Page 6 of The Family Pet

Ridge sighed and tapped Uncle Bowie’s arm. “Dad, you’re not getting your cash out of him,” he said, sounding like he was discussing unicorns.

“I’m sorry,” I choked out. “I would give it to you if I had any way to pay.”

Uncle Bowie’s eyes took on a calculating gleam, and Ridge laughed. “You’re not so smart now, huh? How’s that book coming along?” He shook his head and a few strands of dark hair flopped onto his forehead. “Have any new stupid theories to tell me all about? Want to look down your nose at me for going to law school? I know you think it’s a waste of time, but I’ll make cash I can let Dad invest. Madden Polunin went to law school and loves it. He’s making a difference in the world.”

Uncle Bowie shushed Ridge.

My body burned like I’d been lit on fire and there were so many things I wanted to say. “What did I ever do to you?” I whispered. “Me, personally. Not my parents or Grammy and Grampy?”

Ridge huffed and crossed his arms.

“Excuse me, young man? We’re ready to go,” an older woman called from the far end of my section, giving me a friendly smile. We probably looked as if we were having a tense conversation. Maybe she thought she was rescuing me. My heart hurt as I turned away to go take care of her.

Uncle Bowie didn’t leave his card or any cash.

I was almost in tears as I went to the computer at the serving station. I took out my debit card and stared at it while my heart thudded. The damned bottle of wine alone had been over five hundred dollars. Had he planned to leave me with this dilemma all along? The dinner was almost seven hundred with the wine, and it was painful to swipe my debit card through, but I had no doubt if I told the owner and had him call Uncle Bowie, Uncle Bowie would inform him of my real name. I would be fired for lying on my resumé. My throat turned into one giant lump as I signed the receipt and stuck it in the till. That was the money I’d been saving for rent and bills next month.

And for fun things like groceries.

I’d made two hundred dollars tonight, and I might still be okay by the time the bills came in, but I would have to watch every penny.

“Fuck,” I whispered.

I was absolutely exhausted, mentally and physically, by the time I left through the back door with the rest of the employees. I shivered in my jacket because it was cold enough out that I should have a winter coat, but I hadn’t been able to bring all my things with me when I’d left the house for the last time. This was all I’d thought to grab.

“Come with us!” Jeremy called. His smile was so warm, and I wanted to be near him because he’d been wonderful, but hell, if tonight had taught me anything, it was that I shouldn’t show my face around New Gothenburg. My boyfriend hadn’t believed me when I’d told him I didn’t steal any of the money with my parents. He’d told me to fuck off. If I’d had more cash, I might’ve left the city.

“Next time,” I said with a wave. The lie burned because I knew there would never be a microsecond when I could relax and have a friend, not as long as I had my parents’ debt hanging over my head.

I trudged to the high-rise where I lived, cursing Uncle Bowie and Ridge the whole way. There wasn’t a lobby as I stepped in the front doors, just a small alcove with mailboxes that was unheated and did nothing to stop my shivering. My apartment was on the seventh floor, and I walked up with my eyes on my shoes, trying to decide if I should eat tonight or not. I’d had food at the restaurant, so it wasn’t like I would starve to death, and I would probably rather have breakfast.

A hard boot connected with my chest and knocked the wind out of me. I glanced up into the angry face of a woman I didn’t know dressed in black leather. The silver ring through her septum glinted and her smile was all I could focus on because it was a brilliant red. I stumbled and snatched at the railing but missed and rolled down the stairs to the landing for what I thought was the fifth floor. I groaned as I flopped on my back and wheezed, holding my chest.

The woman stomped toward me, and there was another one with her, a blonde who could’ve been a model with her long hair and perfect face and body. My heart froze because she had a gun in her hand.

“Who are you?” I forced out.

My attacker snorted and crossed her arms. “Name’s Millie May.” She crouched and brought a sweet perfume with her that made me sneeze. Her mouth popped open and she snickered. “You fucked over the wrong women.”

“I didn’t do anything,” I growled out, but she didn’t seem to hear me. “If this is about my parents, I have no money.”

She tilted her head and scowled, slapping me. Her long, dyed black hair whipped in front of her eyes and she shoved it away. The blonde with her stuck the gun in my face, and my blood ran cold.

I held up my hands. “I swear, I have nothing. My parents pulled up stakes and left with my little sister. I’m trying to start a new life.”

Millie May rolled her eyes. “You’re doing a piss-poor job of being on the run. First, you didn’t leave town. Maybe you shouldn’t have used your real name on the electric bill, you moron.”

My heart almost stopped. “I didn’t.”

She shrugged. “You did. You must’ve fucked up because that’s how I found you, dipshit.” She reared back and punched me in the face, and part of me was humiliated to be taking a beating from a woman, but my body ached from rolling down the stairs and I didn’t have it in me to move.

And honestly, I didn’t know how to fight. I would’ve been losing no matter what.

Millie May grabbed my hair and jerked my head back. A sizzle of something strange shot through my gut along with the pain, and I wasn’t sure if it was good or bad. “Your mother promised Sapphira McKinnon and Natalia Winters double their investment in returns. Double. They are owed two million dollars each, or I’m going to bring them a head on a platter.” She flashed me a smile. “Yours is the only one I can find, peanut.”

She let me go, and I rested my head on the floor while my heart tried to beat out of my chest. Tears burned in the corners of my eyes. “I really don’t have anything.”

Millie May stood, and I flinched as she shifted, making her cackle. “I don’t care what you do or don’t have. You have two fucking days to pony up that cash or I’m going to find you, wherever you hide, and I’m going to cut you apart and sell your organs for money. And when I’m done with that, I’m going to shove the rest of you in the sewer to feed the rats, if there’s anything left. I’ve always thought I might like to have a belt made of human skin.” She glanced at her blonde friend, who smirked.