by Karly Violet
“Victor,” I begin the reply as my fingers tremble on the keyboard. “I have a problem with getting the money to your account. Please, try to understand everything from my point of view.” I take in a deep, shaky breath as I continue. “The money was unexpected and very welcomed by me when it arrived in my bank account. Though I shouldn’t have, I took it and invested it into a stock that an advisor I know told me about. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out the way that I had expected. The stock has gone belly-up and the money is gone. All of it.”
“Just be calm,” I say to myself as I lift my hands from the keyboard of the laptop and rub them together for a moment. “He has to understand. There’s nothing that I can do now that it’s gone.”
“I have tried for three days,” I continue, “to find at least some money to give back to you in good faith. However, I’ve come up with nothing. Things around here are tight for me and my wife, and we have almost no money of our own. I don’t know what to do.” Again, I lift my hands and think about the email. I could delete it and forget that Victor even sent it to me. Though, I don’t think that would be my smartest move. “What can I do to make this right?” I ask in one final line. “Sincerely, Layden.” I move the cursor to the send button to deliver the reply email to Victor.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I say as my body shudders. “That’s a lot of fucking money and I just told a mob guy that he won’t be getting it back. Fuck.” I have considered contacting the police to tell them what happened, but I’m not sure they could or would do much. The money didn’t get into my account fraudulently and I’m the unlucky bastard who has lost it. Still, I would feel a little better if someone in law enforcement knew about this.
Though Elaine has hounded me to tell Terri since Victor came to the restaurant, I have avoided doing as much. My wife would be horrified if she discovered that I used that money to invest in the stock market. She would have good reason to question my intelligence. She already considers me a lousy money manager, although I run a restaurant and keep up with the finances there. Terri knows that I can be impulsive sometimes, especially with investments. Maybe I deserve to have her talk to me like I’m a child for what I have done.
An email from Victor returns only minutes after the one I sent to him. I open it up and take a deep breath as I begin to read it. “I thought we had an understanding,” Victor begins the email. “You have lied to me and my associates. I’m afraid that we must now request all of the money immediately. You will not be paid the finder’s fee as earlier promised. Layden, you have until close of business at the bank today to do this. Do not disappoint me further.” Vincent doesn’t bother to put his name at the end of this email. The understanding between us is now crystal clear. I am being threatened. If the money is not in the bank account by the end of the day, something very bad will happen.
“Fuck.” I close the email and decide to do something that is likely a bit rash. I delete it and the one that came before. I decide to ignore Vincent and see where this all leads.
“Hey, baby.” Terri walks through the front door and drops her car keys on a small shelf nearby. Making her way to me, her hands go to my shoulders and she begins to rub them. “How was your day?”
I can feel my wife’s lips touch the top of my head as she kisses me. “I’m good, honey. How about you?” After closing my laptop, I turn to see her standing behind me.
“It was pretty good,” she replies as she sits down in a chair at the dining room table. “Busy, but good. We saw more patients today than we’ve seen all week.” Terri smiles at me as she relaxes. “You’re not going to work today, are you?”
I shake my head. “No, I decided to take the day off. I’m not feeling a hundred percent.”
“Really?” She reaches over and feels my forehead. “You don’t feel like you have a fever. What’s wrong?”
A part of me wants to be completely honest with Terri. I want to tell her about Victor and the money that I have lost. I want to tell her how we are being threatened because of my stupidity. However, I just can’t bring myself to do it. It would cause my wife to have a much diminished view of me.
“My stomach has been bothering me,” I tell her. “I think it has a lot to do with stress at work.”
Terri grimaces. “We need to take a vacation soon,” she points out. “We’ve put it off for months and now you’re suffering for it. You need to take that week off you promised me you would take.” My wife raises an eyebrow. “Besides, you would like to see me in that new two-piece bikini I got last month, right? A trip to the beach would be great.”
“It would be, huh?” I answer with a slight smile. “And I’m sure that you would rock that bikini, too. I would love to see you in that.”
“Would you? Layden, what’s eating at you besides the upset stomach?” My wife knows me so well that she gets the sense that I’m suffering in some other way than physically. I love her for this gift, but I wish she didn’t have access to it at this moment.
“Honey, it’s just work. Someone came in and complained at the restaurant and now I’m having to deal with it. I’ll get it worked out, okay? All’s well.”
“What’s the asshole’s name?” Terri asks with a frown.
“The asshole?”
