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    Rotten
    Rotten
    Rotten
    Ebook127 pages1 hour

    Rotten

    By Erin Lee

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Spoiled plans were simply not an option for Jonah Dunn.

    It didn’t matter that Emery Swinn, his she-devil boss, thought she could have anything she wanted by simply batting her eyes and making others do her dirty work.

    Jonah, who had lived enough for three lives, knew exactly what he wanted and wasn’t going to let Her Highness stop him.

    With eyes set on rookie intern Danielle Mosley, Jonah had every intention of doing whatever it took to win her affection. But with Emery in his way and Danielle fixated on plans of her own, it wouldn’t be easy.

    Sometimes, love and lust go bad. Greed gets in the way.

    With the help of Dawn Youngwood and a couple of hidden aces, he might just teach his spoiled boss and the woman he loves that making deals with the devil can only lead to one thing.

    It won’t be pretty. It might even get ugly.

    But Jonah had never put much stock in appearances. He’d learned, a long time ago, that shallow women were simply rotten.

    He’d never make such a mistake again. This time, he would be in charge and he’d be the one teaching the final lesson.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCrazy Ink
    Release dateDec 7, 2017
    ISBN9781386347545
    Rotten
    Author

    Erin Lee

    Erin Lee lives in Queensland, Australia and has been working with children for over 25 years. She has worked in both long day care and primary school settings and has a passion for inclusive education and helping all children find joy in learning. Erin has three children of her own and says they have helped contribute ideas and themes towards her quirky writing style. Her experience working in the classroom has motivated her to write books that bring joy to little readers, but also resource educators to help teach fundamental skills to children, such as being safe, respectful learners.

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      Book preview

      Rotten - Erin Lee

      Dedications

      For every Jonah out there determined to chase his or her dreams no matter who tries to ruin things.

      For Micah, who would never allow an evil woman or her minions to spoil his hard work.

      You, Sir, are art.

      For Danielle. May you learn a thing or two about being idle in a devil’s workshop. 

      Satan’s bidding never pays.

      Watching evil and staying silent is worse than pulling the strings.

      Prologue

      Some people are just rotten. They are no different than fruit. You can’t always see it right away. You get your hopes up, shining that apple, thinking it’ll be the perfect healthy snack for the day. Wrong. You take a mouthful and the core is just nasty.

      You don’t always know they’re rotten on the inside until you take that first or second bite. It’s then, when you get a full taste of them, that you want to spit and run to the bathroom to brush your teeth.

      With others, it’s more obvious. Their brownish, dented spots leak a toxicity you can physically see. Even then, if you’re hungry enough, you might consider a nibble. You tell yourself it won’t be that bad or you cut off the russet spot and hope for the best. In the end? Right. And you should have trusted your instincts. Guts don’t lie.

      Some people never learn, no matter how many rotten apples they bite into. These people are flawed too. They, like Adam, are unable to pass up the temptation that nags at them. They are the eternal optimists, or sometimes, even opportunists. They knowingly make deals with the devil because it’s to their temporary benefit. It’s just who they are. They ignore their instincts and let greed get in the way. When it’s all said and done? Well, they know why they have food poisoning even if they won’t admit it.

      That was Emery Swinn. She was spoiled. Rotten even. Evil to her core. And I was "they," the optimistic, opportunistic idiot who took a bite of her—again and again and again. We are both equally flawed.

      Not anymore. The difference is that I’ve learned my lesson. Never again will I answer to an evil boss lady or her minion puppets, no matter what the cost.

      -JMD

      You may see my struggles but you will never see me quit.

      -Anonymous

      Chapter One

      Danielle

      One more night on this God-forsaken couch and I may seriously snap. I use one hand to push myself into a seated position with the other on my lower back. Wincing, I hold my tailbone and nudge Leo away with my knee. While I adore my cat, I never exactly expected to end up shacking-up with him on my parents’ pull-out couch. Lately, I haven’t even bothered to pull it out. I don’t see much point in it. Instead, I fight with Leo over who gets the end. The stupid cat, my daughter, and I have spent three too many months sleeping in my parents’ living room since I finally got up the nerve to leave Gemma’s abusive-assed father.

