Original Sin by Tasmina Perry Read Free Book Online Page A

intended to use what she knew to her advantage. For the last month she’d had a corporate investigations team look into Enrique’s business and had found that, despite Enrique’s profile, his salon was being woefully mismanaged. Their plans to launch an Enrique hair–care range had not come off, and minuscule profits suggested that Gary was siphoning off money for his expensive coke habit and love of Brazilian rent boys.
    ‘Enrique,’ said Liz, ‘you need to face facts. You’re never going to make any serious money with just one salon, no matter how many celebrities you’ve got on your client list, especially when that salon is badly run. The money is in product ranges, selling twenty–dollar colour shampoo to secretaries in Cleveland. But … ’ Liz took a deep breath. ‘ … We both know that no one wants to work with you to produce those products because you and Gary are too unpredictable.’
    ‘Bitch. How dare you?’ he hissed. ‘It’s taken me fifteen years to have my own salon. I worked for everything I got. No rich daddy gave me mine.’
    Little Latino prick trying to play hardball , she thought, but then Liz was not in the business of trading niceties. She was glad she towered above him in her Giuseppe Zanotti heels. Hands on hips, bright red lips, complete intimidation.
    ‘Listen to me,’ she said evenly. ‘I’m trying to help you. Your business is going to go to the wall, no question. In two, three years’ time, you’ll be back in Miami, some colourist that once used to be big in New York, just another industry casualty. And then all that hard work will have been for nothing.’
    For a few seconds he didn’t speak, clearly torn between rage at having been spoken to in such a way and needing Liz’s help. Finally he flapped his arms in surrender.
    ‘What do you suggest?’ he pouted.
    ‘My proposal is that I buy out Gary Eisen’s stake. You work two days at your salon, three days here at Skin Plus. Meanwhile, one of my team will manage the Enrique salon, increasing its profitability, and Asgill’s will license your name to produce an Enrique product range that we can get into drugstores by fall.’
    Of course, that was only part of Liz’s plan. She was so proud of her full agenda that she almost wanted to blurt the rest out: that in twelve months’ time she would close down the Madison Avenue salon, integrating the entire Enrique salon into the Skin Plus Spa. She already had an idea who would buy the lease on the prime Madison Avenue real estate occupied by Enrique’s salon – and then she could screw him over the licensing deal and send the arrogant little jerk back to Miami with his balls in a sack.
    ‘I need to think about it,’ said Enrique, trying to hold his head high.
    ‘How about I give you till Monday?’
    Down on the street, Liz watched Enrique disappear into a waiting car. She looked up to the top of Somerset Tower, a shard of illuminated glass stretching into the night sky. Adrenaline was still coursing through her blood; the thrill of a deal always did that to her; there was no way she could go home to sleep. She knew exactly what she needed.
    She flagged down a yellow cab, its light spilling a glow onto the puddles on the road. Inside, she told the driver to take her to Clinton. Relaxing into the seat, she pulled a cosmetic wipe from her bag and carefully cleaned make–up from her face. She flipped open a compact and stared at the blank canvas of her features. Her blonde hair was cut into a short bob. Her eyes were small, her nose too narrow from bad rhinoplasty in the mid–Nineties, but she had a wide, sensual mouth and full lips and the overall picture was striking, handsome, and strong. People often compared Liz to her mother when she was younger, which Liz knew wasn’t exactly a compliment, especially as her father Howard had been a ridiculously good–looking man. Meredith was several notches down the attractiveness scale, but her family had money. That was just