Breaking Into the Business

by Hadley Knox

  “It’s not what it looks like,” I said.

  “Are you referring to what I saw on the patio out back or all the men in the house?”

  “Either one,” I told him.

  “Well, what I saw out back could only be one thing.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said softly.

  I really was ashamed of myself. Jeremy was the guy with the dating profile that just had to be fake. But it wasn’t, and I had totally screwed it up. Instead of going for the man that I should have gone for, I went with the gigolo with whom I would never have a future.

  Not only had I not gone for Jeremy, but also I had sex with another man right in front of him.

  “You don’t owe me anything,” Jeremy said. “We have just been on one date and we’re not committed to each other. The only explanation I want is one that would allow me to determine if we should proceed with whatever is between the two of us.”

  “So you would still date me?” I asked.

  “That all depends. Because from what I just saw, you don’t really have the desire to date me. I’m okay with that, but I just want to be clear on where we are.”

  “I do want to date you,” I said. “Greg and I are friends with a physical attraction, but we aren’t dating.”

  “I’ll confess that I wasn’t standing there the entire time,” he said. “But I did see enough to know that you share more than a mere physical attraction.”

  “I’m really sorry, Jeremy.”

  “So what are all of these guys doing here? Are you having a party of some sort?”

  “It’s a long story.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “I’ve run into a bit of trouble lately,” I said. “Just a bit of personal drama.”

  “Is there anything I can help you with?”

  “No, it’s something that I have to take care of on my own.”

  Greg looked around the kitchen, and then turned back to me. “Yeah, it would seem that this is a problem you want to deal with on your own.”

  I grimaced. “That wasn’t fair.”

  “I didn’t mean any offense, but I’m just trying to figure out why you are keeping me at arm’s length. I’ve tried to connect with you and I feel like I’m getting resistance.”

  “I promise that I’m not doing it on purpose. I’ve spent a lot of time building up walls and it’s hard for me to let people in.”

  Jeremy crossed the distance between us. As he walked towards me, he removed his sports coat and laid it on the island. He stopped right in front of me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

  “Let’s start breaking these walls down now,” he said.

  “Okay, I can try.”

  “Tell me what’s going on.”

  “It’s really complicated.”

  “Then, let’s try to uncomplicate it.”

  I took a deep breath and told him the story of how the calls started a few months ago, and how they escalated to threats for money.

  “So,” I finished the story. “I have to give him the hundred thousand.”

  “Or what?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Where are your children?” he asked.

  “My sister has them. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to them.”

  “So you think this man might actually try to harm you or them?”

  “Who knows?”

  “Are you going to give him the money?”

  “I don’t have it.”

  He frowned. “Then what do you plan on doing when he calls back?”

  A chill shot up my back and I realized my mistake. I had never said anything to him about the deadline or the fact that he was supposed to call again.

  I saw Jeremy in an entirely different light. Before, I had seen a strong, cerebral man who was kind and well-spoken, but now those thoughtful eyes morphed into those of a psychopath.

  “What’s wrong, Lana?”

  “I really need to go check on my friends.”

  “Stop,” he said, before I could even turn around.

  “Please just leave me alone,” I said.

  I could feel my hands trembling. My legs nearly gave out beneath me, but I knew that I needed to get away.

  “I have your sister’s address. If you alert your friends to my identity, I will make sure that you never see your children again.”

  “Please don’t hurt them.”

  “Then do exactly what I say.”

  He reached over into his sports coat and stuck one of his hands into a pocket. He removed a small, black, handgun and aimed it at me.

  “We’re going to get rid of your friends, and then, we’ll get down to business.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “I’ll take care of it. We’re going to go into the living room and then we’ll be rid of them soon.”

  He had a gun, and with that, he could kill any of my friends. I wanted to warn them, but I knew a showdown in the living room where Jeremy was the only one armed wouldn’t go well.

  How could I have been so stupid? Why would a good-looking successful man be genuinely interested in me?

  I walked ahead of him just a little and we entered the living room to find the guys standing around. Ray was in the foyer near the window, peering out of the blinds every so often. Pearl and Betsy were sitting on the couch. Everyone watched Jeremy and me apprehensively. They would certainly have heard some of our discussion.

  “Hey there,” Mike said.

  Before anyone else could say anything, Ray startled everyone with his cry.

  “That car is back,” he said. Greg and Mike ran over to the window, and I saw Greg slip his hand into the console table near the door.

  “We need to after him,” Mike said quickly. “Let’s end this tonight.”

  “We’ll all go,” Greg said. “Pearl, will you stay with Lana?”

  “Yes,” Pearl said.

  “I’ll stay, too,” Jeremy said. “You all go, so we can get the bastard.”

  Nobody else questioned the new arrival. In seconds, Betsy and the guys were out the door, piling into different cars and speeding away.

  “I hope they get him,” Pearl said as she locked the front door and secured the dead bolt for added protection.

  Jeremy chuckled. “Yes, let’s hope they find what they’re looking for.”

  “Should we hide Lana?” Pearl asked Jeremy.