“The guy who gave you a problem. He must have sent a nasty message to the owner, right? You should know his name. What is it?”
Thinking briefly, I reply, “Victor.”
“Well, then, fuck Victor.” Terri smiles and begins to laugh. I do the same as I think about what would happen if Victor were to hear my wife speak this way about him. I’m sure there are very few people alive who have insulted him and lived to tell the tale.
“Fuck him,” I say quietly with a smirk on my face. I need to sell this to my wife if I’m going to get her to drop the subject. “Fuck him to hell.”
“That’s the spirit,” Terri giggles. “You have to do that whenever people try to walk over you, baby. That’s how I handle patients who decide to verbally abuse me.”
“I know how you can be,” I say with an impish smile. “Still, I’ll probably see this guy again. I can’t just go up to him and say, fuck you, to his face, though. He’s not the sort of guy who is easily intimidated.”
Terri smiles. “Well, then, just keep in mind that you’re dealing with assholes daily. Don’t let any of them get you down.” She reaches over and pats me on the hand. “So, Destin Beach sometime soon?”
“I’ll check with the restaurant owner and see what I can do,” I tell her. “Maybe we can arrange a trip sooner rather than later.”
“I would really like that.” Terri smiles at me. “Let’s go get some dinner tonight. I’m starving.”
“Okay. What sort of food?”
“We could always go to your restaurant. The food there is pretty good.”
“No, not today. Again, I’m not feeling so great. Maybe something that won’t be too rich on my stomach.”
“Okay.” Terri thinks for a moment. “Let’s go to that new cafe on Warden Street. They are supposed to have some great menu items. I’ll bet they would have some food that you could eat without bothering your stomach. What do you think?”
I smile. “Sure, why not?” I get up from the table, as does my wife. We are soon out the front door and in the downstairs parking garage. As Terri drives toward the restaurant, I think about the threatening email from Victor. I won’t be able to ignore this guy and his buddies for very long. There will come a time when I have to do something to make amends for that loss of their money. I just hope to have enough time before then to find enough money to give them to help keep my wife and I from getting into serious trouble.
Chapter Eight: The Threat
I haven’t heard back from Victor in more than a week, and for the first time in a while I’m beginning to feel like he and his associates realize that I don’t have the money. If it’s money from ill-gotten means, perhaps they have decided that it would be better to simply count it lost rather than taking the c
hance of the police finding out about it.
“Good day?” Elaine asks as she walks up to me in the restaurant. She knows that I have stopped hearing from Victor and agrees that it might be a promising sign.
Nodding my head, I reply, “Good enough. It seems as though things are working out around here this morning.”
“Yeah, the morning rush went by pretty well. I think it’s because we added another server. He seems to be really motivated.”
“That’s good.” We have been pretty short-staffed in the restaurant for some time and so it’s good to see that the new guy is working out for us. I have gotten tired of having to clean off tables. I’m the restaurant manager, after all. Not a busboy.
My cell phone buzzes inside my pocket. I reach down to take it out as Elaine walks away. The number on the text message is not one that I have seen before. “Good morning, Layden. My name is Damien. Where’s my fucking money?”
I look up to see whether there is anyone nearby watching the obvious reddening of my face. Turning, I walk back to the office and close the door before having a seat. As I read the next text message, it becomes apparent that Victor and his associates have not forgotten about the money that I owe them.
“I need my money back, asshole. Things could get really scary for you and that pretty little wife of yours if you continue to put me off.” Something is different about how Damien is attacking the money thing compared to how Victor did. Damien is speaking as if the money is his personally. He mentions nothing of any associates.
“Who are you?” I message back to Damien. My skin prickles as I sit back in my office chair and await a response.
“I told you that my name is Damien. That’s all that you need to know. I want my fucking money, Layden. I’m tired of waiting.”
“What about Victor?” I inquire as my heart pounds within my chest.
“You’re dealing with me now. Victor is no longer a part of this.” I begin to wonder whether Victor was a disappointment to this Damien fellow. He’s obviously the boss. Maybe even the actual owner of the money. Either way, he appears to mean business and it worries me that he might be serious enough to do something drastic to get his money back.
“I don’t have it,” I text back to the other man. “I told Victor that. I don’t have the money and I don’t know how to get it. I can try again to get a loan, but I don’t think the bank will approve me this time either.” My hands tremble as I send the message to Damien. Elaine was the first to recognize that I am dealing with organized crime of some sort. Whether Victor and Damien belong to the mafia or to something else, they are just a small part of something much larger and much more sinister.
