Debts & Deceptions

GIOVANNI

"Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in."

The woman strapped to the chair with duct tape over her mouth didn't find my words amusing, but nevertheless, I laughed at my own joke.

I'd settled into an unremarkable iron chair in this brightly lit warehouse earlier, taking care of some business on my phone, when a small woman with a bag on her head was dragged into the room, dripping wet in the ugliest yellow dress known to mankind.

When my men restrained her and yanked the bag off, I was met with the delicately beautiful but unconscious face of Elaine Martinez. I knew I would enjoy interrogating her, so I waited for her to wake up.

But now that she'd finally woken up, her eyes were cloudy and unfocused from whatever chemical had been used to subdue her, and she was struggling with the rope binding her like a crazed animal.

"Billy, it seems Ms. Martinez needs some help clearing her eyes from her little nap. Would you be a dear?"

Billy stepped forward and dumped the watery contents of a plastic bucket over Elaine, instantly wetting her almost-dry hair and clothes.

The splash echoed around the room, and so did Elaine's shocked gasp.

She shivered violently before pinning a fiery blue glare on me.

It made me smirk. "There. All better now, aren't we? You haven't changed a bit. You still have that feisty look from years back. It always made you so desirable."

I laughed, and the sound filled the room.

Elaine was trying to speak, but through the duct tape over her mouth, I could only make out muffles.

I snapped my fingers loudly and pointed to her mouth. "Get that thing off of her."

Billy walked up, and a ripping sound filled the air. He stepped back once the duct tape was gone.

Elaine spat on the floor before resuming her glaring. "You?"

I resumed my smirking. "So you do remember me? I'm glad."

Her only answer was a scoff.

"Of course, you remember me." I stood up from the chair and circled her until I stood right behind her. I bent to whisper in her ear. "It was one hell of a night, wasn't it, bella? Even I can't forget. I'm sure you remember the way you screamed my name while you came all over my tongue."

"I don't . . ."

"Unfortunately," I started in a voice that overshadowed hers as I came to stand before her. "I didn't bring you here to reminisce about the good old days. You see, you're here for serious business."

I stuck my hands in the pockets of my black slacks and fixed her with a hard look.

"I always thought that when we met again, you'd have accepted some dull little life with an accountant or something. And you'd beg me to show you what life was really all about and put you out of your fucking misery. But meeting you because you borrowed money from my company was beyond what I could've imagined. It's unusual, strange even."

The woman strapped in the chair pursed her lips.

"What happened, tesoro? Daddy seize your credit card? Put you on a budget?" I pushed my bottom lip out and formed a pout. "Were you being a bad girl? Spending too much on designers? Or something naughtier. Drugs? Coke, maybe?"

She turned her face down, so I bent and grabbed hold of her chin. After stroking it lightly—almost affectionately—I turned her face parallel to mine.

Her blue eyes held a steely confidence, a resilience that was as false as her resistance to my touch.

The fakeness made me laugh.

"Oh, come now, tesoro? Is that all for me? Are you trying to put a brave face on for me?"

I felt her jaw set under my palm, indicating she wouldn't answer me.

"That's not how this works here, bella. When I ask a question, I expect an answer. The cost of silence is a tongue. Since you can't use it, we might as well get rid of it."

Despite all that, Elaine remained mute. Her blue eyes were practically flaming, and I could almost hear the words bouncing in their depths.

Do your worst.

Oh, believe me, mio amore I will.

I got the switchblade out from its hiding place under my right sock in one smooth, fluid motion. I pressed it to her fair throat.

"If you think I'm playing games with you, you're about to find out otherwise. Painfully."

I pressed the knife deeper into her skin, so I could feel her pulse and the warmth radiating off her skin.

She gulped and gasped when I got impossibly closer.

"Look," she finally said. "You need to calm down, okay? I had no idea you owned that loan company. If I had, I swear on my life I wouldn't have even dreamt of asking for money from them. I know that I owe a lot but I swear, I swear, I will pay back every dime I owe. As I've been doing for the past year."

I didn't believe a word out of her pretty, lying mouth.

Inching the blade higher, I settled it over her cheek, the tip on her prominent cheekbone. Her breathing hitched, and her eyes turned fearful, darting crazily between my face and the blade.

"That sounds like a plan, amore. Except, the timeframe you've been given is up, and I'm not really big on the whole mercy-second-chance thing. Doesn't really match my outfit, you know? Besides, how on earth would you raise fifty thousand dollars even if I give you a million years? Because a little birdie told me you don't even have a stable job, and you're as poor as the metaphoric church rat."

Under the luminescent bulb, I watched her face turn ashen.

"How do you know that? Did you do a background check on me?"

"How and where I get my information is none of your business, got it?"

"It's just, I don't understand why you'd go through all the trouble to learn these things about me. I get I owe you a lot of money but I have a right to my privacy."

I laughed so hard that the hand with the knife dropped.

Deciding I was done toying with her, I stood up.

"Right to privacy, good one. Men, we got ourselves a joker."

I saw a few flashes of white teeth from the men posted by the door.

I wiped an invisible tear from my eye and turned to her.

"You know, I'm curious, what happened to you? Because the woman I met all those years ago was as skilled with her tongue as she was with words. She was rich. Wealthy, well-to-do, whatever else you want to call it. What happened between then and now must be one hell of a story. I'd love to hear it sometime."

Something flitted across her face, but it was gone before I could pin it down. She fixed her eyes on the shiny leather of my loafers.

"That's none of your business. All you need to know is that I'll pay you your money back."

I scoffed and folded my hands. "With what? It sure as hell isn't money because you don't have any of that. You have nada! Zero! Zilch!"

"Let me worry about that. I'll figure something out. I always do. You just gotta give me more time."

An idea popped into my head and birthed a truly evil smirk.

"Actually, I know just how you can pay me back. All fifty thousand dollars."

Her head snapped up, and her face contorted into a confused look.

"What...what do you have in mind?"