Bitten (Book 1 - Book 4)
Chapter 20

"You didn't go to the club tonight,” Natalia said while they snuggled in bed

Their love making had been very intense, almost as intense as when he had bitten her.

“I wanted to be with you,” he said. “I was excited to give you your present.”

“I'll always wear it.”

“Tomorrow is a short day at work. We usually go in late, but tomorrow we'll go in early and leaveearly.”

“Why?”

“There was a bank board meeting this evening. It ended about eight.”

“That call you took.”

“Yes. They want me to attend a cocktail party tomorrow. You will be required to attend with me.”“Is this good or bad?”

"Very good. Despite my position, Ravi and the board haven't treated me as executive management,even though I am.”

Natalia wondered if this was the work of Francie. If it was, she wasn't going to say anything to Uri."We'll have to buy you a black cocktail dress.”

“Not the red one?”

He chuckled.

“No. I think looking like a dull boring married couple will do more for my career than looking like acouple of swingers.”

She laughed.

“I know of a couple of shops,” she said.

"Good. We'll go right after work,” he said snuggling.

Natalia looked to the nightstand where her necklace lay. She didn't know why that necklace madeher feel so empowered. A weapon that no one could see. She fell asleep staring at it.

Natalia woke the same time as Uri. She didn't give him the satisfaction of whipping off the covers.Soon they were eating breakfast.

"Oh, these came yesterday,” he said, sliding over two cards to her.

"What are they?”

She could see they looked like credit cards with her name on them.

“This is the cash card for your checking account at the bank. Here's the pin number for it. I think youalready have two paychecks in there. The other is a credit card.”

“Paychecks?”

“You work at the bank, remember?”

“I just never thought of it. You or Tia have paid for everything. Or we were in Viperia where youdon't need money.”

She paused a moment as the realization set in.

"You mean I have a checking account with my name on it?”

“Yes,” he said with a smile. "As you get more independent, you'll need resources. Being the wife ofupper management may require a few lunches with the other wives.”

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“The highest one of the bunch usually pays. So if you're not with Ravi's wives, you pay.”

"Got it. So tonight's party means no club for you. Have you informed Moralis?”

Uri looked at her a few moments.

“Not, yet,” he said. “When did you learn this?"

“Sherri and Tia,” she said, not saying any more.

“Figures. I should realize you'll start knowing more than I think you do now that you're interactingwith them.”

Natalia nodded.

“Not wise to piss off the wife,” she said in a playful evil tone. “I have connections.”

Uri chuckled.

"Give me your phone,” he said.

She handed it over. He keyed in an entry.

“There is a push-to-talk feature on the phone.”

He showed her where she needed to be on the phone and what buttons to touch.

“This gets you in touch immediately with Bonnie. Should you need a ride.”

“Good to know.”

“Bonnie, like Sherri, always knows where we are,” he said.

“They track us.”

“So you do know that, too” he said matter-of-fact.

"Yes."

"Good. Let's go. I've got a damn busy day.”

At the bank, Francie joined them in the elevator. They walked together down to the conferenceroom.

“Short day for me,” Natalia said.

“I'm just glad it's Friday,” Francie said in a quiet voice. “I got the weekend to myself.”

“You have a man? Children?”

She shook her head.

“We can be quiet for a while. Caidy says Ravi is in meetings for a few hours this morning.”

"Yeah, Uri headed off to a meeting right away, too.”

They automatically started working while they talked.

“I take it he's not bringing you to the cocktail party tonight,” Natalia said.

“No. He'll bring a wife or two. He won't let on that he has a girlfriend.”

She rolled her eyes.

“This wouldn't be so bad if the sex was any good. But he’s terrible.”

Natalia smiled and kept from chuckling.

“Never thought I would be doing this,” Francie said.

"What were you doing before?”

“I'm actually a nurse at the children’s hospital in Viperia.”

“I would never guess. So why did they pick you?”

“They wanted someone small and petite like his wives. Apparently, they got nowhere with Caidy. Hehad no interest in her, and they didn't want to vend him.”

"So how many boxes are there left?” Natalia said, focusing on the work.

“We have a good system. We're over half done with this batch.”

“I just hope someone isn't in a back room messing these up and we're doing the same ones overand over.”

