Page 29 of Keeping Penny

“She deserves it. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. You’ve done an amazing job with her. She’s delightful.”

“Thanks. It’s more because of her good disposition than anything I’ve done.”

“That’s not true. You know as well as I do that environment is a huge factor in shaping a person’s life. It doesn’t matter that she doesn’t have eighty pairs of shoes or four hundred and three outfits in her closet, what matters is that she’s loved unconditionally.”

“I have no idea how I made it out of the system without more baggage than I did,” Penny mused.

Pyro nodded. “Right? I was a complete asshole when I first joined the Army. Thought the world owed me more than it did to make up for the shitty start I got in life. But I learned pretty quickly that the Army doesn’t care if you have one dollar or millions, you’ve got to prove yourself to earn respect. It was actually a good reset for me. To know that if I worked hard, I could really go places.”

“And you did,” Penny said softly.

“Yeah. So…we have some things to talk about,” he said, not wanting to beat around the bush.

She licked her lips and nodded.

“First up…Colvin Jackson.” He ignored the slight wince she couldn’t control and pushed on. “My friends and I have a contact. He’s a computer guy. His name is Tex Keegan. He’s really good at finding dirt, and finding people in general. I couldn’t even tell you how many missing people he’s found over the years, both military and civilian. I gave him the few details I had on this Colvin guy and he got back to me fairly quickly. Did you know he’s a millionaire?”

Penny blinked. “What?”

Pyro nodded grimly. “Yeah. Looks like he’s in the oil industry, which is how your husband probably met him. He has houses in the US, the UK, Switzerland, Spain, and the Bahamas. He’s married with no children, and he and his wife spend very little time together. She spends his money how she sees fit, while he travels the world and sleeps with whomever he wants and generally lives like a twenty-five-year-old bachelor instead of the fifty-one-year-old businessman he really is.”

Penny’s eyes widened more as he spoke. “Wow, you found all that out in a week?”

“That was just in the first day,” Pyro said with a humorless chuckle. “Tex is good at what he does.”

“If he’s rich, why has he been taking money from me for two years? It’s not as if the two hundred dollars, or whatever the local currency converts to, is anything compared to millions.”

“Because he’s an asshole? Because he can? Because he gets off on feeling powerful over others? There could be a hundred different reasons that actually have nothing to do with money.”

“Did John really owe him money in the first place?”

“Unfortunately, it seems that part is true…though so far, Tex hasn’t determined how much. But Colvin appears really good at getting people to trust him, make them feel comfortable about borrowing money, then turning around and calling in their debt when they’re at their lowest, exploiting their financial issues. Oil isn’t the only way he makes his money.”

“That’s disgusting,” Penny said with a frown.

“It is.”

“But now that he can’t get to us, we’re okay, right?”

Pyro frowned. He hated to be the bearer of bad news, but he refused to keep her in the dark.

“I’m going to make sure that you and Bowie are okay, but because the man has millions of dollars, he’s got some serious power. And with power, comes plenty of people who are willing to look the other way when laws are broken. Who are willing to participate in things they know are wrong, immoral, or just plain inhumane.”

“We’re still in danger, aren’t we?” Penny whispered.

“Tex thinks so, yes. He’s done what he can to keep Colvin out of the country, including putting him on a watch list. But people can be bribed. And he could fly to the States on a private plane and land at some out-of-the-way airport or a privately owned airstrip. But that’s not Tex’s biggest worry.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask what is,” Penny said.

Pyro sighed. “First, the man has many aliases. It wouldn’t be hard for him to buy a new one and get into the US that way. Second, he’s also got no shortage of people who are willing to do his dirty work for him for the right price.”

“Yeah. I didn’t see him a lot, but the people who showed up demanding each month’s payment made it clear they worked for him and would do whatever he asked. They almost seemed…scared to go back without the money they were sent to collect. That’s not really the right word though. Maybe desperate?”

“It’s possible they were being threatened as well,” Pyro said. “But with a network as vast as he has, it’s likely he’s got people in the US already who act in his stead. Who are collecting on the various debts he claims are owed to him.”

Penny’s lower lip trembled, but she didn’t cry. Instead, she took a deep breath and said, “What do I do? How do I keep Bowie safe? He threatened to sell her. I don’t know for what or to who, but I’ll die before I let anyone lay one hand on her. She’s paid enough for her father’s actions. I can’t lose her, Pyro. I won’t.”

“Of course you won’t. I’m going to make sure you’re both safe.”