  “From whom?” he asked.

  “Who the hell do you think I’m talking about? That crazy stalker.”

  Jeremy turned and faced me. He pulled the gun out into view. “Lana, would you please get some rope from the garage and tie Pearl up.”

  “What?” Pearl asked. Then she saw the gun. “What are you doing with that?”

  “Lana, just do as I say. Pearl, if you move, I will put a bullet in your chest.”

  “I’m not moving,” she said quickly, doing her best to keep her hands out beside her.

  In the garage, I found some rope in one of Frank’s old cabinets where he kept his tools. I returned to the living room, and just as Jeremy had instructed, I brought one of the wooden chairs from the kitchen and tied my best friend up.

  “What’s he doing?” Pearl asked as I secured the rope around her wrists.

  “He’s crazy,” I whispered back.

  “Are you both so stupid to think that I wouldn’t hear you?” Jeremy asked.

  “Just tell me what you want,” I said.

  “I told you that I want my money,” Jeremy said.

  “I don’t have it.”

  “Then why did you lie to me?” he asked.

  “I was trying to buy myself some time to think of a way out of this.”

  “Well, you thought wrong.”

  “So, is that your thug in the silver car my friends are chasing?”

  “Yes, it is,” Jeremy smiled. “I pay him quite handsomely to take care of things like this for me.”

  “Will he hurt them?” I asked.

  “Of course not,” Jeremy said
. “He’s only there to keep them away from the house long enough for me to get the answers I want.”

  I had finally tied Pearl’s hands behind her and then stood back up.

  “Just tell me what you want, and I will do whatever you ask as long as you don’t hurt my friends.”

  “I want to know where Frank is,” Jeremy said.

  “I have no idea.”

  “Of course, you do. I never bought that story you told me about how he just disappeared and left you all the money and your community possessions. Who does that?”

  “My asshole ex-husband did it,” I said. “I really don’t know where he’s at.”

  “He owes me a lot of money.”

  “How do you know my husband?”

  “We met at a conference in Vegas some years back. The two of us forged a friendship that revolved around our mutual love: gambling. He frequented the ATM and would tell me stories about how his dumbass wife never knew that he was pilfering from the kids’ education funds to support his habit.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me.”

  “He always thought he would win big and be able to put it back before you noticed.”

  “So, let me guess, you let him borrow the money?”

  “Yes,” Jeremy nodded. “But he used something for collateral. Since he hasn’t come through on the repayment, I’m here to collect what is due to me.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You.”

  “What?” Pearl snapped. “You can’t put a person up for collateral.”

  “Shut up,” Jeremy snapped. He turned back to me. “Your husband had shown me a picture of you once and I found you to be the most exquisite creature I ever laid my eyes on. He could tell by the way that I stared at your picture. So one night, when we were in Vegas, he asked to borrow a large sum of money from me. When I hesitated, he said that if he wasn’t able to repay it, then I could sleep with you.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said.

  Before Jeremy could say anything else, there was a knock at the door, and then I heard Greg’s voice. Jeremy held a hand to his lips to tell me to be quiet.

  However, Greg persisted, and then soon Mike and Betsy’s voice joined his.

  “Tell them that you are okay now, and you want them to go away.”

  “That won’t work,” I said. “Not to mention all of their stuff is here.”

  “Then we will have to hurry,” Jeremy said. “Now you either tell me where Frank is, or I will put a bullet in your friend.”

  “Please don’t hurt her,” I pleaded. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, but I had to be strong for Pearl.

  Jeremy’s sadistic smile made my skin crawl. His gun arm tensed and he stepped closer to Pearl.

  “Now start talking or I put a bullet in her forehead.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  This was definitely a no win situation. The men were trapped outside and the only other person in the room was my best friend Pearl, who I had just tied to a chair. I had never been so scared in my life, but a part of me was either brave or stupid, and pissed off. My ex-husband had lied to me on a constant basis, and now this asshole had just come in my life and told a big one.

  “I meant it, Jeremy. I have no idea where Frank is. I’ve told you that before.”

  “You’re covering for him.”

  “I would never. That asshole left the kids and me all by ourselves and he can rot for all I care. In fact, if I knew where he was right now, I would encourage you to go there and shoot him.”

  “Don’t play jokes me with me,” Jeremy said. “If you don’t tell me where he is, I will shoot your friend and then take my collateral.”

  Pearl growled. “You touch my friend, and I will tear these ropes and kick your ass.”

  Jeremy laughed. “Go to hell, bitch.”

  “I would, but Satan has a restraining order out on me.”

  Something was different now. The men were no longer trying to get my attention at the front door, and I hadn’t heard a knock in at least a minute. I wondered if Jeremy had noticed.

  “I don’t have the money, Jeremy,” I said. “Do whatever you’re going to do, but I don’t have the money and I don’t know where Frank is.”

  “Why would I believe you?” Jeremy asked.

  It was hard not to react, but I saw a flash of movements on the balcony upstairs that overlooked the living room. I couldn’t see who or what it was, because if I looked up, it would warn Jeremy that someone was up there.

