Page 57 of Sultry Nights

No answer.

"Please tell me who you are."

No answer.

She blinked a few times, hoping her eyes would adjust to the dimness of this room. Some shadows began to appear before her. But they were just that, shadows. She looked around to see if there was a window or a door. She saw a square on the far wall, but it was dark. Maybe a door or a boarded window. Her head pounded, and she tried clearing her head. "Please tell me who you are."

No sound. Suddenly, she heard movement from across the room. She froze. Was someone coming toward her? Whispers. There were two people here. Her breathing stilted as she felt the panic taking hold. They whispered a bit more, and it began to sound as if they argued.

“Find out.”

“Give me some fucking time.”

Heavy shuffling sounded across the room. Slow movements. And then she heard something thunk on the floor. Then a squeak. It sounded like somebody had moved a chair closer to her and sat on it.

She inhaled a breath and let it out slowly. Panicking would do no good now. She swallowed the lump in her throat and relaxed her shoulders. She needed to be strong.

When a voice finally spoke to her, it was slow and low. "I told you that you owed me money. And you little bitch, you are going to get it for me. Right now, I'm going to get that money from your rich boyfriend and your parents. They're going to pay us what that piece of shit husband of yours stole from us."

Oh, her heart hammered. Her throat dried up and a huge lump filled it. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. One of these crazy bitches got to her. Or two of them.

"I had nothing to do with Isaac's duplicity. I didn't know he was even doing that until somebody called me. I didn't even know that was a thing until somebody called me. Was it you who called me? You must have because you said you told me I owed you money."

"I don't care what you say. You were with him for a long time. You had to know what a piece of crap he was."

"Well, I did." She tried wetting her throat. "I mean, I didn't know he was doing this. We've been divorced for almost three years."

"Well, I don't care how long you've been divorced. He took money from me. And actually, I've done the checking. You were still married to him when he took money from me. Your divorce wasn't final yet when he took the first payment from me. That means you're complicit."

Her heart hammered in her chest. She tried to even out her ragged breathing, and she didn't even know what she could say to defend herself. This woman didn't want to listen to her at all.

"I had no idea he was doing this. I've been duped by him just as much as you have."

"Oh, really? Well, you know what he took from me? He took thirty-two thousand dollars from me. What did he take from you?"

She licked her lips. "Let's see. While we were married, he gambled away three cars, and I had to pay them off because we had loans on them even though he gambled them away. He almost gambled our house away. I've worked my tail off day and night to pay back his gambling debts so his fingers or legs wouldn't get broken by the thugs he gambled with. I was stupid to do it, but I did it. He's taken years of my life away from me. He's taken money away from me. He's taken a lot from me."

"Well, he took a lot from me, too. He took my dignity. He took my serenity. I can't trust anyone anymore because of him."

"Well, don't you think I feel the same way?"

"I don't care how you feel. Poor little you with your rich boyfriend. You can't trust anyone my ass. What I know is I want my money. That was my savings. That was for my retirement."

Her heart beat so hard it was painful. "I'm sorry that he did that, but I didn't have anything to do with it. Why don't you get an attorney and go after him?"

"Go after him for what? He doesn't have a job. He doesn't have a house. He doesn't have anything. What the hell would I possibly get from him?"

"I don't know. Put him in jail. Make sure he can't ever do this to anybody again."

"Oh, we're going to make sure he doesn't do it to anybody again. But first, we're going to get our money back."

30

Quinn examined the stage at the Sandbar. "There's just a few more pieces to add to it and then it'll be completed," Brian bragged.

"It looks good, guys. You've done a great job. Thank you so much."

Jace strutted across the beach toward him.

---