Black Widow Read Online Free Page A

lie in the hammock, and look at the stars until you calm down.”
    “Can’t. I have so damn much to do. Planning the wedding is pressure enough. Three hundred people, half of them speak French, and the only woman that ever impressed my future mother-in-law is a dead virgin named Mary. The perfect Catholic girl — kept her knees together but still gave birth to a saint like Michael. And Joseph actually
believed
her. Now I have to deal with this bullshit.”
    “She’s that bad, huh?”
    “Michael’s mother? Her name’s Ida. As in ‘
I’d’a
rather never met her. Ida is a ball-breaker, especially when it comes to other women — maybe because she has six sisters. Michael says they’re ball-breakers. Lots of family money, but still serious overachievers. All five are coming to the wedding. Now do you see why I ran away to the Caribbean?”
    “All six sisters, you mean.”
    “No . . . just the five. One’s an invalid; lives at a facility near Paris because of some kind of birth defect. His mother doesn’t talk about it — probably because it would be admitting her family’s not perfect.”
    I smiled. “Have you been getting any sleep?”
    “You’ve got to be kidding. Even if I take a couple of Xanax, I wake up in the middle of the night, my heart pounding so hard it shakes the bed. Sometimes I feel like I really am going insane.”
    “When did you start taking Xanax?”
    “It’s one of my prescriptions. Everyone takes Xanax. Or something like it. They’re mild.”
    “
One
of your prescriptions?”
    “Yes, Dr. Ford, I have more than one prescription. Do you even realize what a prude you can be? They’re for when I get overwhelmed. Like right now.”
    “Instead of taking a pill, stay here. I’ll be up most the night anyway, working in the lab. You’re not crazy; I think you’re having panic attacks. Talk to Tomlinson. He can discuss both from personal experience.”
    It got a chuckle, but her tone said,
Why do I bother
?
    Shay gave me a squeeze, pulled away as she wiped her eyes, then added a smile to prove she was under control. “Thanks, but I can’t stay. Beryl’s dad will be worried if I’m not home soon. You know how he is.”
    No, I didn’t know. Shay had been unofficially adopted into Beryl Woodward’s family during college, but all I knew about the father was that he’d made a pile of money buying floundering hotels and turning them into five-star resort spas. He would be giving Shay away at the wedding. For some reason, Shay found the topic awkward, so seldom mentioned it.
    I asked, “Does he know what happened on Saint Arc?”
    “Bill? Good lord, he wouldn’t believe it, anyway.”
    “What about Beryl?”
    “About being blackmailed? I told you, my bridesmaids don’t know anything.”
    “That was before we agreed to be straight.”
    “I
am
being straight. There’s no reason to drag the girls into this.”
    “If you haven’t discussed it, how do you know they weren’t sent the same video samples?” It wasn’t the first time I’d asked.
    “Because I would
know
, okay? I’m the one who rented the beach house, so my personal information’s all over that goddamn island by now. And there was no reason for the girls to give out their e-mail addresses. So why involve them?”
    “I can think of a hundred and nine thousand reasons. You paid the whole tab.”
    “I told you right off the guy wanted money. I told you I was negotiating.”
    “You didn’t tell me it was six figures.”
    “Maybe I’d have done it different if it wasn’t for the life insurance. At first, the jerk wanted a quarter million. We settled for what I had in cash.”
    “That’s very thoughtful. You have lucky friends.”
    “We’re like sisters. They’d do the same.”
    “That’s what’s surprising. You’re so close, I’d think you’d want to share the burden. Or at least warn them.”
    “We
are
close,” Shay replied, her voice louder. “Just like Michael’s close with Beryl’s fiancé.