Alie spent the rest of the night lost in thought, sitting around the fire. For the entire evening she felt enveloped by an overpowering sadness and lo...eliness. She had been alone for so long and there were days she could not understand why she continued living when it was obvious to her that she would always be alone.After hours of contemplative silence, the young woman glanced up at the sky and realized it was now completely dark and that she had spent far too long thinking. She had not even. “I know, but I only said that to stop you seeing him again. Do you think think that I didn’t know that Brad had fucked you at the resort? And about what happened at the restaurant? When I heard how you begged Brad to fuck you harder at the hotel, I knew that you would never be able to stop wanting more. So that’s why I told you that I didn’t want to see him again.”“And I was right, wasn’t I? You couldn’t resist when Brad told you to go to the hotel again today. He told me he was going to tell. I told her husband, and he dumped her sorry ass for cause. I dealt with Paul the same way. The husband and I even used the same lawyer," she said. I nodded. She got the message and got down to the paper work immediately.The check for all of my accumulated vacation time and severance, and my last three days regular pay, was in my hand within an hour. Julie was good. Eight thousand dollars would give me a start, but I would need a job soon.I was pulling out of the lot just as my rival was pulling. If Lois thought that the questions about the partition in the ballroom had been upsetting to Miranda . . . ‘No, not by you or anything you asked her. But that sheriff. First thing Miranda did when she knew he was gone was to ask for a cigarette. And she only does that when she’s been agitated. He’d intimidate almost anyone. He certainly scared the stuffing out of my Felix.’ ‘Yes, he would,’ Ally said, with a little laugh. ‘But he stayed out of sight in the hallway. I’m sure Mother didn’t even.