Page 9 of Demo

Knowing Steel wasn’t bluffing, Demo nodded.

“I added you to her schedule for nine Monday morning,” Keys told him from across the table.

Demo glared at Keys, the fucking traitor.

“We’reallgoing,” Bulldog reminded Demo. “Abby has her appointment on Tuesday. I’ll go with her and see if she can see me too.”

“According toGoogle,” Bear said while looking down at his phone, “acupuncture can work wonders for pregnant women. We’ll take the girls.”

Lucky nodded his agreement, but then said, “Even if everyone in town makes an appointment, it won’t be enough to pay them back. Even with the money we took from the Pythons, we don’t have that sort of scratch.”

Jumper cleared his throat. “We might not, but the Grovetons would.”

The Grovetons were like Mount Grove Royalty. They came from old money and claimed to be the founding family of their small town. Some were skeptics on that fact, but no one questioned it more than a passing wonder. The Grovetons were good people and did not allow their money to rule their town as so many other families would have. Sophia, Jasmine’s best friend, was the only daughter of Beatrice and Darnell Groveton and she, along with her two older brothers, were the heirs to the Groveton fortune.

Steel, though, shook his head. “I don’t wantusto be in debt to the Grovetons. A family like the Barringtons? They have to have skeletons in their closets.” To Keys, he said, “Find them. Find all of them. CPS won’t take her kids once they’ve heard that voicemail. Let’s see how easy it will be to go after Paige and her sons when they’re putting out their own fires.” After catching the eye of everyone at the table, Steel slammed his gavel down and then pointed the hammer end at Demo, “Get your ass to the fucking clinic.”

CHAPTER 2

Paige Hannigan closed her bedroom door quietly, not wanting to wake her boys. Her chin trembled as her stomach growled painfully. How was this her life? Skipping meals so her boys could eat? Wondering what the hell she was going to do tomorrow when her electricity got turned off for nonpayment?

She’d already sold everything she could possibly sell. From all of the electronics in the house to the toys the boys didn’t use as much anymore. She also took all of Richard’s belongings that he’d left behind to a consignment store. Some of his Italian suits had gotten her a couple hundred, but they were custom fit so they were not worth the value Richard had paid for them. She had sold every piece of jewelry she owned, including her wedding band and engagement ring. Her bastard of a husband had left her with his debt, what was the point of holding onto the symbols of their commitment to each other when he obviously didn’t care about her or their sons?

Turning so her back was to the door, Paige slid down the painted white wood. Her house was filled with expensive equipment and custom designed features, but it wasn’t worth anything. Richard had insisted on this house when they’d moved to Mount Grove two years ago. He’d told her their house in Detroit would pay it off once that sold, so the mortgage wouldn’t be an issue. Except, that money had gone towards paying off other debts when they’d received it. Not a penny had gone towards their ridiculously high mortgage with a ridiculously high interest rate. If she lived alone, she might consider taking in a roommate to help with the growing pile of bills, but she couldn’t risk that with her sons living here too.

Clutching her knees to her chest, Paige wrapped her arms around her legs. Tears fell silently down her cheeks. Despair, worry, fear, and shame swirled in her gut, but were unfortunately unable to stave off her growing hunger.

She’d reached a new low today. She’d gone to her in-laws, Richard’s parents, to beg for money. They were suffering too, but their sorrows were emotional from the sudden absence of their son. Hers were very much physical if she didn’t figure out a way to pay some of these bills. Her emotions, her anger, her rage, could wait until her boys were properly fed and the threat of bankruptcy wasn’t looming over her head.

She’d swallowed her pride for the sake of her sons. If Paige had needed to, she would have begged on bended knee, but it hadn’t come to that. Her father-in-law, Ronald, had been beyond apologetic. With his medical bills, their move to Mount Grove, and his retirement, they did not have anything extra to give her. Ronald and Cindy offered for Paige and the boys to move in with them, but she couldn’t sell her house due to the second mortgage she hadn’t even realized Richard had taken out on their home. Potentially, they could still move in with Ronald and Cindy and rent her house, but no one would rent the house for the amount she needed each month.

For months following Richard’s disappearance, neither Cindy nor Ronald would talk to her. She’d gone to Ronald over and over again to demand answers. He was thesheriffafter all. He had to know what was going on, even if there was some rule about him not being allowed near the case because the missing person was his own son. Over and over again, Paige’s concerns were dismissed. No one but her sister-in-law Harper would tell her anything—and Harper hadn’t had much information as it was.

Finally, she’d snapped. She was not the type to mope around the house waiting for the breadwinner to come home. She had her degree in acupuncture but hadn’t practiced since Mikey was born. It had taken her almost six months to transfer her licenses, get her business permit and Pennsylvania business license, and find an appropriate business location. Opening her clinicSerenity Springswas supposed to be her step towards independence.

Then the true extent of Richard’s debt had come to light. Creditors had come collecting for credit cards she hadn’t even known Richard owned, either on his own or with her. The second mortgage that had been taken out on their home needed to be paid back before she could sell. And then her goddamn stepfather.

Herstepfather.

How could he? Richardknewhow she had felt about her stepfamily. Heknewshe hated how controlling, demeaning, and demanding Thad had been. Heknewshe did not trust her family. She understood that Richard was loyal to her stepfamily to an extent—he worked for their company—but that didn’t mean he didn’t know how she personally felt too.

How could he be so heartless? What gave him the right to go toherstepfamily to ask them for money? She understood that her stepfamily had means that his did not, but still… Richard hadknownhow they treated her. How much she hated being a part of that family.

As if potential bankruptcy wasn’t bad enough, she was under threat of having her boys taken away from her. Child Protective Services would not hesitate to come and take away her babies if they received a call fromtheBarringtons that their grandchildren were being mistreated or neglected. Even if there was no proof, knowing her stepfather, he would resort to less reputable means of swaying their minds. Like bribery.

Paige had thought she’d left that manipulation behind. It had been one of the reasons she’d agreed to Richard’s suggestion to move to Mount Grove. Their marriage wasn’t perfect, but she hoped it would improve once they were away from the city life and her family.

Little did she know that Richard had brought her family to Mount Grove with them—in a manner of speaking.

Her phone let out a sharpding.

Paige didn’t want to look. The only electronic device she’d kept was her phone. All of the tablets, televisions, laptops, and Richard’s desktop had been pawned. She’d even sold the laptop from her clinic because she could schedule her measly amount of appointments from her phone and she needed every penny she could get. Without having devices in the house, she’d been able to cut her internet and cable bills too.

The last message she’d received had been from her stepbrother, Clifton, with a not-so-gentle reminder to pay back their money by her deadline.

Taking her phone out of her pocket with a shaky hand, Paige unlocked the device. There was a bit of relief when she saw it wasn’t her stepbrother. That meager relief was short-lived though. The app’s notification announced a private request for a total of five hundred dollars.

Since these requests were first-come, first-serve, Paige quickly opened the app to accept the offer prior to reading the description. She was not about to pass up the chance to earn five hundred dollars, no matter how degrading the request might be.

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