Taking Jana (Paradise South #2) Read Online Free Page B

Dane had stolen Jana’s teen years, her college years, her innocence, her education, and her dream. Because when she’d applied junior year of high school to MMU and got in, her parents had had no funds for their daughter to go. They’d over-leveraged their home and their business. For Dane. Even if she’d gotten a scholarship, college was out. Her parents needed her.
    And of course, she’d sacrifice her education to help at the family restaurant. Of course she would. There was no question.
    So by day, at the sweet and innocent age of eighteen, it was high school AP classes for no reason at all at that point, then straight home to man the restaurant.
    With a strong head for numbers, it took only weeks for Jana to realize that she’d have to work there for twenty years to dig her parents out of the hole her brother had dug. Forget earning enough for school, forget her future, and forget her girlhood dream of becoming a nurse, of helping people—other than her parents, that is. Forget about a life of her own. She was doomed to live in the hamster wheel.
    A far off siren brought her back to her bus ride. She shifted her gaze from her phone to the view of the Hudson River out her side window, which mellowed her nerves for a moment until the rushing scene riled up her stomach. Eyes straight ahead again, her head swarmed with memories. The hundreds of bus rides along the Hudson she and Amber had taken, sharing earbuds, listening to chick bands telling them they were strong, fearless, invincible. Then they’d get to the club where they’d fearlessly strip off their clothes and their pride for wads of dirty, wrinkled dollar bills.
    Amber had been her ticket out of the family’s hole-in - the-wall Korean restaurant and into the club scene. She remembered the night Amber had come in to eat at Korean Soul—per her folks, the best authentic Korean food in northern Jersey. Right. Anyway, Amber, her high school’s token “whore,” the girl who stripped , paid her bill with large, crisp bills. As if possessed, Jana had to ask how could she make that kind of money? Sincere money. Exponential money.
    Amber answered. And the very next night, Amber took Jana to meet the manager at The Wet Spot, an hour and a half south by bus. The rest was history—wadded, green, maddening history.
    Glancing back down at her phone with disgust, she daydreamed of acquiring superpowers, powers of remote electrocution that she could send through the ether to her brother. Dane Park was three thousand miles away in California, “unable to get there.”
    Fuck him .
    As she tapped her brother’s number on her phone screen, she sent a mental apology to the peaceful nursing baby across the aisle.
    *
    He pulled up to her luxury apartment building, put the limo in park, got out, and went around the back to open her car door.
    He pulled the door open and stood back to give her room to slip out. He was just glad to be ending his night and hoped he’d never have to see this woman again. Ten times the fare or not, he was officially done with her.
    But no high heel hit the travertine drive. No movement at all, in fact. Only the sound of low, raspy humming…in waves.
    “Ms. Carlson, we’re here.”
    A crescendo of moaning was her reply.
    Unbelievable. The level of drama with this woman. So being a billionaire was a pass to do whatever the hell she wanted? Goddamn her kind. It was not worth it. And it almost never had been.
    Moving to peer into his back seat, he was somewhat prepared for what he’d find. After all, this crazy lady would have to top months of disgusting indiscretions in his limo, no doubt. He just wasn’t prepared for what he’d do about it. His response would have to be well thought out, fast. He had a business to protect, and he couldn’t afford a retribution lawsuit from a disgruntled, rejected, and bitter psycho like Jocelyn Carlson. Bruja Rena! She could bury him and all he’d worked for with a simple wave of her goddamn cursed