The Fallen Angels

CHAPTER 1

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The night was colder than usual for mid-August. Winter announced its early arrival that year with blustering winds and rainy days.

Danica punched the code to the main door of her building and waited for the bullet-proof glass doors to slide open. She liked living in that area of town. It was the higher end of town, and she was lucky to be there, having lived most of her life on the other side of the tracks where her people were not considered high class at all, although they were in a class all their own, Danica longed to leave them behind.

Morgan had insisted she move in after six months of dating and she had accepted. She had taken the chance that life had offered her, and she had moved in with her boyfriend.

She greeted the doorman that had always been kind to her. She had a way with people, and she had no idea where it came from. Her father had been a mean drunk and the only thing she remembered about her father was his back as he walked out of her life at a very young age. Her mother had been the club's goodtime girl just like her sister had been. Perhaps that was where Danica got it from.

"Evening Miss Rochester how are you this fine night?" Arlo asked, smiling at her.

"Just fine and you, Arlo? How did the day treat you? Did Mrs. Ellsworth's Pomeranian give you crap today?"

Arlo grimaced, making Danica smile.

"Well, I'm beat so I'll see you later, Arlo...oh, before I forget." Danica rummaged through her messenger style bag and pulled out a bag from Darwin's Bakery and handed it to the middle-aged man.

"Are these what I think they are?" He took the bag with a huge smile on his face. He opened the white paper bag and inhaled deeply, and his smile became a toothy grin. "You are one in a million, Dani. Thank you so much."

Danica could see the man's eyes misting so she decided it was time to retreat. She didn't see what the big deal was about buying her doorman milk chocolate turtles, he and his wife loved those hideous things.

As she waited for the elevator, Arlo came jogging up to her with a very troubled look on his face. "I know it's not my place, you're such a nice young woman and I really hate what is happening, maybe I'm wrong and she's just a friend but—"

"How long has she been here?" Danica asked cutting him off. She fought the nauseousness that formed in the pit of her stomach.

"Since nine this evening."

Danica looked at her watch, the woman had been in her apartment and probably sleeping with her man in her bed as well for the last five hours. How hideously cliché.

"How long has this been going on?"

Arlo looked just about as sick as she felt. "Two months."

"Will you call me a cab, and will you please make sure all my things are delivered to my old apartment, please," she asked the man who had become her friend, as she scribbled her address on a piece of paper and handed it to him.

The elevator dinged. The doors opened and a tall brunette with long legs and curvy figure stepped out as Danica stepped inside knowing that the woman who had just walked out was the one sleeping with her man.

"Do I need to call Mad—?"

"Don't you dare, Arlo. Please, leave him and all those assholes out of this. I will take care of my shitty life and my shitty problems all on my own. I'm a big girl." She rode the elevator to the tenth floor in silence trying to rein in her temper. She was a little thing, like her sister used to call her because she stood at a whopping five feet and three inches tall, but she had a fire that burned through her straight from hell.