Page 65 of Captivated

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask Sean, and he rubs the back of his neck. “How long have you known?”

“They told me after we met.”

“And you decided you would use that to try and get an in with us. Isn’t that right? As if we’d let the spawn of a man like your father back into the family. His blood runs through your veins.”

“Hey,” I bark. “Shut the fuck up.”

“Ah, she has claws.” He smiles. “I like my women with fight in them.”

My lip curls in disgust. “Never going to happen.”

“Really?” Liam pulls a gun from behind his back and aims it at Sean. “Don’t look down on me, sweetheart. Not when I hold the fate of your dear brother.”

I grind my teeth together to keep from saying what I really want to. “I’m not sleeping with you.”

“I never said anything about sleeping. And it wouldn’t be with just me.” He winks, and it takes everything in me to hold back from gagging and rolling my eyes.

“You’re not touching my sister, Liam,” Sean says fiercely. “I’ll fucking kill you.”

“Big threats from a guy who’s still recovering from his last beating.”

“Look, here’s $3,000 cash.” I take the envelope out of my purse and slap it down on the bar. “And if you give me your account information, I’ll transfer the other $85,000 that I have.”

“Now we’re talking. Be right back.” Liam disappears into the back of the bar and comes back with an older guy who’s wearing a tweed flat cap, a white button down with suspenders, and tan trousers. He reminds me of my grandfather who passed when I was young. He always wore that kind of hat and smoked cigars in his recliner.

“Use this account, little lady,” the older gentleman says to me, handing me a slip of paper and a laptop.

I sit at the bar and turn the laptop away from everyone so I can log into my bank account and initiate a transfer.

“There.” I log out and clear the browsing data. “You can check your account if you’d like.”

The older gentleman does just that and nods. “She’s good.”

He disappears back behind the bar and I step closer to Sean.

“Alright,” Liam says, “you’ve earned yourself another week to pay the remaining twenty grand.”

“Twenty? It’s twelve.”

He shrugs. “Interest.”

I grind my teeth together again to keep my string of curse words and rage from spilling out. “Let’s go, Sean.”

“Wait a second.”

“What?” I ask, annoyed. I just want to leave.

“Just so you remember what’s at stake,” he says, then waves his fingers forward. His henchmen step forward and grab Sean by his shirt, dragging him away from me.

“Wait! What are you doing?” I shout, and Liam grabs my shoulders to keep me from interfering.

“He’s going to stay with us until you bring me the money.”

“But–”

“The sooner the better,” he interrupts. “I don’t like unpaid debts, but I don’t like dealing with dead bodies more. Messy business.”

“If you kill him, you won’t see a dime, and I’ll make it my mission to see that you don’t live another day either.”

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