  “What else did Frank say about me?” I asked Jeremy, trying to stall for whoever was upstairs.

  However, the insane author never had time to answer. His eyes opened wide and he gaped at something behind me.

  I turned around just in time to see a large object flying towards one of the back windows that overlooked the patio. The object crashed against the glass, shattering into a million pieces all over the living room floor.

  As I stumbled backwards, I got a look at the lounge chair from the patio lying across my couch, covered in glass. It was the same chair that Derrick and I had used to have sex twice, and the same one that Greg and I had occupied not a half hour before.

  I tried to pick myself up, but then stumbled backwards. There was flash of movement from the stairs. Greg leapt over the side and landed on top of Jeremy.

  The wood floor was covered in glass, so it made it difficult for me to crawl across. On the other side of the lounge, Pearl was still tied to the chair. I had to get to her so I could free her.

  I used the couch as leverage to pull myself up. However, I stopped when I saw Greg and Jeremy wrestling on the ground, and then I saw that the gun had fallen near Pearl.

  “Get the gun,” Pearl hissed at me, nodding her head in the direction of the weapon.

  Going around the chair would have taken too long. I leapt over the couch and jumped into a pile of glass shards.

  As I neared the gun, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jeremy clip Greg in the jaw, sending my friend sprawling backwards onto the floor. Jeremy dove for the gun and he was much faster than I was.

  His hand was on the handle and he turned to face me, pointing the barrel of it right in my face.

  “We could have had something special,” he said. I could detect a hint of sadness in his eyes and his tone.

  “We could have,” I agreed. “But you lied to me.”

  I saw his finger tighten around the trigger, and then my ears were accosted with the sound of gunfire. My vision filled with the spray of blood.

  I fell backwards onto the couch and watched as Jeremy fell to the ground. His own gun was sent across the room, and he held his hands together against his chest, blood pouring from between his fingers.

  My mind raced, and I turned to look at the broken window. Betsy stood there, her gun still upraised, pointing at Jeremy. Behind her, Mike and the other guys were moving past her and into the living room.

  “You shot me,” Jeremy roared. “You bitch!”

  “You messed with my friend, you sick freak,” Betsy said. Finally, she lowered the gun.

  “Thank you, Betsy,” I said. I ran across the broken glass and hugged her tightly. Derrick wrenched the gun from her closed fists and set it down on a nearby table.

  “This isn’t over, Lana,” Jeremy growled.

  “Yes, it is,” Greg said as Ray helped him up.

  “What do we do now?” Ben asked. “The police will probably be showing up anytime soon.”

  “Not necessarily,” Mike said. “They may not even respond unless someone called them. And if they do, we’ll just have to come up with a story.”

  “What about Jeremy?” I asked.

  “Here’s what’s going to happen,” Greg said. He spoke as if he was talking to the room, but he stared straight ahead at Jeremy, who was still crumpled on the ground. “You’re going to leave here right now, and don’t ever think about coming back. If you so much as call Lana, one more time, I will hunt you down and kill you. That’s not
a threat but a promise. If I can’t find you, I have a dozen people saved in my cell phone who would kill you for less than a hundred dollars.”

  “You are garbage,” Jeremy hissed.

  “Yes, I’m garbage to you,” Greg said. “But the fact remains that you are out of our lives forever.”

  “I could go to the police and have your friend arrested,” Jeremy said.

  “It was self-defense,” Greg continued. “We have more witnesses than you.”

  “This isn’t over.”

  Greg walked over to Jeremy and stooped down in front of him. He reached out, grabbed the author’s hands in his own, and began squeezing. Jeremy howled in pain.

  “Let me tell you that this is very much over. In fact, you’ll terminate your contract with your publishing company, but you will send them an e-mail praising the wonderful talents of Lana Ford. If you don’t comply with this first thing Monday morning, I will kill you.”

  “You don’t have it in you,” Jeremy challenged.

  Betsy walked across the living room and stopped next to Greg. “But I do. I had no problems shooting you in the hand, and I would love to have put that bullet in your face. So I dare you to continue arguing.”

  “I should rip your face off,” Jeremy said to Betsy.

  Betsy reared one foot back and then planted it right in his face. I had never seen her move so fast.

  “You bitch,” Jeremy said as he spat blood out of his mouth.

  “You will leave my friend alone,” Betsy said. “Are we clear?”

  Jeremy nodded, and then he tried to stand. It took him a moment, because nobody would assist him. We all watched as he managed to get to his feet and then he slowly made his way to the door. He held his hands together the whole time, and it was almost comical to see him try to open the front door.

  When he was gone, I walked over to Greg and put my hands on his broad shoulders. I inspected his face and touched his chest to make sure that he was okay. I could see a bruise already forming on one of his cheeks.

  “Thank you so much,” I whispered. “I’m sorry to have dragged you into this.”

  He smiled. “I’m glad you’re in my life, and I would gladly do all of this over again.”

  I turned around and looked at all of my friends who had gathered in the room to come to my aid. “Thank you all for being here for me. I owe you all so much.”