My lip trembles, not from relief—from rage.
“You made me think she was gone.”
She looks away. “I just need the money.”
“For what?” My voice cracks into a hysterical pitch. “What could possibly justify that?”
The man pushes off the beam then, stepping forward just enough to make his presence felt.
“For the debt she owes me,” he says mildly.
A cold wave moves through me as he scratches at his beard and looks me over, trying to decide whether I’m worth the trouble I might cause.
“How much?” I ask Stacey, ignoring him entirely.
“Quite a bit,” the guy replies before Stacey can.
I glance from him and back to her, taking her in properly now. The twitchiness in her fingers, the way her gaze keeps darting. The thinness that isn’t just weight loss.
“You said you were clean,” I say quietly.
“I am,” she snaps. “Mostly. I just—things got complicated.”
“Complicated,” I echo.
“It’s not like I’m hurting anyone,” she mutters. “You’ve got money. I don’t.”
The words slice clean, and something inside me hardens. I take a step toward her.
“So you terrorize your daughter’s family for it?” Adrenaline rushes through me, and I spit on the floor at her feet. “You don’t get to use a kid like that.”
For a second, she just stares at me, stunned, but then the man exhales sharply through his nose.
“Enough.”
I swivel around.
“Take the money,” I tell him, yanking the bag off my shoulder and throwing it toward him. Bills spill partially from the unzipped top when it lands. “Take it and stay the hell away from us.”
Neither of them moves, and I look from him to Stacey and back again.
Fine.
I turn and stride toward the opening of the tower, my pulse hammering so hard I can barely hear over it. Daylight flashes beyond the steel framework of the door, and I reach for it.
But a hand clamps around my upper arm hard enough to bruise and yanks me backward. Pain sparks hot through my shoulder as I slam into him.
“Get the fuck off me!”
“You’re in a hurry.” He chuckles.
Adrenaline explodes through me, and I twist violently, driving my elbow backward into his gut. He grunts, but it’s not enough for him to let go.
I stomp hard on his foot and wrench sideways, nearly slipping free before his hand twists in the back of my jacket and hauls me back so hard my teeth snap together painfully.
“Stacey!” I yell. “Tell him to let me go!”
She looks between us, panic flickering across her face for the first time.