      Quietly, so as not to wake up the entire house, I creep to the kitchen from the living room for coffee. It’s true. I have a problem. Without caffeine, functioning this time of day just isn’t possible for me. It is in these early morning hours, moments before Gemma wakes up and Mom stumbles down from her room, that I get my only peace. I sure as hell don’t get it at Swinn Incorporated, where I work as a financial advisement clerk intern.

      I throw two scoops of sugar into my coffee mug before turning the Keurig on. The sweeter, the better. I tell myself we’ve come a long way, and it won’t be much longer. Soon, Emery, who owns the company with her brother, will see that I’m the best intern they’ve got. This job will be my ticket off my mother’s hideous olive green and tan floral couch. Soon, I’ll be taking over as Emery’s personal assistant, and Dawn Youngwood will be standing in the unemployment line where she belongs—God-awful chatter box. Or it better be. I put all of our plans into this. First, I’ll have to beat out Tanny. But that shouldn’t be too hard. Lately, she’s been calling in sick with chronic bronchitis a lot. I sort of feel sorry for her. But then, at Swinn, everyone is out for number one. It’s the first thing you learn when you walk through the doors. I mean, hell, we work for a woman who refers to herself as royalty and has more minions than most people have friends. It shouldn’t really be a shock.

      Wishing I had taken the time to lay my clothes out, I consider what I might wear today before a board meeting where my job will be simply to take notes for Bob. With three work outfits to my name, I know I don’t have a shot at impressing Emery. Emery Swinn was born with a designer label stuck to her head. She’s also rotten to her core. The She Devil herself, Her Highness doesn’t care who she hurts. But sometimes, you have to make deals with the devil to crawl out of hell. That’s what I’m willing to do for my kid.

      Emery could never understand the love of a mother for her child. There is no way on earth she’d give up her twenty-six-inch waist to procreate. It’s a good thing, too. A monster like her would be a horrible mother. With no regard for anyone in her world, Emery is ruthless. I can picture her now, the modern-day version of Mommy Dearest.

      Deciding on my lucky purple shirt and a straight cut black skirt, I tell myself it’s the best I can do for now. It won’t be forever. Investing in designer suits is just not an option right now. The car has been acting up; I need to get that looked at first. The last thing I need is more breakdowns on my lengthy commute to work.

      Hopeful that Gemma won’t be cranky this morning, I sip on my coffee trying to decide when I should wake her. She had a bath last night, so I should probably let her sleep in. Gemma is not exactly a morning person, either. However, if I let her sleep too long, I could be late for work—again. It’s a debate I have every morning. I try to time it just right, hitting those elevators a few minutes before Jonah. It never seems to work. Somehow, fate has determined that Jonah and I should collide nearly every morning at the elevators, headed to the financial investment floor.

      Jonah is everything a woman could ever want. Even Emery stops dead when he walks past her in the hall. For some reason, he seems to like me. I can’t be sure, of course. Hell, I can’t even manage a full conversation with the man without spitting or saying something stupid.

      Jonah, who started at Swinn as a lowly intern ten years ago, is exactly where I hope to be in ten years myself. He carries himself like Leo after catching a mouse in the yard. Entirely oblivious to Emery’s advances and seemingly unaware of the interns who whisper about him long after he leaves the conference room, Jonah Dunn is basically a wanted man. Yet he doesn’t talk to the other women. With me, his eyes linger, and every day he finds a way to smile at me when no one is looking. He talks to me about silly things like the weather. Part of me thinks he takes pity on me. It’s kind of obvious that I don’t exactly fit in at Swinn. The other side, though, that keeps me awake at night on my mother’s couch, can’t believe it. For months, we have played the ultimate game of cat and mouse.

      Knowing I’ll likely run into him, Jonah makes days in that stuffy place go by quicker. Today, I decide, maybe I won’t pack a lunch. He’s in the habit of bringing me something to eat. Of course, this makes Tanny hate me even more. And I can’t imagine what Emery would think if she knew. But Emery is way too important to be worried about what’s happening with the interns.

      Gulping down the last of my first cup of coffee, I return the mug to the Keurig for another hit. I’ll have to get more hazelnut pods on the way home. I reach for a can opener, so Leo will cut the shit. There’s nothing more annoying than his

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