by Nikki Chase
Pop’s smile grows so wide I almost don’t recognize him. Who is this guy?
“Birdy,” he says, taking her hand in his. “You were always so wise.”
This is, without a doubt, the strangest moment in my life now.
“Can I get some explanations, please?” I speak up. This lovey-dovey atmosphere is starting to piss me off. “Why would Uncle Nathan do that? I’ve never known him to do anything against us.”
“You mean against the family, Caine,” Pop says. “Birdy wasn’t family. Nora was family. I’m ashamed to admit this, but I was cheating on Nora, and Nathan was doing what he thought was best for the family.”
“I’ve also always suspected that he had feelings for Nora,” Bertha says.
“Right. That, too,” Pop agrees.
“Wait, so he went against you, Pop?”
“Well, in those days, the head of the family was your grandfather. His first priority was his daughter, of course. And a cheating son-in-law had to be put in his place.”
“And you were okay with that?”
“Of course I wasn’t,” Pop says. “But, you see, it wasn’t just about Birdy and me anymore. There was you to think about. There were our families, our parents, our siblings. We’d be putting all of them at risk if we incurred your grandfather’s wrath.”
He pauses and swallows, his eyes focused on something in the distance. He takes a deep breath before he says, “I was depressed for a long time after that. But over the years, I learned to work with your grandfather and Nathan again.
“When your grandfather passed, I thought about letting Nathan go, but he was such a big part of the business by then, and the whole thing happened so long ago, and I also knew Nora wouldn’t have been too happy about that.”
My heart beats faster in my chest. I’ve been operating under the assumption that Uncle Nathan and Todd were one of us, that they wouldn’t do anything to seriously harm us under any circumstances.
Now, I’m not sure what they are anymore.
“Do you think Uncle Nathan, or Todd, or both of them, would be capable of betraying us?” I ask.
“Oh, definitely. That’s why I’ve always kept a close eye on them,” Pop says.
I expected him to say yes, but not that quickly or confidently.
“Lately, I’ve been lax on that because of my illness, but I should probably—”
I cut him off before he can finish his sentence. I have another urgent question. “So if I were to tell you that I found out my bedroom’s been bugged, and there’s a chance that Todd was there, do you think it’s possible that he did it?”
“Absolutely.”
Daisy
“Look who decided to pay us a visit,” says a guy standing by the pool table. He has a long wooden cue stick in his hand. That thing looks like it’ll work as a weapon in a pinch—not that these guys would ever find themselves short on real weapons.
“I’m here to see Chad.” I squint, my eyes still adjusting from the bright sunlight outside. The smoke in this bar doesn't help my vision. What is this, the nineties? Who smokes indoors anymore?
“Chad will be happy to hear that. He’s been missing you,” cue stick guy says. He yells out his boss’ name as he looks me up and down, his gaze tracing my hips and ass through my skinny jeans.
When Chad walks out of his office at the back of this dingy bar and sees me, he grins. I guess he really does miss me.
“What were you doing at my apartment?” I walk toward him with my hands balled into fists by my side, the adrenaline coursing through my veins making me bold.
“Let's talk somewhere private, sweetheart,” Chad says as he drapes his arm around my shoulders.
I flinch, repulsed by his uninvited touch, but I let him take me to his office. Chad may be an asshole, but he likes money and he wouldn't harm me when I'm just about to pay him.
“Take a seat.” Chad takes a seat behind his old, scratched up wooden desk and gestures at the folding chair across from him. He sneers and pats his thighs. “Or you can sit on my lap if you want.”
“We had an agreement,” I say as I sit on the folding chair. The cushion is thin and compacted, some of the yellow foam peeking out from underneath the red, torn fabric. “I pay you back in full in a few days, and you leave my family alone.”
“I changed my mind.” Chad shrugs casually, showing no remorse for having broken his word and scared the hell out of Jack and Katie. He looks around the room with exaggerated movements and asks, “Do you think this place needs some redecorating?”
I glare at him. “You’re going to leave my family alone.”
“Oh yeah? Or what?” He puts a cigarette between his lips and strikes his lighter on the side, making a flicking metal sound.
“Or nothing! I’ll pay you what I owe you and you'll leave me alone.”
“You have $45,000 in cash?” He puts the lighter back on the table and leans back in his chair with the lit cigarette.
“It's $40,000.” I shake with anger, my voice becoming unsteady.
“You seem like a smart girl, but you don't seem to understand the concept of interest.” He inhales deeply through his poison stick. I imagine him with black lungs and severed digits like the people I see on smoking PSAs.
“If I give you $45,000, will you leave us alone?” I’m probably not going to see the remaining half of Caine's money and what I have won't be enough to put Jack through college, but I can at least pay off my debts and start saving up my salary.
“I don't know, sweetheart. Seems like your new sugar daddy has way more money than that.”
My heart drops. The tips of my fingers and toes turn cold. “What are you talking about?”
“Ouch!” Chad puts a hand over his chest like he's hurt. “You left me for someone with more money, and now you're lying to me? I thought what we had meant something.”
