Till Death Do We Partner: Prequel - The Agreement: Till Death Do We Partner

By Victoria Michaels

Shari Sinclair, a cocktail waitress at a popular casino, was a tough woman who didn't take shit from anyone, and she's always been this way. The only person who really meant anything to her in this world was her mother, who was fighting against breast cancer. Both of them were struggling with bills and debt, and Shari was struggling to figure out a way to fix both of their problems.

 

Enter Wayne Zelinski, a high roller who took an interest in Shari. After a lucky bet that won him $35,000, the two of them hooked up in the bathroom, and his avid interest in her grew. Two weeks later she walked out of the casino with him, hand in hand.

 

Life with Wayne was fun and exciting, but she knew he was hiding something. He referred to himself as a businessman, but refused to specify what kind of business, and from what she's seen, things seemed sketchy.

 

A night out with Wayne confirmed her fears and put things for her in a new perspective.

 

This Steamy Suspense Romance will keep you hot from the beginning to end. What mysteries will arise in this spring-winter relationship? Has Shari gotten in over her head?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Victoria Michaels
• Release date: Jun 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201260897

Victoria Michaels

Victoria Michaels 💋 is the author of the Stephanie Unchained series and is a best-selling breakout author of dozens of steamy romance novels. A former high school English and Literature teacher, Victoria lives in the rural Canadian Rockies with her husband and their three dogs, Jake a border collie, Madeline a Golden Retriever, and Cherry a Labradoodle. Follow Victoria on Facebook and Amazon as well! 💖

Book preview

Chapter One

They fired me, Shari.

She closed her eyes and let her mother’s words sink in as she took another drag of her cigarette, holding the smoke in a little longer before releasing it. She somehow knew this was coming, but it still was like a punch to the gut. Did they give you a reason? she finally managed to ask.

No, but you know what the reason is. They started cutting my hours when I told them I was sick.

Sick. It was her mother’s way of skating around the term cancer, which is what she had. Breast cancer, to be exact. She’s been fighting it for several months now, and the doctors think she’s had it for a year or so.

Then they can’t fire you, Mom. They need to give you a reason for termination, they can’t just let you go because you're sick. Fight them on it. Take them to court if you have to.

I can’t fight this, Shari. Her mother gave a deep sigh. I’m tired, and these chemo treatments aren’t helping with my exhaustion. If I try to fight for my job, they're either going to find some bullshit reason to terminate me or just cut my hours down to zero. It’s not worth it.

Shari knew her mother was right. The owner of the gas station wasn’t happy when she told him she was sick with cancer, and it upset him even more when she told him she would need two days off back to back every two weeks. The chemo treatment was really kicking her ass, and the day after was always miserable for her. Since then, he began cutting her hours more and more, to the point where she could barely afford the studio apartment she lived in and basic human needs.

Shari sent her mother some extra cash whenever she could, but she wasn’t made of money. She had her own bills and problems to take care of, and trying to tackle her mom’s was only stressing her out. She paid for her mother’s insurance, which fortunately paid for a substantial chunk of the biweekly chemo treatments, but not all of it. Close to two grand still had to come from her mother’s pocket every month for medication alone and part of the treatments, which left Shari to cover her mother’s rent and expenses.

Shari had taken to smoking a pack of cigarettes every two days, a habit she could barely afford now. It wasn’t something she could help, she was stressed out of her mind. She loved her mother dearly; she hadn’t always made the best decisions in raising Shari, but she had tried her damnedest and stuck by her daughter, even when Shari’s father left them. If they were low on food, Shari was the one to eat. When they both had ripped shoes, Shari was the one with new ones. She always put Shari first, and that’s not something she would ever forget.

What are you going to do now, Mom?

I don’t know, but I have to figure something out. I have bills to pay, and they’re coming up. All the jobs around here are garbage, but I’ll have to take one of them and beg for extra hours. There was a beat of silence. I’m just going to have to request only one day off every two weeks, and use that as my only day off.

Mom, no, Shari said angrily, standing up straighter. You need that extra day off and you know it. She had paid a visit to her mother and witnessed the exhaustion that overtook the poor woman after one of her chemo treatments. Her mother struggled with simply getting out of bed, and her aching body caused her to move slower.

The chemotherapy already had longer term side effects that her mother was dealing with, and she couldn’t allow her to give up her day of rest.

"I can’t afford it, Shari. Were you not listening to me? Maybe