Page 13 of Redemption
“Alright.”
I wasted no time calling the number Niko sent and felt myself smile at the sound of the raspy voice of Victor Crass wondering who I am.
“Who is this?"
"Gabriel."
"You haven’t answered my question," he said, already irritated.
"I'm someone who knows you, Victor. I know what you're doing," I replied calmly.
There was a brief pause, and then the voice on the other end let out a low chuckle.
"Okay, Gabriel. What brings you to the forefront of my attention? Trying to be the hero, are we? This isn’t the first time you environmentalist scum found my number. Why don't you go chain yourself to a tree."
"Funny you mention chains—they’re what you’ll be in if you don’t do what I say."
"Is that right?" He nearly wheezed as he laughed.
"That's right."
"Now you listen to me, Gabriel. I’ll give you one chance to end the call right now and never try this shit again."
"Check your email," I said.
The silence dragged on, broken by the slow clicks of a mouse and keyboard. He didn't say anything, but I could hear the anxiety tearing him apart in his quick, shallow breaths.
"I'm going to send our findings to the government the moment this call ends. The fines alone will set you back tens of millions, especially if your other rigs are polluting as well. Listen, Victor, I only care about the rigs off the coast of Port Aranza. But man, could you imagine how hard the government's cock would be for you if they smelled your oil in the water again? Let's face it, Victor, you couldn’t survive another government fucking.”
His voice was distorted through the phone as he shouted incomprehensibly, but I kept it to my ear, it was my turn to laugh.
“I know about your shell company in Panama. Use it to wire a million-dollar donation to the Marine Biology Center in Port Aranza. Of course, you also have to stop polluting the ocean here, unless you want this to be a recurring payment.”
He breathed heavy, labored breathes into the phone. “Now you listen to me. You think you’ve got me by the balls, but you need to understand that's how you lose a hand. This is your last chance to fuck off.”
“I expect the money by noon tomorrow.”
I ended the call. With a smile, I kicked my feet up and poured another glass. I swirled the whiskey relishing the power I had over him. It was a calculated risk, one that could potentially expose me to danger if my plan didn't go as smoothly as it should. But this was a joke compared to the life I left behind. It may have been a little illegal, but it was moral, it was right. Now, I could finance my new, normal life.
My mind wandered back to Sophia and her involvement with Henry at the art gallery. Whiskey burned down my throat and trickled down the glass onto my white shirt.Damn it.I took my shirt off and pulled out my tightly folded air mattress from under my desk. My money would come in soon, but for now, I would have to spend a couple more nights living like an animal. There were a few things I could never forgive my father for, and this was close to being one of them. I plugged in the pump, and the plastic bed began to inflate. I sealed the opening and went back to my desk—my dresser.
I stood in the middle of my office and took a final swig from the bottle. Its soothing warmth evaporated as a fist knocked on my door. The old door with loose hinges rattled in its frame at each sharp knock. I stood there shirtless and frozen, the bottle to my lips. I narrowed my eyes at the door as I finished the bottle. The knocking continued, and I shifted my grip to the neck of the thick bottle, I found the darkest part of my office to spring out from, but before I could move, a soft voice called out from the other side of the door.
“Gabriel, are you in there? Can I come in?"
“Sophia? I thought you weren’t coming?”
I set the bottle down and reached for the door when I remembered the damn air mattress in the corner.Shit.
"Hey, just a minute. Don’t come in." I called out, hoping to stop her in time. There was silence on the other side of the door. I flopped onto the air mattress, which let out a deflated sigh under my weight as I tried to shift the remaining pockets of air. Just as I was about to stuff it behind a chair, I caught a glimpse of her in the doorway, eyes wide.
"I said don’t come in."
"I... I'm sorry," she stammered, her voice faltering. "I didn't expect... I mean?—"
I cut her off with a wave of my hand. "It's fine, Sophia. Just give me a moment to get dressed." She nodded, still looking a bit flustered, but didn’t avert her gaze. She watched as I rummaged through the drawers of my desk, searching for something to wear, only to come up empty. My clean shirts were still in the car. The desk lamp cast a warm glow over me, shadows emphasizing the spaces between my muscles.
Trying to ease the tension, I smiled. "I guess I don’t have any shirts up here."
