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clothes said as much about her predicament as anything else, but she could at least afford to take a shower. She pulled her blouse over her head and dropped it on the bed.
    Sitting in her jeans and camisole, she pushed the tennis shoes off with her toes. Her eyes traced the path across the floor to the small bathroom. Debating the wisdom of walking across the carpet in bare feet, she pushed her toes back into the shoes and stayed where she was.
    That left breakfast. Sniffing, she smelled grease, flour, and pepper from the drive-thru chicken dinner she’d half-eaten after checking in. The greasy bag rested on the laminated top of the dresser—just as she’d left it. The phone twittered and vibrated in her palm. Forgetting about breakfast, she flipped the phone open. “Hello?”
    â€œYou’ve got all the sense God gave a goose, you know that?” KPayne growled.
    â€œI know you’re a mean, deceitful, son of an evil bitch.”
    â€œWhatever,” he snarled. “I heard about the robbery on TV this morning. We came in, turned it on, and there you were. How could you not have enough insurance to cover yourself?”
    â€œWhat are you talking about? They said that on television?” Bianca stood and went over to the closed drapes. She pulled the cord to let in the early light and looked out at the parking lot. A big-bellied trucker, heading for his rig, looked up to see her and waved. He smiled when she nodded back. “The robbery was on television?”
    â€œRobbery,” KPayne snorted. “What was left of your little retail venture was all over television. Cops prowling all over everything and you standing in the middle of it, looking all dazed and confused. They said it was a total loss, that the insurance company wasn’t going to cover you. How did that happen? I gave you enough money to do everything you needed to do. How did you let something this stupid happen? My mother said you were a stupid cow, and you know what? She was right!”
    â€œKelvin, look, I tried to reach you yesterday. I had no way of knowing…”
    â€œYou didn’t have to know anything, it should have been a slam dunk! I got you a lawyer to set the damned business up and you not only overlooked vendors and consignments, you overlooked real property damage—money down the drain. My money down the drain. Stupid, stupid bitch. I don’t know what I was thinking when I trusted you with that much money.”
    â€œKelvin…”
    â€œI’ll tell you one thing,” he said, and the coldness in his voice hardened into elemental iron. “You signed the loan documents; you need to get my money. You’ve got a payment deadline, and you’d better not miss it.”
    The phone went dead in her hand.
    * * *
    KPayne cursed Bianca’s name. And as if his native language didn’t do justice to his fury, he used a word of the gutter French he’d picked up while following his mother around Europe.
    â€œ Grac e !”
    Alin looked up over the top of his rimless glasses— the venomous delivery pretty much spoke for itself. His long-fingered hands stilled on the cool neck of the champagne bottle he’d been fiddling with. “What did she say?”
    â€œJust stuttered some mess about what she didn’t know, and had the nerve to sound like she was pissed with me.” Eyes glittering, lips peeled back in a sneer, KPayne slapped the phone from palm to palm. “Dumb as a bag of rocks.”
    â€œShe could be dumb as a bag of doorknobs, but she’s fine,” Alin said and grinned.
    Payne looked out of the broad windows of his condo and ignored the comment. It was getting harder and harder for him to overlook the fact that the head of his posse didn’t mind being led around by his smaller head. At some point, he thought, a man had to think and move beyond the carnal, and Alin couldn’t seem to do it—mostly because he didn’t