Page 87 of Blackmail
“Our father found Simon out here when I was a kid,” he says. “I didn’t entirely understand what was happening, just that Simon was in trouble for breaking the rules. I overheard he’d been caught here with another boy. They’d been doing sex stuff, I guess. Whoever it was left Simon tied up and ran away. My father ended up whipping Simon so much… Well, I didn’t see all of it, but there was an awful lot of blood on the ground. By the time Mother and the rest of us made it here from the house, Simon was gone, and our father was dead on the ground. It was…” He shakes his head and doesn’t finish. Doesn’t need to.
It explains a lot. I’m furious for Simon. If I could, I’d kill his father for him all over again.
The door to the barn flies open and out comes Simon with his hands behind his back. Walking behind him, with a gun in his hand, is: “Tony?”
Tony’s surprise causes a slight hitch in his step before he hooks his elbow around Simon’s upper arm and then presses the gun harder to his head.
Just like that, I’m ready to promise that asshole anything. As long as he doesn’t hurt Simon.
“What are you doing, Tony?”
I know what he’s doing. I want to hear him say it out loud.
Tony smiles the same smile he uses when he thinks he’s gotten a really good idea. This time, though? What he’s in for is a world of hurt.
“Really, Sebastian? You’re here for the whore? You’ll stay at your office every night until midnight, you kick me out when I get lonely and hire company, but you put aside your precious company to come searching for him?”
I take a long, slow breath, and I’m amazed when I exhale that I don’t actually breathe fire. “Tony, you don’t want to do this.”
“Oh, I think I do.”
Do I want to shoot Tony? No. We were friends once. Will I do what’s necessary to protect Simon? Yes.
“I was working long hours because some sack of shit kept kidnapping my clients and I was trying to figure out what was going on. I questioned every single employee. Took me way longer than it should have to consider the possibility of you being the rotten apple.”
Now that I realize, it makes sense. Before we had office space, I ran the business out of my condo. Tony would’ve had access to my electronics, our client roster. He must have figured out my passwords somehow.
Tony laughs. “You have no fucking clue. This whole operation started up without me. I just happened to luck into a conversation with one of the guys involved and found a way to be useful.”
“Really not something to be proud of, Tony.”
“Hey, fuck you. You gave me a shitty allowance for marrying you and now you want me to sign away my rights so you can make millions.”
In spite of his predicament, Simon scoffs. “You know how many people would kill for the kind of money you were wasting?”
“You could have said no, Tony,” I add.
Tony shakes his head. “You wouldn’t understand. You weren’t raised the way I was. We lost everything. My father fucking killed himself when we went broke. My mom got sick.”
“Yes, I paid her medical bills.”
“And I was just supposed to roll over and be grateful?”
“Fuck yeah, you were.” Simon rolls his eyes.
“Shut the fuck up,” Tony growls.
I realize Simon’s brother is no longer beside me. Then I hear the pump of a shotgun. “I think you better stop, Pastor.”
Simon’s brother is aiming at a man who had been skirting the outside of the barn, keeping to the shadows. He’s young, probably about my age, and he’d even be handsome if he didn’t look so murderous.
“Who the hell is this?”
“Our new pastor,” Simon’s brother murmurs. “The one who’s been dealing out the back door for more money while the rest of us struggle.”
“And my ex,” Simon adds.
I glance between Tony and Simon’s ex, not sure who’s the bigger threat.
