Champagne Brunch
Stiletto Sisters book 1
A Novel
by:
Ainsley St Claire
Copyright 2021 Ainsley St Claire
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are a production of the author’s imagination. Locations and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions or locations is completely coincidental.
Stiletto Sisters: Champagne Brunch/Ainsley St Claire—1st edition
Books By Ainsley St Claire
The Venture Capitalist Series
Forbidden Love (Emerson and Dillon)
Promise (Sara and Trey)
Desire (Hadlee and Cameron)
Temptation (Greer and Andy)
Obsession (Cynthia and Todd)
Flawless (Constance and Parker)
Longing (Bella and Christopher)
Enchanted (Quinn and William)
Fascination (CeCe and Mason)
Clear Security Holiday Heartbreakers
Gifted (Kate and Jim)
Unwrapped (Fiona and Bash)
Merry & Bright (Grace and Vincent) November 2021
Tech Billionaires
Tech Billionaire (Cecelia and Nate) via Bookfunnel only
House of Cards (Maggie and Jonnie)
Royally Flushed (Corrine and Jackson)
Sleight of Hand (Tinsley and Landon)
Running Hot (Marcella and Walker)
Showdown (Nate and Lilly)
The Stiletto Sisters
Champagne Brunch (Mia and Axel) April 2021
Martini Lunch June 2021
Happy Hour August 2021
After Dinner Drinks February 2022
Dedication & thank you
Where would I be without my readers? I’m sure I’d be buried in a book somewhere. Thank you for the fan mail, the notes on Facebook, and your amazing reviews. You humble me every time. The characters in my books are my friends and I’m grateful you allow me to share them with you.
Mr. St Claire you are my biggest fan, and the best support I could ever hope for. As the inspiration for every one of my heroes and I don’t do you nearly enough justice. I love you!
Jessica Royer Ocken your make my stories sing and I’ve learned (the hard way) to never doubt your advice. I’m so grateful for all you do.
Nancy, Linda, and Courtnay. You three are amazing and kind to spend the time hunting through my manuscripts to find what my tired eyes refuse to see. Thank you!!!
Get the Newsletter
If you’d like to download Nate and Cecelia’s story, you can get a free copy of a prequel to the Tech Billionaire series, simply titled Tech Billionaire. It is only available through the newsletter so sign up for Ainsley’s Naughty Readers to receive the latest news on my upcoming novels, sign up for my free author newsletter at https://dl.bookfunnel.com/jluob93y32
Chapter 1
Mia
“Thank you, Ms. Couture. We’ll be in touch,” Agent Shelly Davis says as she stands.
I sit with my lawyer and watch her leave my conference room. I want her long gone and out of earshot before I say a word.
“You did great. Don’t let the FBI get to you,” says Marci Peterson, my attorney. “They don’t have any evidence linking you to Viviana’s crimes, but they need to make sure they have everything lined up for her trial or whatever the State Department might do.”
I nod. “Thank you. I really appreciate that you’re here.”
Marci pats my arm. “Any time. You have my cell number. If they call or you just want to talk, please feel free to reach out.”
I try to smile as she leaves, but I’m not even sure the corners of my mouth turn up. My best friend, Viviana Prentis, is not who I thought she was. She fooled all of us and was recently arrested for being a foreign intelligence agent, participating in cybercrimes, and committing murder—an FBI trifecta.
How could I have been so blind?
Viviana went out of her way to work with all the various millionaires and billionaires in Silicon Valley tech, and unbeknownst to any of us, she was collecting technology. She also managed to access several government secrets that she gave to her Russian handlers while extorting and stealing money from others—what a gem.
She worked with a US Senator who was on the foreign intelligence committee and extorted him after their affair. She and her Russian hacker trolls broke into companies, including possibly mine, Diamond Analytics, to harvest sensitive data that had been developed for our clients.
And in the process, she killed an incredible friend of ours and then tried to kill her husband and children.
How did I miss the signs?
The FBI and the security company I employ have been crawling through my company servers and interviewing employees to determine whether Viviana stole data from us for the Russian government.
My board has called a meeting for tomorrow, and I’m not looking forward to it. One board member has already warned that they’re going to ask me to take a leave of absence until this calms down. I can’t blame them for feeling that way, even though I know I was not involved. I still missed all the signs.
I look out the windows of the conference room at the view of the North Bay, Alcatraz, and the Sausalito home of the family Viviana destroyed. I feel a migraine coming on. I just want to go home and sit in a dark room for a decade.
My cell phone pings.
Claire: Are you coming? I’m here with Elena, Toni, and Ryder, and Caroline and Emerson are on their way.
Me: I have a headache. I think I’m going to go home.
Claire: Don’t make me come get you. You know I will.
I blow out a breath. I’m not up for telling her what a shitty day I’ve had or about the crap blowing down on me because I exchanged over five
