly a buzz of laughter as retained staff met with, hugged, and celebrated their friends for getting their jobs back. At the bottom of the stairs where Sophia had hoped to quietly slip past everyone and head home, her friends waited for her.Rosa was the first to spot her. Turning slightly with her arms raised she called out to her. “Congratulations!”Every other possible exit was occupied, with no other choice but to join her friends, Sophia walked down the stairs into her arms trying as best as she could to relax her tense shoulders but Rosa, always the observant one, noticed immediately that something was wrong. She pulled back and looked into her face.“You are happy about this, aren’t you?”She forced herself to nod.Before Rosa could call her out on her lie Stella jumped in pulling her arm. “Lord I wish I had a hunk like Wolffe ready to fight for me and get me what I need at my neck and call. When did you tell him about t

For someone with a willowy graceful frame, Penelope had the strength of a panther. Within seconds Sophia was on her back on the floor with Penelope sitting astride her with her hands on her shoulders pressing her down. Her blonde hair now ruffled fell over the right side of her face. "Stay still. Hell, you don't have to be so defensive." Struggling to get the taller woman off her Sophia scoffed. "Right, it's not like you broke into my apartment or anything." She folded her legs under her and attempted to throw Penelope off her but the woman stubbornly held on. "What is your problem, Blanc?" Penelope huffed. Sophia's fight was causing her to lose her breath. Finally, she pinned her down and held her still. "I just want to talk!" "What the hell is going on here?" Both women turned at the sound of the gruff voice. Matt was standing in the doorway with a large scowl. He took in the disarray; the twins now hurdled together shrunk under his scowl, Bobby was pressed against the leg of

He was being unreasonable. He knew that. Unreasonable and childish but that wasn't his fault. It was her fault for trying to assume he cared. He didn't. Not even a little bit. She was one of the others, a plaything, a means to an end and that was sex and satisfaction. So why did he feel like an ass for acting the way he did? Why had he gone out of his way to help her get a job he knew she loved so much? As much as he wanted to deny it he couldn't deny the truth. But what good was the truth anyway?He pushed his half-eaten meal away. It was cold now and less appetizing. Why hadn't she come up yet? He had sat still in the semi-darkness of his room still half dressed listening for her footsteps on the stairs but all he heard was silence. Did she slip past when he wasn't listening? No that wasn't possible. Since he left her downstairs he had been listening for her. She was still downstairs. He glanced at his watch. It was a few minutes past 10. What was keeping her downstairs? The u

“Mother is a bit formal don’t you think? You might as well call me by my name.”Ms. Hart looked from one woman to the other. One was tall and elegantly adorned with pieces of jewelry while the other was short, dressed in a wrinkled sweater and holding her precious puppy. The difference was clear but the resemblance was striking.“We should go in, darling, we don’t want to talk outside, do we?”Against her better judgment, Sophia nodded at Ms. Hart to let her know she was fine then went to her door, slipped her key in and opened the door. The door bejeweled woman swept past her into the apartment. Sophia reassured Ms. Hart again that all was fine before entering the apartment and coming to a stop at the sight of her mother’s turned-down mouth as she surveyed the tiny space in distaste.“So this is where you’ve been hiding? Amber, darling you can do so much better than you know?”“I am not hiding, you left and you have no right to criticize my apartment.”Her mother turned to face her.