“What are you talking about?” I repeat. I wonder if he's been spying on me.
“Caine Foster, sweetheart,” he says with a big grin on his face. He raises his unibrow. “You caught a big fish. Congratulations.”
I stare at him angrily while the gears in my head turn. Maybe I can use this to my advantage. “I didn't want to bring it up before because I wanted to be fair to you and pay off my debt. If you know Caine Foster, you know he's got people. Your guys are nothing compared to them. He won't be happy with the way you're treating me.”
“Is that so?” Chad leans forward in his chair, his interest renewed by my threat. “That sounds scary and all, but I don't give a flying fuck. You know why? Because he's a dead man.”
My heart stops. I’m frozen in place with my jaw open.
He has to be bluffing, right? Like I just did before? There's no way Chad Murray has the manpower, or firepower, required to do anything to Caine.
In my haze, I almost miss the sound of the door opening softly behind me, but I snap back to reality when I hear a familiar voice, a voice that isn't supposed to belong here in Chad’s dingy bar.
“Hi, Daisy.”
I turn around.
Todd stands in the doorway, blocking my exit.
He’s holding a gun in his hand, pointing it right at me.
Caine
“Daisy!” I knock on her apartment door.
It took me a while to get here. I was waiting downstairs for ages for someone to let me in until, finally, a woman with four heavy grocery bags climbed up the stairs. I helped her carry the bags and slipped into the building with her.
“Daisy! Open the door!” I knock again impatiently.
I know she took her cell phone with her when she left my apartment, but she didn’t pick up when I called. It just rang forever and went to her voicemail.
She must hate me now. I’d hate me if I were her.
I imprisoned her in my home and used her like a sex doll and yelled at her about only doing it for the money.
Of course she’d only put herself through that for the money. Why would she willingly put herself in that vulnera
ble position for nothing?
I told her she was just a liar like everybody else. Worse, I called her a whore, even though I’m the only reason she was selling her body in the first place. I’m the one who pushed and pressured her into it.
She’s just a young, naïve girl, and I used her inexperience to manipulate her.
“Daisy! Please! I need to talk to you!”
I shouldn’t even be here. I should disappear from her life; she’d be better off without me.
But the way her eyes filled with fear, and the way she just ran out of my apartment…
Something’s wrong. I feel it in my gut. She’s in danger.
If Todd really did put that bug in my room, he would’ve heard me and Daisy talking. He’s even seen her living in my apartment and visiting Pop.
He would’ve concluded that he could use her to get to me.
I would’ve found that notion laughable two weeks ago, but now, with my heart hammering in my rib cage and cold sweat running down my temples, I can’t deny it.
I care about her, and that makes her the perfect pawn for Todd to use.
“Caine Foster?” A woman’s voice comes from the other side of the door, the sound slightly muffled by the wood. But it’s not her. That much I know.
“Yes. Can I please see Daisy?”
“Are you alone?”
“Yes.”
The door cracks open with the chain door guard secured. One brown eye appears in the gap. It looks me up and down and scans the hallway behind me.
“Why are you here?” She asks, her tone suspicious.
“I need to see Daisy. Please, it’s important.”
“Why do you need to see her?” She lowers her one eyebrow that’s visible through the small opening.
“I don’t have time to explain, but she may be in danger. Please,” I beg.
“What kind of danger?”
It’s obvious this girl is not going to let me in without getting some information herself.
“I can’t say for sure, but if my suspicions are right, she could get seriously harmed,” I say.
“What makes you think she’s home?”
“She told me she was going home an hour ago.”
The girl slams the door shut. Just as I’m about to beg her to open the door again, I hear the metal sound of the bolt sliding. She opens the door and swings it wide this time.
“What do you mean she was going home?”
“She’s not home?”
“No, I haven’t heard from her since we got off the phone an hour ago,” she says. Evidently, she’s the person Daisy was calling from my phone. Again, I’m learning, too late, that she was telling the truth.
“Is there anywhere else she could’ve gone to?”
“No. She’d definitely come home first.” She pauses, her eyebrows furrowing. “Unless…”
“Unless what?”
“I called her about this guy, a loan shark, who came here looking for her. She could’ve gone to find him,” she says, horror in her eyes as she realizes the danger Daisy could be facing.
“Where can I find this guy?”
“I have no idea. I don’t… I’ve never even talked to him.”
Fuck.
Daisy
My ass is getting sore from having sat on this stupid folding chair for so long. Chad has a point; he needs to redecorate.
That’s the least of my problems right now, though.
“You know, Caine is not the real deal,” Todd says as he finishes tying the rope around my right ankle.
“What do you mean?” I don’t know what he wants, but it’s probably a good idea to engage him in conversation and show some sympathy to whatever his cause may be.
I try to move, but both my ankles are tied to the legs of the chair, while another length of rope is wrapped around my body and the back of the chair. My wrists are tied together behind me, bending my shoulders awkwardly.
“I mean it should be me in his position. It should be my dad who heads the family.” Todd stands up and sits on the desk, right in front of me.
