Gone - Anna Brooks Page 0,25

hid it from me, but he was a master at it, apparently. I showed up to his house one day like I normally did after work, and I found him on the floor completely beat to shit. Blood was everywhere. So much of it, I thought he was dead. He was beaten so badly that he couldn’t lift his head. He couldn’t talk. If it wasn’t for the shoes I knew he wore all the time, I wouldn’t have even known it was him. I grabbed my phone to call 911 when Danny came out of the kitchen.”

His chest rumbles. “Did he hurt you?”

“No. He just educated me. Mario, that was my ex, owed Danny a shit ton of money, so much that he was going to kill him because it had gone on so long without payment. I was distraught, screaming, crying, begging. I didn’t know what to do. When I tried to leave, Danny simply said, ‘No,’ so I just stood there.” My lip quivers as I remember this part. “Then Danny put the gun in my hand and I remember it being heavy and surprisingly cold.” Damien’s fingers clamp tighter. “I have no clue what possessed him to do it, but right then and there, he put me in charge. He told me that it was my choice what happened to Mario and gave me two options. A dead man can’t produce money, but if I chose to keep him alive, he’d allow Mario to live as long as I paid off his debt.”

“You’re fuckin’ him?” he shouts, nose to nose with me, his entire body vibrating with fury.

Calmly, I shake my head, shocked that was the first thing he thought of. “You’re hurting me.”

His hand falls away, but he continues crowding me, making it clear I have nowhere to run.

“I told him I’d pay it. I mean, if I didn’t do that, Mario would be dead. The deal was made, and I called an ambulance for Mario. I was never even questioned by the police about who beat him or anything.”

“Not surprising. Danny’s got everyone in his pocket.”

Well, that answers that question I’ve had forever. “My assumption was that when Mario got better, he would help me get the money, but about a week later, Danny came for his first payment, and Mario was still in the hospital, so I was alone. I’d gathered up some money, hoping five hundred dollars would be enough to tide Danny over until we could get more. I thought he was coming over to discuss a payment plan. I… I didn’t know he meant sex. That he wanted me to be his whore.” I shake my head, remembering the disgust I felt when he started taking his clothes off. “When I told him I wouldn’t sleep with him, he said he understood. But apparently, it made him mad because he then told me the debt just doubled for the inconvenience but that he’d allow me to make payments, but if at any time I… I wanted it forgiven, that I knew what I had to do. Since Mario vanished the day he got released from the hospital, I’ve been stuck paying his debt for years. And it’ll be that way for a very long time.”

Could I have gone to Gio with this? Absolutely. Was I ever going to tell him? Hell no. If my brother found out this was happening… I don’t even want to know what he would do. As long as Danny stuck to his word and allowed me to pay him like I have been, everything would be just fine. There was no need to involve anybody else in my situation.

“How much?”

“Does it matter?”

“Everything matters.”

It almost hurts to say the number, but I do. “I’ve gotten it down to like forty-seven thousand. He lets me pay a thousand dollars a month.”

I bite my lip, and he turns his back to me. I watch silently as he breathes deep, his shoulders rising and lowering with every breath, body vibrating with fury. When he finally looks at me again, I know he’s going to point at the door and tell me to leave. Who in their right mind would want to date someone after they found out they were on the hook for almost fifty grand to whatever the hell kind of gangster Danny is?

On the bright side, I guess he never has to find out that he was dating his friend’s sister.

Chapter 7

Damien

“Go inside, Izzy.”

“Wh—?”

“Go inside. Get in