A
Fortune to Die For
The White Oak-Mafia Series Book One
By Liza O'Connor
Genre: Contemporary Mafia Suspense (with
touches of humor)
Megan Clarke had
a good life until she wins the Mega Times Lottery and discovers the prize comes
with a curse. Worse than the many money-hungry suitors, a serial killer has her
in his sight. She changes her name and moves to Iowa with plans to buy their last
major forest of white oaks and turn it into a State Park. Unfortunately, the
Lottery Curse doesn't stop at state lines and someone there wants her dead, as
well. Good thing a disturbingly handsome law officer is just as determined to
keep her alive.
Megan Clarke set
the package on her kitchen counter with great care. “It’s probably nothing,”
she chided herself. Opening a letter that came in the same mail delivery, she
changed her mind as she read another threat to kill her. She hurried to the
phone and hit her speed dial for the local cops. Her hands shook despite her
mental self-assurances that everything was okay.
A female voice
answered the phone. “Danville Police.”
Recognizing
Margaret’s voice, she replied, “Hi, this is Megan. Is Sergeant Adams around?”
“No, he’s on
vacation. You get another death threat?”
“Yeah, but
there’s also a package. I know it’s stupid, but I’m afraid to open it.”
A heavy sigh
sounded over the phone. “I swear, all your troubles since you won the lottery
has made me afraid to even play scratch-offs. Hold on.”
Megan pushed her
blond hair behind her ears. The craziest part about her winning the Mega Times
Lottery was she never played games of chance—thought it a great waste
of money. She had already become a millionaire by her own efforts. Why did she
want to be richer? She had more than enough.
Then one day, while in a New York shop buying lunch,
her friend, Terry, a bona fide lottery junkie, had insisted she buy a ticket.
“It only cost a dollar. Stop being a miser!” Not wishing to argue, she passed
the clerk a dollar. “Just give me a random number,” she instructed the fellow,
then frowned as her friend filled out ten cards. “You do realize if I win, you
have to take the money,” Megan warned.
Terry stared at
her with rounded eyes. “No way! You can’t give away your good luck. If you win
it, you have to keep it. Otherwise, you and the recipient will have bad luck
the rest of your lives.”
So when the
stupid ticket turned out to be the only winning number for a $987-million-dollar
pot, all the bad luck stayed with her alone. Honestly, she wouldn’t wish her
“new” life on a dog, nevertheless her best friend.
Since she was a
financial expert, she took the $463 million upfront and invested half of it,
planning to donate the other half to charities. Only problem was, whenever she
delved into various charities, she didn’t like the way they used their money,
so thus far, she’d only managed to give away a few million.
“Miss Clarke,
I’m Detective Steve Williams,” a pleasant voice came over the phone. “How may I
help you?”
“I received a
package today. It has a name and address I don’t recognize.”
Complete silence
answered her.
“Are you still
there?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m
just a little confused. Marge said you had a letter threatening your life.”
“Yes. I have one
of those, too. It doesn’t have a return address. Nor is it signed. But the
letter and the package came in the same post.”
“So you think
the package may be from the sender of the death threat?”
“This one or one
of the hundred other angry letters I’ve received.”
“Mind if I stop
by and take a look?”
Mind? Why
did he think she was calling? If only Sergeant Adams were there. “I’d greatly
appreciate it.”
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Liza O’Connor was
raised badly by feral cats, left the South/Midwest and wandered off to find
nicer people on the east coast. There she worked for the meanest man on Wall
Street, while her psychotic husband tried to kill her three times. (So much for
finding nicer people.) Then one day she declared enough, got a better job,
divorced her husband, and fell in love with her new life where people behaved
nicely. But all those bad behaviors has given her lots of fodder for her
humorous books. Please buy these books, because otherwise, she’ll become grumpy
and write troubled novels instead. They will likely traumatize you.
You have been warned.
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Thanks for sharing. I want to make sure everyone has a chance to by it for 99 cents. Come Sept 8th it's back to $3.99 for at least another year.
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