Page 116 of Indecent Lies

“Oh, my God, mom. Seriously? I don’t want to marry Ronnie Pitstop! He doesn’t even want to marry me.”

“You embarrassed him, dear, he’s bound to be licking his wounds.”

Yeah, right. Ronnie was probably getting his dick sucked by one of the server girls at the country club.

“Can you just for once see things from my point of view? I don’t want to marry him, I tried telling you for months and no one listened to me.”

“Oh, dear, it’s just nerves. Do you think I didn’t have them?”

“Probably not.”

“Well, I did. But you see how happy your father and I are. We only want the best for you.”

“I don’t think you do.” She whispered into the phone crushed in her hand. “I’m your daughter and you’ve discarded me like I don’t even matter. That hurts, mom.”

It was only then, a split second that she heard her mom inhale and her voice broke. “Penny, that’s not…”

“You sent every piece of everything I own, that tells me clearly you want rid of me from your life, scraping me off.”

“I didn’t… I thought.”

Poppy shook her head and the impending tears stinging the back of her eyelids. “Just tell dad to have my assets unlocked, or I’ll be seeking legal advice and God forbid the Astor’s be embroiled in a scandal.”

“Penelope, really…” her mom huffed. “You’re going to eat your words one of these days when you’re alone.” She was probably clutching a lace embroidered handkerchief to her nose with aghast that her daughter would even dare step out of line.

“Love you mom, bye.”

She hung up and tried really hard not to cry her eyes out on main street.

Within the hour she checked her banking app and her account was valid again.

She exhaled a huge sigh of relief, because she’d completely been fibbing, but she’d known the threat of public humiliation would motivate her mom.

She might have gone a little shopping wild in the next few hours.

Her arms aching from overloaded bags hooked on her fingers, she trudged back to Tait’s apartment, happy and eager to see him, with plans to cook him a massive dinner tonight and seduce him.

Struggling with the bags and fighting to find the key somewhere in her pockets, Poppy was ready to dump everything into the piles of snow by the door that Tait dug out only last night when she heard a manly chuckle behind her.

It was a set of manly hands too that reached out and steadied Poppy by holding her forearms before she planted her ass on the icy sidewalk.

The man in front of her gave her heart palpitations and a dry mouth.

“Please, allow me to help you, someone so pretty should not struggle,da?” It was the smartly dressed Russian—the man in the mafia more to the point, who smiled at her. She noticed now the long black Mercedes parked at the curb.

“I’m…I’m fine, thank you.”

All of a sudden her heart sprinted into a pitter-patter sequence that just wouldn’t quit its hammering.

The Russian mafia man was at Tait’s house.

Was he coming or leaving?

Was it a coincidence he was just driving by?

She didn’t care, she just wanted to get inside and started rooting around frantically in her pocket in hopes of finding the darn key.

“I would welcome you inside my vehicle to keep warm if you are unable to get inside,” again his smile was gracious but didn’t leave her feeling safe in his presence.

---