Every Way (Brush of Love 4)
He pointed his finger at the painting as another tear ricocheted down my face.
“Recouping lost money is a serious sport in my world. And when someone can’t do it, lives are lost. The one hundred thousand dollars is your responsibility, and I’m not leaving town until I get it.”
I tried to laugh off his sentiment in order to keep strong. I wiped at the tears on my face as I pushed a laugh to the top of my throat. One hundred thousand dollars? Was this man serious? I kept the taser poised in front of me in case he chose to come any closer. I wasn’t taking any chances with this man. I knew he was serious, and I knew he meant business, but I wasn’t going to be intimidated into giving him anything.
Especially one of John’s last paintings.
“It’s interesting that you laugh, because I’m not going anywhere.”
“Well, I’m not giving you anything, so I guess we’re at a stalemate. I’m not the one who was distributing the drugs. You need to talk to the girl I kicked out of my class for it,” I said.
“We did. She’s dead. The debt falls on your shoulders.”
My laughter ceased as the man’s eyes locked heavily on mine.
“You killed her?” I asked.
“Me? No. That was taken care of a long time ago.”
“I’m calling the police.”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
I looked up and saw the man draw a knife. He flipped out the blade and held it up toward one of John’s paintings. I ran out from behind the counter, and his eyes dropped to my baby bump, my hand outstretched as the blade drew closer to the canvas.
“Interesting development,” the man said.
“Don’t do anything you’re going to regret,” I said.
“I don’t regret anything I do, Hailey. Do you?” he asked. “If you try to call the cops, I’ll simply leave town. Wait out the heat and then come back. Only when I come back, there will be hell to pay.”
His eyes were locked on my baby bump, and I felt my world spinning. He was threatening my child. My unborn child. I cradled my arms around my stomach and backed away from him as his cynical laughter filled the room. The man lowered the blade from the painting but kept his eyes on my body, scanning me like I was some piece of meat.
“I’ll be back soon,” he said as he put away his knife. “And I expect you to have the one hundred thousand dollars.”
“It can’t be that much,” I said breathlessly.
“It’s called interest, sweet cheeks. And you’ve racked up a lot of it.”
My back pressed into the wall as my taser clattered to the ground. The man turned on his heels and left my gallery, a trail of dust and threats in his wake. I slid to the ground with tears streaming down my face while images of John flashed through my head. Memories of him painting in that shop. The feeling of that man’s hand around my neck. How John had ripped those men away from me and chased them out of the shop.
I could still hear John gurgling in the alleyway as I scooped his head up and cradled it in my lap.
My hands were shaking as I tried to get off the floor. My legs were weak, and my knees were trembling, giving out on my under the pressure and the fear I had experienced. I pulled myself behind the register and curled up into the corner, trying to take steady breaths as I closed my eyes.
One hundred thousand dollars?
Where in the world was I going to get one hundred thousand dollars?
Chapter 7
Bryan
I checked on the house throughout the day, which pissed off Foreman Jack. We were a week and a half away from having everything ready, and I had finally managed to get pictures of the nursery walls for the wallpaper to be put up. I told the foreman I had it ordered and that I was shipping it right to the site, so he needed to keep an eye out for it. It could be reordered if something happened to it, but that would push back the date the house would be finished.
And we were already pushing it a
s it was.