Page 114 of Muted

Me: Susu, I don’t believe for one second you’re stealing. I’m worried about you. Where are you?

“Is she answering?” Vance asks, trying to peer over my shoulder. The bubbles finally pop up, so I show him. “Thank God,” he breathes out, watching for her response.

Susu: I wasn’t stealing from him, Theo. I swear I wasn’t. Cliff made me help him.

Me: How did he make you help him?

Susu: He threatened me, threatened my job. He made me adjust the records for him, but I left it obvious so Chester would see. I couldn’t tell any of you.

Susu: I only took the money so he wouldn’t be angry. I was going to put it right back into the deposit bag.

Frowning at my screen, I pause for a moment, processing what she’s said. Worry over what he has on her battling with my need to end his miserable life.

“How did he threaten her?” Vance asks, nodding at the screen. “Ask her.”

Scowling at him, I jerk my phone away and start walking back to the bar while texting.

Me: How did he threaten you? Aside from the job?

Me: Susu, baby… Where are you? Did you go home?

“Why don’t you go to her place to see if she’s there? I’ll go back and knock some fucking sense into the boss. Maybe see if I can get some answers from Cliff.”

I’m thankful that he’s on board when all he does is hold out his hands and ask, “Keys?”

Tugging them from my pocket, I drop them into his palm, and he makes a beeline for my truck as soon as we turn the corner, bringing the bar into view. “Let me know when you find her!” I call out, and he simply waves his hand before hopping in and peeling out of the lot.

“Chaz!” I bark out as soon as I step inside, my eyes quickly adjusting to the dim lights. I ignore Cliff at the table where he’s pouting, leg bouncing up and down quickly in irritation.

Chaz walks out of the office, still looking pissed as hell. Walking right up to him, I ball my fist and swing. When my knuckles connect with the side of his jaw, I ignore the ache that shoots up my arm, and find more pleasure than I should when his back slams into the wall.

Cupping his cheek, he glares at me, yelling, “Jesus fuckingChrist!What the fuck was that for?”

I only need to take two steps to get in his face, bending over because he’s slid partway down the wall. Wrapping my hand around his throat, our noses touch as I spit out, “Thatwas for shutting her up when she tried to explain herself to you. You ever shut her up again, I’ll fucking end you.” Shoving him hard against the wall again, I release him to shake out my hand, wincing at the pain. “Fuck youandyour concrete face. Jesus, Chaz.”

When we hear Cliff howl in laughter, we both turn slowly to look at him, his future torture written all over our faces. With a common enemy, we’re now a united front and Cliff fucking knows it.

Standing up, I walk over, grabbing a chair on the way to drag across the floor. Chaz does the same, and we both sit in front of him. With my elbows on knees, I admire my quickly swelling knuckles in front of Cliff, then say slowly, “So, Clifford. Want to tell me what you threatened her with?”

I can sense Chaz tense, but he says nothing, waiting to hear what Cliff has to say, who only huffs out a laugh and does his best to relax like we’re all just hanging out. “I didn’t threaten her with anything. Come on, man. You know me better than—”

Shooting out of my seat, I slam my hands on the table behind him, getting in his face. He cranes his neck back, eyes widening at my fury. “Don’t fucking test me, Clifford,” I growl lowly. “Threat. What was it?”

He swallows audibly and looks to Chaz for help. Grabbing his jaw, I jerk his face back to me. Pointing at my face, I gentle my voice, but there’s no less warning in it. “Eyes right here, friend. Start talking or I’ll start hurting.”

“Fine.Fine!I told her I’d fire her,” he admits, putting a hand on my chest to try to push me back. I don’t budge. What I do, though, is turn my head around to look at Chaz, watching as his face drops into confusion.

“So, what? You told her to steal money for you two or you’d fire her?” he asks, then looks at me. “Shestilltook the money, Theo. She could have come to me the moment he threatened her.”

“You’re such a goddamn idiot, you know that Chaz?” I ask, exhausted. “Open your fucking eyes.” Staring Cliff down again, I say, “You may have threatened her job, but that’s not all, is it? What made her afraid to rat you out?”

A flash of victory comes over his face, but he does his best to hide it from me. “She’s hard up for cash. Offering her something on the side to keep her mouth shut was all I needed to do. Bitch took it without a fight.”

Curling my fingers around his throat, I squeeze until he panics. I don’t need to tell him I know he’s full of shit, but I do anyways. “She didn’t take the money, did she?”

I enjoy the way his face turns red, then purple from how hard I’m squeezing, and he sputters to catch his breath. Scrambling fingers dig into my hands as he tries to loosen my hold, but I’m immovable. I refuse to budge until I see his eyes roll back and his strength fail him. Just before he passes out, I let him suck in air.

Coughing hard, he rubs his neck with a shaky hand as I calmly sit down next to my friend. “Answer my question. Did she actually take money?”

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