Fashioned for Power Read Online Free

Of course he knew. He’d been sending her texts from an unlisted number since they broke up. He’d been terrorizing her daily.
    “Are you all right? You look sick. Let me take care of you. You never could take care of yourself,” Harry clucked.
    Allegra felt the familiar defeat. He’d always pointed out what she couldn’t do. He used it to beat her down and make her think she couldn’t do anything without him. He’d exploded when she’d finally had enough strength to break up with him.
    “It’s just a cold, Harry. Please sit down. We need to talk.”
    “Of course, dumplin’.” Harry shook his head as he looked her over. “You sure haven’t been keeping yourself up. Look at you, all pale and puffy.”
    Allegra ground her teeth together and looked at the man she had thought was harmless. “Harry, you need to leave me alone, or I’ll call the police.”
    Harry’s eyes showed concern as his brow knitted together. “Leave you alone? I haven’t seen you since we broke up. You’re the one who called me here today.”
    “I’m talking about the emails and the text messages. You’re harassing me and it has to stop—now,” Allegra said as forcefully as she could.
    “Dumplin’, those were forever ago. And then I was only trying to find out why you broke up with me. I thought you called me here today to get back together.”
    “That will never happen. Do you understand?” Allegra growled.
    “Then why did you call me here?”
    “To tell you to leave me alone. I don’t buy for one second that it’s not you sending me those messages to threaten Finn and me.”
    “Finn?” Harry asked with an edge to his voice. “So, you’re already dating someone new?”
    “As if you don’t know that. We broke up almost a year ago. You know I’ve dated a couple of guys since then. You’ve spent that time trying to win me back, and then you started threatening me . . . harassing me. Move on, Harry. I have. Now, I’m going to say this once. Leave me the hell alone.” Allegra stood so forcefully her chair tipped over. Everyone in the coffee shop turned and stared as she stormed away.
    She had done it. She had stood up for herself. Allegra let out a deep breath as she made her way to get a new phone with a new number. Right now, a moving company was loading boxes into a van and moving her across town. She’d found a house in the warehouse district close to Bree and a couple of the small clothing boutiques she owned. No one knew her new number or address, and it was going to stay that way. Taking a deep breath, Allegra felt free for the first time in a year.
     
    * * *
     
    Finn’s office door slammed, causing him to grab his head and groan. He’d gone on a two-day bender trying to numb the pain in his heart. It hadn’t helped. In fact, it had just made it worse.
    He cracked an eye and saw a shiny walker with Original Sex Goddess hanging on it. Original was right. The owner of the walker probably knew Aphrodite.
    Shirley, the ancient office manager for Simpson Global, stopped her walker in front of Finn’s desk and took a seat. “What are you doing?”
    “Go away, Shirley,” Finn muttered as he closed his eyes. The next second, a loud honking noise shot him up from his chair in surprise. Shirley smiled devilishly and threatened to honk the huge horn she had on her walker again.
    “Stop! How can you stand that awful noise?”
    Shirley looked at him strangely, put her finger in her ear, and turned on her hearing aid. “I’m sorry, dear. What did you say?”
    Finn let out a long-suffering breath and flopped back into his chair.
    “Are you trying to mess up the best thing you could ever have?”
    “Not you too,” Finn groaned. “First Terrell and now you. Where’s Mrs. Simpson? I’m sure she’ll be in here soon to tell me what I failure I am.”
    “Would you like some cheese with that whine?”
    Finn glared at the old woman sitting happily across from him, but it didn’t scare her. Actually, he had a