“Why is that?”
It’s just the two of us now in this small back office crammed full of shit.
When Todd came into the room, he told Chad to leave right away. Apparently, working together doesn’t mean they like each other. I don’t blame Todd; Chad is just an unpleasant character all around.
“Why? Because the family business should be ours, by right. We have more claim to it than they do.”
“I see. So Caine stole everything from you,” I say. I hope that doesn’t come out sounding fake. It totally is, but I need him to think I’m on his side. Maybe then he’ll let me go.
“That’s right,” he says with a big grin on his face. “The Fosters aren’t handling the business very well either. They’ve cut out the most profitable parts of it, which is just stupid.”
“Why would they do that?”
“Because they’re self-righteous people who think cleaning up is the way to go. Well, we disagree. And now we’re taking the business back. All of it. There will be changes.”
“How did he take it from you?”
“It wasn’t him as much as it was his father. He’s just collateral, really. These things, they go back generations, you know? We have a long history together.”
“Okay, how did his father take it from you?”
“I have to hand it to him, really. It was genius.” Todd looks down right at me and shakes his head. “My dad didn’t see it coming and it hit him by surprise.”
“Sounds pretty devious.”
“You don’t know the half of it. Robert Foster would do anything for power, including destroying an innocent woman’s life.” He pauses to watch me for a reaction and smiles with satisfaction when I pretend to be shocked. He continues, “My dad and Robert Foster were working for the same man, then Robert married his daughter just to gain his wealth and power.”
“How did you find out?”
“He obviously didn’t love his wife. He cheated on her and even had a baby with another woman,” he says. “You know who that baby is?”
I shake my head. I’m almost sure he’s talking about Bertha and Caine, but I don’t want to ruin Todd’s moment. He seems to really enjoy telling me all about what horrible people the Fosters are.
“Caine Foster,” he says, just as I expected.
“No.”
“Oh, yes. He’s not even supposed to be part of the family. But look at him now; he’s taking over now that Robert is old, and he’s slowly pushing my dad and me out of the business.
“We were going to wait to make our move, but the timing is just perfect now. Robert is sick, the cops are closing in. We have to be quick. We’re not going to let the Fosters fool us this time.
“And then there’s you. The wild card. You’re a big help to us, do you know that?”
“I think you’re mistaken about me. Caine doesn’t care about me,” I say. If Todd expects Caine to come running and save me, he’ll be disappointed. Caine told me himself that he wanted me to leave and never see him again.
“Ah, well, the evidence says different. You’re living in his apartment, visiting his father… Anyone can see he’s fond of you, at least.”
I can see how he’d come to that conclusion. I was starting to think Caine really liked me, too.
But I was wrong. It was never anything more than a temporary arrangement to him. It was just money for sex, like we’d agreed. I admit I was starting to want more from him, but it was never going to happen with him.
“I’m just a passing fancy to him. He’s engaged. You know that, don’t you?”
“Sure, he’s engaged, but he never sees his fiancée. Poor girl. She’s just another stepping stone for another Foster man. Caine is just going to use her for her family’s wealth and connections. He doesn’t care about her. You, though…” Todd stares at me and gives me a creepy smile. “You’re different.”
I can tell I’m not going to change his mind
about the relationship between Caine and me. There’s no use arguing with him about that.
It’s probably better for me to maintain my curiosity, keep asking questions, and hopefully get him to release me somehow.
“Has Chad always worked for you, from the beginning?”
“Well, yeah. You think that guy, with his shitty office and his shitty bar, has money to lend out?”
“You’ve been providing him with the cash.”
“Yes. Not me, really. My dad is the one who works closely with this lot. Sometimes he even goes with Chad on his rounds,” Todd says.
All of a sudden, I remember where I’ve seen Todd’s father before. That night in front of my apartment, when I caught a glimpse of an older man inside Todd’s car. That must’ve been him.
“Did you plan the whole thing? My debt to Chad, my relationship with Caine…”
“Oh, no.” Todd laughs. “We’re good, but we’re not that good. I’m glad you think that highly of us, though. I’m flattered.
“To tell you the truth, we couldn’t have planned it better ourselves. That’s why I said this is perfect timing,” Todd says.
“Perfect timing for what?”
“For our big takeover plan. We’re going to take back the business that has always rightfully belonged to us.”
“How?”
“Easy. That’s another reason why this is great timing. Now that Robert’s ill, Caine’s signature carries more authority. He will sign away everything to us.”
“How are you going to make him do that?”
“We’ll tell him we’ll kill you if he doesn’t.”
A chill runs down my spine. Todd doesn’t look like he’s joking. He really means to kill me.
And Caine’s not going to stop him. He wouldn’t sign away everything he has just for me.
I may not ever leave this cramped office. The cops will come and find my body limp and lifeless on the dirty floor, my blood pooling around me.
Or he’ll get rid of my body somehow—throw me into the bay, maybe—and they’ll never even find me. I’ll just never come home again. I’ll never see Jack again, or Katie. They won’t even know I’m dead, or how I died.
