Black Widow Read Online Free

voice sounded.
    Finn and I both stopped as a door set into the back wall burst open, causing the curtains to swirl in surprise, and Roslyn Phillips came striding through, holding a cell phone up to her right ear. She was wearing a fitted, pale green pantsuit that brought out the rich, toffee color of her eyes and skin, as well as highlighting her gorgeous, curvy figure. A thin headband dotted with clear, square crystals held her black hair back from her face, although the displeased pucker of her glossy pink lips distracted from the symmetrical beauty of her flawless features.
    Roslyn spotted Finn and pointed her finger at the elemental Ice bar that lined one wall, telling him to make himself comfortable. Finn headed in that direction, but I took one more look around before sliding my knife back up my sleeve, going over, and settling myself on the stool next to his. Still holding her phone, Roslyn marched around the Ice bar and started stalking back and forthbehind it, making the bamboo floor creak with her hurried steps.
    â€œUnderstand you? Of course I understand you . More important, I understand this —we have a contract,” Roslyn snapped to her caller. “And if you don’t honor it, then I will sue you for every drop of liquor and cash that I can squeeze out of you. Understand that .”
    She slammed her phone down onto the bar, causing a few chips of elemental Ice to fly up from the frosty surface. Roslyn glared at the device before pinching the bridge of her nose. She grimaced, revealing the small fangs in her mouth, before letting out a long, tired sigh and dropping her hand from her face.
    â€œSorry, guys,” she said. “As you can tell, I’m having a bit of a problem. I heard the buzzer and was coming to get you, although I see that Finn went ahead and let you in anyway.”
    He winked at her. “I never let a little thing like a locked door stand between me and a free drink.”
    Roslyn laughed, but a cold finger of unease crawled up my spine.
    â€œWhat sort of problem?” I asked.
    She shook her head. “Despite the fact that we have an iron-clad contract and have been working together for years, my liquor distributor has suddenly decided to triple his prices. He’s threatening to stop delivering to the club altogether unless I give in to his demands. Greedy bastard.”
    Roslyn reached under the bar and pulled out a pen and notepad. She flipped over to a new sheet on the pad, then turned around and started counting the bottles ofcolorful liquor sitting on the mirrored-glass shelves behind her.
    â€œWhy do you think he did that?” I asked. “Why now?”
    She shrugged and kept on counting. “He probably realizes how much money I make just on liquor sales alone, and he wants a bigger piece of the pie.”
    â€œYou don’t think that it’s something else?” I persisted. “That someone put him up to it?”
    Beside me, Finn snorted, slid off his stool, and went around behind the bar.
    Roslyn stopped taking inventory and looked over her shoulder at me, her eyebrows knitting together into a puzzled expression. “Who would put him up to something like that?”
    Finn grabbed an expensive bottle of gin off one of the shelves and gave it an admiring glance. “Oh, no doubt Gin thinks that it’s some sort of elaborate plot on the part of one Madeline Magda Monroe.”
    â€œMadeline Monroe?” Roslyn said. “Why would she care about my liquor distributor?”
    I sighed. “Because you’re my friend. Because she hates me. Because she’s evil that way. Because she delights in being petty and cruel and watching others suffer, no matter how small and trivial the problems are that she creates.”
    Roslyn gave Finn a look that clearly said she thought I was off my paranoid rocker, although she was too polite to come right out and say so to my face.
    Finn shrugged back, silently agreeing with her, then