Read From Manhattan With Revenge Boxed Set for Free Online

city.   Unlike some of his more prominent
landmark buildings, some of which she admitted were beautiful, this one failed
to be remarkable or even memorable.   It was pure glass and steel, a relic from the seventies that lacked
beauty and imagination.   It was as
boxy as a refrigerator and it looked just as cold, which she thought was
fitting considering he owned it.  
    What it
did have going for it was its location, which was a key reason companies fought
to claim space on those rare occasions when space became available.   It was another of his many successes, a
red dot he could place on a map amid all the other red dots that marked the
vast amount of property he owned in the city.
    She
glanced at her watch and reluctantly stepped into the car.   She needed to get home and prepare for
tonight’s party at the Four Seasons, which she wished she could skip, but
couldn’t.  
    Only a
month ago, she and Mario returned from their year in Europe and moved into
their new apartment on Park.   While
they had help, the apartment still had a ways to go before it was finished.   There was painting to be done, furniture
to be bought and a kitchen that needed to be gutted.
    Not that
any of that mattered now.   Tonight,
it was all about the party, which she had to attend for two reasons.  
    First,
she was being honored for giving fifty million dollars to suicide prevention
programs around the country.   It was
her way of honoring Harold’s life, which ended in ways she still couldn’t
fathom or absorb.   Second, she was a
businesswoman now and if she had learned anything over the years by observing
her father and her sister, Celina, when her father’s conglomerate, Redman
International, was at its peak, it was that it was never too early to start
creating a buzz.  
    The
people at this party were the very sort of people she needed to spread the word
when her hotel opened.   Through
them, she’d find her clientele because they themselves lived on Park and on
Fifth.   When friends came to visit,
Leana wanted them recommending her hotel first, not somebody else’s.
    The car
pulled alongside her apartment building on Fifty-Ninth Street.   She thanked the driver, hopped out onto
the sidewalk, nodded at the doorman when he held the door open for her and
hurried across the lobby to the bank of elevators.  
    She and
her fiancé, Mario De Cicco, had one of the penthouses.   When she arrived, she dropped her keys
onto a side table in the foyer and eventually found him in the kitchen.   He was leaning against the island, a
towel wrapped around his waist, an apple in his hand, his curly dark hair still
wet from the shower.  
    She
dropped her bag and smiled at him.   From his lightly hairy pecs to his thick abs and thicker, muscular
thighs and arms, he was the embodiment of everything that turned her on and
made her weak.   She swept his body
with her eyes and noted that every part of him that should be bulging was
happily obliging.  
    “Why do
you do this to me?” she asked.
    He bit
into the apple.   “I don’t know what
you’re talking about.”
    “You
can’t just walk around like that.”
    “Why
not?”
    “You
know why.”
    “This is
exactly how I walked around in Europe.”
    “Europe
is Europe.   It’s designed for
partial nudity.   Here, it might as
well be a felony.”
    “Explain
how this is a crime.”
    “Because
I’m not myself when you’re like that.   I get...distracted.”
    With a
flick of his wrist, the towel hit the floor.
    “I can’t
believe you’re doing this.”
    “Have a
look.   Become a believer.”
    She
couldn’t help a laugh.   “Come
on.   We’ve got less than two hours
to get there.   I need you to
behave.”
    “And you
need to relax.   You look tense.   The press is going to be there.   You don’t want to look uptight when
they’re photographing you, do you?   You should be glowing.   I can
help.”
    “I have
been a little tense lately....”
    He came
behind her,