Francie laughed.

I like you, Nattie. You're funny.”

“No, I'm serious,” she said, but then she laughed. “I guess we never really know what work we'rereally doing.”

The few hours to noon seemed to fly by.

Uri stopped at the door.

"Ready?"

"Yes. See you Francie. Have a good weekend.”

“You too. Bye.”

They didn't talk until they hit the limo.

"Tia says Gatborgs is the best for cocktail dresses,” he said.

"First one I was going to suggest. Been there a number of times shopping with my mother.”"Good thing you've changed enough. No one is going to recognize you.”

“Changed?”

“Your face is fuller. And you have nice color on your cheeks.”

“Not my mark?” she said, automatically reaching up to touch her cheek.

“No. You have the rosy glow of a healthy pregnant woman. And your hair seems thicker.”

“It's the curl. The natural curl seems to have really come out,” she said,

“Yeah, it frames your face beautifully.”

He leaned over to brush her cheek with his.

“What's for lunch.”

"We're heading to the Lieber Deli. They have great sandwiches.”

"Viperian?”

"No."

The limo pulled up. Natalia looked closely at the front of the building to see if she could see anyViperian signs, but she saw nothing.

Lunch was fast and good. It wasn't long before they were back in the limo heading to Gatborgs.The store wasn't crowded since it was the middle of the day. Natalia figured the quality and theprice tags kept the clientele limited to the rich. She tried on a number of dresses, modeling eachone for Uri. He checked that they weren't too short or revealed too much cleavage. He seemed extrapicky.

“That's the one,” he finally said.

"My least favorite,” she said.

“Which one did you like?”

She pointed.

“My second choice, but I thought it showed too much up front.”

“I got a lot up front,” she said. “There's no hiding it.”

The clerk snickered.

“Besides, my choice will show the new necklace better,” she said, holding the dress up.

Uri looked over the dress, looking deep in thought.

"Okay, we'll get your choice. You need to be comfortable in it.”

She smiled and turned to the clerk.

“This one,” she said.

She enjoyed watching the clerk ring it up. She pulled out her own credit card.

“You should let him pay,” the clerk muttered.

“He is,” Natalia said. “In the end, he pays the bills.”

The clerk smiled and wrapped up the dress.

"You need anything else,” Uri said once they were back in the limo.

“No. I have black pumps that will work well with this. What about you?”

“The usual suit with a change of tie. It's the tie that men use to communicate.”

“The power tie,” she said.

He grinned.

The limo pulled up to the house and into the garage.

“I'm going to start reading my text books. We have a few hours before we have to get ready,” shesaid when they headed upstairs to change.

“Good. I heard you did well in the placement tests. Tia said that a number of your classes in highschool will roll over as college credits.”

"Yeah, I did all that hoping I would make it to college, despite what I was hearing from my parents.”“Well, you made it.”

He finished changing and disappeared downstairs, while Natalia headed to her office. She poweredup the tablet and looked over what she had to do. The first two classes included an advanced mathclass and an English class. Then there were the introductory classes for accounting and economics.She noticed that she was in the second year finance class.

“Five classes. And I've looked at the college requirements. There's a lot more.”

Since she had been spending so much time reading the Finance books, that's where she started,hoping it would go fast.

She felt as if she had hardly looked over the book when Uri tapped on the door.

“Quick shower and let's get ready. There's a bit of a drive to get to where we're going and it's rushhour.”

Natalia made sure she didn’t get her hair wet. She decided to fluff it and wear it down. She felt athrill when she put the new necklace on. It settled just above her cleavage.

Uri came into the bathroom.

“Try these,” he said, handing her diamond earrings.

“I'm going to be glowing, alright,” she said. “With diamonds.”

"Fitting for the executive wife,” he said.

She noted a red pattern in his tie.

“Red is a powerful color,” she said.

He smiled and nodded.

“I decided I better put this on,” he said, holding up a ring.

He slipped it on his ring finger. It was silver like hers with three diamonds embedded in the band.“I had purchased this when I bought yours but didn't know if I wanted to wear it just yet.”

“No blue?”

He put an arm around her.

“I don’t want to wear anything that competes with the blue of your eyes.”

