Free The Wives of Beverly Row 6: Lust Has a New Address by Abby Weeks Page A

support down on the nearby UCLA campus if she ever needed it. Knowing that Jake had the members on his forum to fall back on, Zola knew she might need the backup of the frat boys if she was going to be able to feel safe continuing her life on Beverly Row.
    Then there was Veronica. Zola saw Veronica almost as a symbol of herself. If Veronica could take charge of her life and make the difficult decisions necessary to change things, then so could she.
    Even the fact that both Matt and Hank were there, supporting her, showed her that not all men were bad. Some men could be trusted. They could be her friend and they would help keep her safe from Jake in the future.
    Zola looked at Jake. He was fuming. If it weren’t for everyone else, Zola would have been too terrified to face him like this. There was no telling what he might ordinarily do when he was this angry. She wanted him to know as soon as possible that the days of him bullying her were over.
    “Gabe,” she said. “Why don’t you explain things to Jake.”
    “Alright,” Gabe said. “Jake. I know you’re a sharp guy. You’ll be able to figure this out for yourself without too much trouble, but basically it’s as simple as this. The painting you paid for is a fake. As long as no one knows that, you should be able to collect your five million from the museum.”
    Zola looked at Jake and miraculously, he was nodding. His calculating mind was going over every detail.
    “Hank can probably explain things a little better to you on the technical side,” Gabe said.
    Hank cleared his throat. “It’s plain and simple, Jake,” Hank said. “You’ve basically got two options. Do what Ariel wants, and you’ll be able to pass the forgery off as the real deal and collect your five million, or fight her on it, and lose the money.”
    “And make no mistake,” Ariel said, “if you make one wrong step, I’ll call the museum and tell them exactly how to know that the painting’s not real.”
    Jake was shaking his head.
    “I should fucking call the cops on all of you right now,” Jake said.
    He struggled and the two frat boys tightened their grip on him.
    “You can call the police,” Ariel said, “but you’ll achieve nothing, other than alerting the museum that they shouldn’t pay out the reward. They’re the only ones who’ll be scared off by any suggestion that the painting’s not the real deal.”
    Jake wasn’t happy accepting what Ariel was saying but he was smart enough to know it was true. The only person he’d hurt by creating a fuss was himself. It was his five million dollars on the line now. They had him by the balls.
    “So,” Ariel said, “I think it’s time that Zola had the opportunity to face you and tell you exactly what she wants.”
    This was it, this was her moment. Zola felt almost faint. She looked around the room. It was full of people who loved and supported her. She was so grateful to them all for coming. If they weren’t there, she’d never have had the courage to face up to Jake and she knew it.
    Even with them there it wasn’t easy. She stepped up to Jake. The frat boys held him firmly, his arms behind his back. He wasn’t going anywhere. He looked utterly defeated. There was no trace of the brash, cocky man she knew so well. This was a different Jake.
    “You listen to me very carefully, Jake Medeiros,” Zola said.
    Jake wasn’t happy but he was listening. Zola was grateful for that much.
    “I was never happy married to you. You treated me like a piece of property, someone you owned who you could treat like a complete slave. You gave me no respect. You let your friends,” she struggled to get the words out at this part, “you let your friends fuck me like a whore.”
    Jake held her eye. She felt as if she was getting through to him. The fact that so much of his money was on the line was no doubt responsible for that.
    She continued. “And why? Why did you do it? What did you get out of it? I can’t imagine the pleasure