Page 133 of Daddy’s Fortitude

He had enough on his mind anyway.

Headlights came on suddenly, blinding her, and she put her arm over her eyes. The lights were turned off just as suddenly. She had to blink rapidly trying to get back her vision.

Her heart skipped a beat, then started to race. What was going on? Who had turned those lights on? Why? Had they not seen her there? Were they trying to freak her out?

“Aimee Charleston?”

That was a deep, masculine voice, and she squinted, trying to see who was talking. She didn’t think she knew that voice, but it was hard to tell.

Should she admit to being Aimee, or should she pretend she was someone else? She decided lying was probably a dumb idea. She didn’t know what this person even wanted.

“Yes,” she said, also feeling bolder because she was very close to her home. “Why? What do you want?”

“You owe the boss money.”

“I owe who money?” she asked.

“The boss.”

“I don’t think I owe any of my bosses money. They pay me, not the other way around.” The guy stepped toward her, and she finally managed to clear her vision enough to make him out. He was a big guy, tall and broad, and there was something familiar about him, even though she couldn’t properly make out his face.

“No, the boss. Your husband took out a loan from him, and he needs to pay it back.”

“I don’t know anything about any loans,” she said. Jesus, what had Charlie done? This obviously wasn’t a legitimate loan if this guy was harassing her in the middle of the night.

Her heart started to race. This had to happen the one time that Ammo wasn’t with her. He was going to be so mad if he found out about this.

So it was important that he didn’t.

“It doesn’t matter whether you knew or not. He took the money, he’s gone, now you have to pay.”

“Or what?” she asked.

“Be a shame if a pretty young thing like you had to work it off on her back.”

Oh my God, who was this guy? She swallowed nervously, taking a step back away from him. “How much is the loan?”

“Thirty thousand.”

“What?” she squealed. “Are you sure? What did Charlie spend thirty thousand dollars on?” It sure wasn’t the house.

“Not my problem. But word is he had a gambling addiction.”

God. How had she not known that?

“Wait, did you leave me a message on my front porch?” she asked.

“Yeah, but you didn’t seem to get it. So the boss told me I had to deliver the message in person. Taken a while to get you on your own away from that big dude. It’s good you got rid of him. But every day that passes, another thousand gets added to the loan. In interest.”

“A thousand a day in interest? Are you kidding me?”

“Do I seem like the kind of person to kid, lady? You’ve got until Monday night, midnight.”

He turned away, and she finally figured out where she knew him from. It was the guy at the bar, the whiskey drinker. She recognized his voice.

“How do I pay it, though?” she said. “I mean, how do I find you to pay it?”

“I’ll be back in three days. You better hope you have the money. Oh, and don’t get any ideas about telling anyone like that big guy or the cops. I’d hate for something to happen to him or the blonde pretty chick you hang out with.”