Britten

CHAPTER 8

He raped her several more times that night and spun through several different moods. Britten was finally figuring that he was either bipolar or schizophrenic. His moods went from one extreme to the other with a little in between.

When Sunday morning arrived, she was so sore she could barely move. She got up anyway and went to the kitchen. He was already awake and sitting on the couch talking on the phone. She grabbed a health drink out of the fridge and drunk it in front of him, so he knew she actually drank it.

She then went to the bathroom and took another shower. She went back to the bedroom and got dressed in a pair of form fitting charcoal gray pants with a black lace shirt and a matching jacket. She slipped into a pair of black heels then went over to the mirror.

She had bruises and red marks everywhere. There were bruises on her arms that were now covered by the jacket. There was bruising around her left eye and red marks all over her neck. She tried to cover it all the best she could with make-up, but even then it was all still visible.

She French braided her hair and put a little perfume on. Giovanni showed up in the mirror while she was putting earrings on. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck. "Where do you think you are going?"

"It's Sunday, payroll at the club."

He kissed her jaw then let her go. "Straight back home." She nodded and grabbed a pair of sunglasses out of her top drawer. "If Casper didn't do the deposit slips do you want me to do it?" She turned and looked at him.

Giovanni stared for a long moment. Giovanni grabbed her face again. "Are you and Casper fucking?" She tried to yank away from him and he held her tighter. She let out a squeak. "Are you?!" Britten tried to talk but she couldn't.

He finally let her go and she said, "God no. If you must know, I fucking hate Casper. He's an asshole and lazy." She knew she was going to regret saying that, but she had to get it out of her system. He was accusing her of a very nasty thing and she wanted him to know how she really felt.

All of a sudden she got something she never expected, a smile. "Take care of it," he said and walked off. Her body eased, and she headed for the door. She grabbed her dress coat, checked for her keys, wallet and phone then left.

It was after eight when she got to the club. She had less than an hour to do payroll before everyone showed up for their checks. Britten opened up and turned on the lights. The place was a mess. She took pictures with her phone to show Giovanni because she knew he would be pissed.

She went down to the office first to get the checks taken care of. There were a bunch of little baggies of pills and cocaine on the desk, so Britten took a picture of that too before she locked it all up back in the safe. She shook her head then sat down at the desk.

She hated Casper with a passion. She knew the Valentinos' were doing illegal shit but he didn't have to advertise it to everyone. Out of all the great grandchildren Casper seemed to be the least worried of getting caught.

She didn't know if it was because all the cocaine he was doing or if he truly just didn't give a shit. She knew Vitorio would not stand for this and would disown his own blood if he knew. Maybe that was why Giovanni smiled earlier. Maybe he knew Casper was disowning himself.

She logged onto the computer and pulled up the first associate. She logged the hours and pay then taxes. Some weren't making as much as others, so she couldn't write the same check out for everyone. Giovanni wanted them payed by skill level.