Loan Shark Love

I hurry over to the trees because what if the Goblins took the boat? What if they have Natalie and everyone else in their slimy, turncoat clutches?

When the boat turns sharply to make its stop, lake water sprays over the sand.

“Oh my god!” screeches Natalie, and I see her standing in front of the controls. “Anderson, look! Look, I found them! They’re alright! Grey, Rose, you’re okay!”

Nat. Relief floods through me at the sight of my sister, pale and soaked by the pouring rain but otherwise completely whole and driving my boat.

Anderson is standing at the front of the yacht. He’s holding his gun, the one that was strapped to his hip, in his hands. His eyes are wild like he’s geared for a fight.

Natalie and Anderson jump out, and when they do, I see some of my staff cowering in the cabin of the boat, possibly due to Natalie’s driving. Anderson and Natalie help us up to the boat, and Natalie looks at Rose, her face grave.

“Rose, I’m so sorry, but they have your dad up there on the shore,” she says, and my heart drops. “They’re using him for ransom to draw us all out.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Rose

I can see my dad on the shoreline, and there’s a gun pointed at his head.

My lungs ache, burning with the lake water.

“Dad!” I cry as we near the sand in the boat. “Dad, no!”

Grey has an arm wrapped around my waist, holding me down to the seat that’s almost fully shielded by the railing and the wall of the yacht. My dad is still wearing his apron from the bakery, and his graying blonde hair is wild around his temples. The dimples in his cheeks are not visible, and I wonder if I’ll ever see my dad smile again or if this is the end of him and of me as well.

Natalie is still driving the boat, and she curves us, spinning the yacht to spray the Godwin brothers with lake water. The move makes them drop one of their hands from my dad’s wrist, and I know Natalie is proud of herself for her move.

My dad still hasn’t seen me.

Grey is holding me and watching the shoreline.

Rain slices across the water, but the men on the shore don’t seem to care that they’re being entirely soaked through, and their clothes are dripping.

“Sam?” Grey breathes, looking down at me and then back at my dad’s figure.

What the hell? How does he know my dad’s name?

“Come on out, Kingston,” the taller of the men yells from the shoreline. He’s wearing dark clothing and what looks like long dark hair covered by a navy blue ski hat. “Bring that pretty girl and yourself, and I won’t kill him.”

“You fucking assholes,” Grey spits, standing and showing his face.

We’re close enough that I can hear my dad’s gasp.

“Grey, what the hell is going on?” he asks, sounding too familiar with the man who’s taken residence in my heart. “What the hell am I doing here?”

“Your old business partner was easy to snatch up,” the shorter of the men, brother to the taller man by the looks of it, with the gun against my dad’s head, crow in delight. He laughs out loud.

“Business partner?” I nearly shout. When I stand up, my chest aches, and I’m woozy, but I make it to the edge of the boat, leaning against the railing.

“Rosie,” Grey gasps as he turns, trying to wrap me in his arms, but I pull away from his touch.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask him, shouting over the thunder and the rain.

“I didn’t know,” Grey says in a pleading voice. He holds out his hands in surrender. “I didn’t know, Rosie, I’m so sorry.”

“I’ll give you one more chance before I say to hell with it and blow his head off,” the man with the gun shouts, and he sounds as if he’s not just showing off.

“Rose?” my dad shouts out weakly, just as confused as I am. “Rose, what is this?”

“Dad!” I call out, nearly crying with terror for his safety. “Let him go, you assholes! He doesn’t have anything to do with this! Take me instead!”

“Garcia,” Grey says, his voice loud and deep as he shouts at the taller brother. “Just let this go. It’s not worth your time and your effort. The deal is done.”

“Or,” I hear from the shoreline even as Grey sucks in a breath. “I could just shoot you all and be done with the whole thing.”

I see Anderson move, grabbing his gun once again, but Garcia is quicker, and a shot rings out. Grey’s security guard falls to the deck in a tumble of blood and limbs, and I hear Natalie cry out, calling for him.

“No!” I shout as the gun is leveled at my dad.

I lurch against the railing and Garcia points the gun at me instead. The relief I feel is overshadowed by the realization I might meet my end.