Page 7 of Heartless Sinner

That’s the main reason we have so little money—me.

Silence stretches the threat the men left behind, leaving it lingering in the air like the scent of stale blood.

“Dad… you and Johnny borrowed money fromAnton?” I give him a thin, piercing stare, hardly able to believe the words that just came out of my mouth.

There are so many questions clashing around in my mind. Like how and why this happened.

What the hell did they need the money for?

When did they get it?

How did they even know where to find Anton? He met them a whopping total of two times during the span of our two-year relationship. And they never stayed in touch.

I watch Dad closely as he shuffles to sit and rest his back against the wall.

A stream of blood runs down his cheek, then another follows from his nose. His face is a mess.Heis a mess.

Dad is fifty-two but looks like he’s doubled his age since this morning. Even the specks of gray hair on the sides of his black crop look like they’ve increased.

It’s strange seeing him like this—so battered, so helpless. My father is a big, burly guy who would have been able to take down those guys all on his own if this happened a few years ago. The fall he took did him in.

He jokes about it sometimes because he always thought racing his cars too fast would be the thing to take him down. But he fell off the roof while fixing it in the snow and almost broke his back.

“Dad, answer me.” I tighten my fists. “Anton, of all the people?”

Dad reaches for his cane, but his hand drops back to the ground. I walk over to him and crouch when he slumps back into the wall in defeat.

“Dad.”

“I’m so sorry, baby girl.” His Louisiana accent sounds stronger with his heartfelt words. “It wasn’t me. It was Johhny. He crossed the line. He said he borrowed the money from a friend. Then I found out the friend was Anton.”

“Damn Johnny.” How could he do this knowing what Anton put me through?

Why am I even bothering to ask myself that? This is Johnny all over.

“You shouldn’t have had to pay anything back.”

“They would have killed you.”

He bites the inside of his lip and doesn’t argue because he knows I’m right.

“What happened, Dad? What’s going on?”

“Your brother…” he mutters. “Johnny wanted the money to build our own racetrack. He said we could become business partners. But he lied to me about Anton. I was none the wiser because all the paperwork was done through a loan company. When I found out the company was Anton’s and confronted Johnny, he said he thought Anton would lend us the money because of you. He also lied about what was being spent. There is no racetrack.”

Shit.I’m sure Anton was banking on this messandthem not being able to pay back. He knew what my brother was like because I told him. And Anton is such a sicko I have no doubt he thought of using this situation to lure me back to him. “Is Anton back in Denver?”

“Not yet.” He coughs. “But he will be. Soon. The Feds are closing the investigation on him. They couldn’t find anything to take him down. He’s wrapping up business in Russia then he’ll be back here. That could happen tonight, tomorrow, next week, next month. I don’t know.”

The knots in my stomach stretch and tighten. “We have to find a way to fix this. Johnny has to fix?—”

“Johnny skipped town.”

My mouth falls open and the words dry up in my mind. “What do you mean, skipped town?”

“I’ve been looking for him for the last two days. He’s not answering his phone, his apartment is cleaned out, and none of his friends have seen him since last week.”

My mind struggles to process the reality of what he’s saying to me, and my words jumble like pieces of a puzzle that can’t be fit together. “Dad…”

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