“I think you're learning to be sweet as well as gentle.”

“Don't tell Sherri,” he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “Let's go.”

Bonnie was waiting in the garage. She opened the limo door for them.

“I would drive us, but it's fitting to show up in the limo,” Uri said.

It felt like a long drive before they pulled up in front of a luxury hotel. An attendant ran up to openthe door for them. Natalia slid out first since she was closest. She could see the opulence of thelobby from where she stood.

Uri took her hand and led her in.

“Beah. Nancy. So nice to see you again,” Natalia said, spying Ravi's two wives. They were sparklingwith jewery.

“So good to see you,” Nancy said.

She was obviously the oldest of the two and acting the spokes person. Beah nodded with a bigsmile.

“Ravi's up ahead, seeing where we need to go.”

Uri released her hand and walked ahead.

“That is a beautiful necklace,” Natalia said to Nancy, decided she needed to direct most of hercompliments toward her.

“Thank you,” she said, looking pleased. “Your necklace is beautiful and unique. I've never seenanything like it.”

“Uri had it made special. He likes to say he has special trinkets for his special lady.”

"How nice,” Nancy said.

Beah giggled.

They slowly moved through the lobby as a group.

“You're such a nice person,” Nancy said, lowering her voice. “Sometimes the ladies get a bit uppity,but you were very pleasant at lunch the other day.”

“Thank you. I'm still getting used to things, being Uris wife. It's still quite new. I've always beentaught to be polite,” she said.

“Exactly why we urged Ravi to have you invited tonight. We wanted someone to talk to.”

Natalia wondered how much of her being there was due to this or Francie. She was starting todoubt Francie's efforts.

“It's nice to know someone at a gathering,” Natalia said, putting on her best polite behavior.

They entered a private meeting room. A row of tables displayed hor d'oeuvres. Her nose told herthey were the gourmet and expensive types. In the back, there was a bar with a bartender.

Natalia froze.

At the bar, was the Lord Abbot. He was dressed in an expensive suit just like she had last seen him.Uri paused to exchange a greeting with him, then headed her way. He handed her a drink.

“Thank you,” she said in a hoarse voice.

"May I get you ladies something?” Uri said.

Nancy and Beah looked shy and took one step away.

“Ravi is coming,” Nancy said.

Natalia gave Uri a nervous look and then flashed her eyes toward the Lord Abbot.

“Uri,” she said in as quiet of a voice as she could.

Uri leaned in.

"He won't recognize you. Calm.”

He didn’t breathe in her ear. She had to settle her own nerves.

She took a sip of her drink, already knowing there was no alcohol because of the smell. It was fizzywater with a twist of lime. Uri looked like he had the same drink. She had never smelled alcohol onhim, even on club night where he only drank sanguine tea or iced tea.

Ravi arrived, managing to carry three drinks in his hands. His wives looked pleased as each relievedhim of a glass. Natalia could smell the alcohol.

Uri shifted so they looked as if they were a cohesive group.

Another man joined them.

"Hewie Standack,” Uri said in greeting, holding out a hand for him to shake.

"Uri. Good to see you.”

His eyes moved to her.

“This is Nattie, my wife,” Uri said.

“I didn’t know you were married. How long have you kept this a secret?”

“No secret, but we've only been married a month or so. Although it feels much longer,” Uri said witha smile.

“Longer in a good way or bad?”

Hewie laughed as he spoke.

"Definitely a good way. I already don’t know what I would do without her.”

Natalia noted his voice was sincere.

“Well, you kept the wedding secret,” he said.

"We prefer the quieter side of life,” Uri said. “Only family was present.”

Ravi nodded as if he was giving his approval.

The Lord Abbot moved their way, making her nervous. She noted that Ravi looked annoyed.“Gentlemen,” the Lord Abbot said, hardly making eye contact.

Uri nodded. Ravi and Hewie ignored him.

“Ladies.”

Ravi's wives seemed to also ignore the Lord Abbot.

"Good evening,” Natalia said, decided to show some courtesy.

She was relieved that he showed no recognition of her.

Having completed the greetings, the Lord Abbot veered off toward the food.

Natalia felt a little braver with him gone.

"Are you married, Hewie?"

