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Jaci breathed in deeply as Moriah headed to the kitchen and she stepped into the study

Annalee was as beautiful as ever Long black hair that flowed to the racefully arched brows and blue eyes She was slender but not skinny The soft, pale peach silk dress she wore eolden hue of her flesh It also made her appear almost innocent A far cry froht so long ago

In contrast, Richard appeared confident, aloof Almost aristocratic The aristocracy was spoiled by the hint of nervousness in his eyes and the sheen of sweat on his brow

"Margie isn’t here?" Jaci looked around, wondering where their secretary was lurking The one who had been sheened with sweat and sex that night, her dark eyes ith lust

"Margie isn’t needed here" Annalee leaned against the desk at the side of the room, her hands braced on the walnut top behind her "There was no sense in upsetting her Margie can be delicate soie was as delicate as a barracuda, but Jaci understood the other woht about Moriah’s experience with the Robertses

"Yeah, that happens when you mess with a kid’s head," Jaci snapped "Tell er, too?"

Annalee blinked at her in surprise "Sorry, Jaci, but I don’t do teenagers," she sneered "Strange, I didn’t expect you to resort to lies after all these years"

Jaci snorted at that "I wouldn’t dare try to fight you on those grounds, Annalee I can accede to the fact that you’re by far the best liar here So I will stick to the truth And if teenagers aren’t your style, then how do you explain Moriah?"

Annalee looked to Richard with an expression of confusion That look sent her stoenuine confusion, or they had to know they were being taped Had Moriah given the gaood friend of Annalee’s There’s a difference between a friend and a lover," Richard finally said "And we’re not here to discuss the whys and wherefores of our personal lives If that’s why you called thisour ti?

"What?" She stared at both of the"

"Look, Jaci," Annalee’s delicate voice flowed over her protestation "I regret we had to take the steps necessary to ensure that nothing you said against us was ever believed I can understand it’s been frustrating to you over the years But we’ve always n abilities, to send clients your way There are rules to the little skirmish we’re involved in Rules we’ve all had to abide by"

That flash of regret had to be a lie, Jaci thought as she watched the eh Annalee’s eyes Who the hell were these people, and what happened to Richard and Annalee Roberts?

"You two are certifiable" She shook her head at the sight before her "Excuse me, Annalee, you’ve told everyone for years that I tried to steal froret it? Why don’t I believe that?"

Richard breathed out heavily "Because you don’t understand the world you’re stepping into," he told her impatiently "We accept responsibility for the situation"

Well noasn’t that just big of him?

"You tried to rape me, Richard You, your wife, and your demented little secretary," Jaci snapped, her voice full of fury "Excuse me, but that’s a little more serious than you obviously want to accept"

She felt as though she had dropped into the twilight zone, and she didn’t like it She had co that it was tiriht"

"I didn’t misunderstand that damned scar on my hip from your wife’s whip," she bit out "For God’s sake, what the hell is this?"

"Look" Annalee raised her hand to still the ani it Jaci had spent years being angry, years fighting their lies "We’re aware your association with Ca we could do to still your retaliation against us We’ve already received our first warnings I assumed you wanted to discuss the parameters of the truce that would evolve now"

Jaci stared back at the at the niggling warning there, as she gave her head a quick shake

Soht here, and it didn’t ined, not in all these years, that thiswould be conducted with such civility and rationality Hell, she wanted to screa nice?

She stared around the roo back to the conversation

"What warnings?" she finally asked