“Layden, I won’t walk away from my money, if that’s what you’re thinking. It’s my money. You should not have spent it.” My body quakes as I clench my jaw. How can I possibly give him any money? It’s not as if I have access to one hundred thousand dollars on any given day.
“Please, I’ll try. Just give me some time. Maybe a few months.”
The response to my text message causes me to stand to my feet. A picture of my wife fills my phone’s screen and I realize that Damien knows who she is and where she’s at. Terri is being threatened over what I have done with the money that has been lost.
“She’s not a part of this,” I tell him. “Leave my wife out of it.” Though I feel emboldened to protect her, I understand that I really can’t do much if Damien and his friends decide to do something to her.
“She is very much a part of this.” Damien sends another picture of my wife. She is walking into work in this image. “I have a man keeping an eye on her right now, Layden. You have to decide how we are going to proceed. Either I get my money, or…” He sends another picture of Terri. This one is a scantily clad version of her wearing a teddy. My heart races as I realize that Damien has gotten this picture from my cell phone. But, how?
“What can I do? I don’t have it.”
“A night with her,” Damien replies. “One night and the debt might be forgiven. You can even watch if you like.” My skin crawls as I swallow hard. Another man, one whom I have never met, wants to have sex with Terri. How can I approve of this? What would she think of me for allowing any man to make such an offer? I still haven’t informed my wife of the money I put into the stock market. It wasn’t mine and so I shouldn’t have invested it in the first place, but what’s done is done.
“I don’t know,” I message back. “Damien, this is my wife. She’s not a negotiation tool.”
“Then the money. You have three days. Make your decision by then or I’ll make it for you. You definitely don’t want me to do that, Layden. Three days.” I receive nothing else from Damien as I sit quietly staring at my cell phone. He has been very plain in what he expects from me. Either cough up the one hundred grand I owe him or let the man diddle my wife. Why would any man make such an offer? Couldn’t he just break my legs or something? Isn’t that what organized criminals usually do?
“Too much television,” I mutter to myself as I get up and leave my office. As I walk out, Monica notices me.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” the young server observes. “Is everything alright, Layden?”
“Um, sure,” I say as I walk past her toward the front of the restaurant. I feel sick as I make my way to the door to get some air. Monica follows just behind me.
As we walk outside, she asks, “Are you going to pass out? Sit down before you pass out.” Her small, soft hands take hold of my arm as she guides me down to a bench outside the restaurant. “What’s going on, Layden? You can tell me.” Her soft blue eyes look me over as my mind scrolls through what I read in the text messages moments ago.
“It’s just a bad day, that’s all,” I reply. “Nothing for you to worry about.” I offer a smile, but I’m afraid that my smile is probably not very convincing.
Monica returns a soft smile as she pats my arm. One of her hands moves to just inside one of mine as she supports it on her lap. “I know you’ve been dealing with something,” she tells me as she rubs one hand along the top of my forearm. “You can talk to me, Layden. I can keep a secret.” I get the sense as I look at her that there’s something more to what she’s doing here. Is it possible that Monica really does have some feelings for me? If so, I would be lying to myself to say that I’m not attracted to her at all. She’s young and quite beautiful.
“I’m fine,” I reassure her. “I guess there are just some things that I’m having problems dealing with at the moment. That’s all.” I reach over and pat her hand with mine. There’s an electricity of sorts between us as I squeeze her hand for a moment.
“I hate to see you so upset. What’s going on?” She smiles at me as she turns to face me better.
Sighing, I answer, “I’ve made a poor decision and lost a lot of money, Monica. That loss has turned into a huge problem for me.”
“Do you owe people money?” she asks. There’s a true capacity for perception on the young server’s part.
“Some,” I admit. “And, I have to figure out how to get that back to them. The worst part of it is that I’ve not told my wife about it either.” A part of me wishes that I had not mentioned Terri to Monica just now as I feel her grip on my hand and arm loosen a little.
“You should tell her,” the young woman offers. “It’s not a good idea for you to hide things from her, Layden. You would want to know if something like this was going on with her, right?” Though we are talking about my wife, there is a true sense of compassion on Monica’s part.
“Sure, I’d want to know. It’s just that this thing is so...bad.” I don’t want to tell her what I’ve actually done, but I get the sense that I might not have to anyway. Monica’s eyes are studying my expression and she seems to understand that what I have done has royally screwed me over.