“Yes, she's..." he turned to look. “Over there.”

He didn't precisely point out his wife.

There was a group of ladies that were giggling over their drinks and keeping to themselves. Theyalready had plates of food that they were stuffing into their mouths when they weren't drinking.Three more gentlemen joined them and there were more introductions. Two were board members.Natalia knew there were seven board members, however, three were missing.

“They're running late,” Ravi said after someone asked that particular question of where they were.“Traffic problems.”

“This city has got to do something with traffic. It's getting almost to the point where no one movesat all,” Hewie said.

He was the more vocal of the group.

A couple entered the room. The woman immediately separated herself to go to the bar.

"Evening, Rubert. Traffic issues?” Hewie said.

“Accident on the highway. Quite dreadful.”

Natalia noted that wives weren't being introduced, but Uri was introducing her.

“Evening, Rubert. This is Nattie, my wife,” Uri said.

“Nice to meet you. Please excuse me I need a drink.”

Two more couples entered. Again, the women moved immediately to the bar while the mencompleted introductions.

“Good that you could make it, Uri,” one said.

“I didn’t know you were married,” was reiterated, when Uri introduced her.

Ravi's wives slowly moved away toward the food. Natalia smiled with a quiet polite, “Excuse me,”and joined them

“Quite a buffet. We won't be needing dinner tonight,” Nancy said.

“Looks wonderful,” Natalia said.

She used restraint, putting just a sampling of the food on her plate

“I could eat this shrimp all day,” Beah said with a grin

“I'm with you. It's quite delicious,” Natalia said.

The other men were now joining in to get food. Natalia stayed with Ravi“s wives. Uri joined them fora short time before moving back into the men's group.

"What are you drinking, Nattie?” Nancy said. “I can't quite make it out.”

Natalia gave a shy smile.

“It's just water with a twist of lime,” she said, then she whispered, “I'm not old enough to drink yet.”The age limit was twenty-one.

“No one would know,” Nancy said as if tempting her.

“But I would. I can wait,” she said.

All the men now stood together, eating and drinking while they talked.

One woman separated herself from the ladies by the bar and joined them. Her dress was a little tooshort, probably because she was on the heavy side. Her cleavage threatened to spill out, held backonly by the straps that seemed to dig into her shoulders. Natalia could see that her dark dress wasactually purple. The woman's red hair was up in a bun, and she was draped in jewelry. In fact, everywoman in the room wore extensive jewelry.

"Who are you?” she said to Natalia.

“Nattie. Uris wife.”

“Who's Uri?"

“Uri Osrisca is the Controller at the bank,” Nancy said, looking annoyed.

"So that makes him...” the woman said with a shrugged.

"Second in command,” Natalia said, figuring out the woman was trying to get the hierarchy of whowas who established. “And who are you?”

"Hewie's wife,” she said, not giving her name.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Yeah. Right.”

She walked off.

“Uppity,” Nancy whispered.

Natalia nodded.

“Do you golf or garden?”

She wished she had intel like Sherri did so she could target her conversation.

“No, we don't golf, but I do like to garden,” Nancy said.

Beah nodded.

“We have a large vegetable garden. I just love fresh veggies,” Natalia said

That was the right thing to say and the conversation turned to gardens. Both of Ravi's wives werekeen on gardening and fresh foods.

Natalia managed to get a second plate of food eaten and was thinking of another drink when shefelt the slight vibration. Uri stepped up to her.

"Ready to go?” he said. “It's getting past my bedtime.”

Beah giggled.

"Yes. It's been a long week. So nice talking with you two. Hope to see you soon.”

Uri led her to the door where she could put her plate and glass on a tray full of other dirty dishes.She assumed he had given his farewells to all the men.

“That was an extremely productive evening,” he said once they were in the limo.

"You're getting treated like an executive?”

“Very. They even apologized for not including me in social functions earlier. I told them I hadn'tnotice since I was busy courting you.”

She chuckled.

"Yes, that's what everyone else did, too.”

He kissed her on the cheek. His phone, which was sitting in a cup holder where he had left it for theevening, buzzed

“Yes,” he said, tapping it to be on speaker.

“I have a rescue for you,” Sherri said.

“Tonight? Where?”