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"I could never forget," she said, her voice breaking. "I'm so sorry…"
She covered her face with her hands and cried in front of me. I tried to not respond, tried to not pull her into my arms and comfort her the way I wanted. Gradually, she regained control over herself.
"Graham borrowed money from a loan shark to pay back my inheritance, which he lost on a bad investment. He thought he could turn it around and pay me back and the loan shark, but he couldn't and they beat him up," she said quietly. "They broke his nose, his jaw, and his leg, and punched out his teeth. He has internal injuries and a serious concussion; he’ll be in rehab for weeks. They carved ‘7 Days’ on his chest with a knife and said if he didn't pay the money back by Wednesday night, they'll kill him, then come after me for his insurance money."
"Oh yeah?" I said and tapped my foot, not looking at her. I knew that if I saw real pain in her eyes, I’d be toast. "That’s what happens when you invest money you can't afford to lose. I thought Graham was smarter than that. I guess not."
"Look, I didn’t want to come to you," she said, "but Graham insisted that you were the only one who could help."
That hurt. "Yeah," I said with a rueful laugh. "It must have been hard for you to come to me and ask for help. You couldn’t get me out of your life fast enough. Funny, but I thought there was something special between us. I guess I was a wrong."
"Hunter, it wasn't like that," she said. "I wish you could understand…"
I didn't say anything in response. Of course, she'd deny that she threw me away. She had to, if she wanted my help with Graham.
I wasn't buying it.
"Who does he owe money to?" I asked finally, although I already knew.
"Some guy named Stepan. That's all I know."
"Stepan, huh?" I said and smiled grimly. "You don't mess with the Russians. They mean business."
Actually, based on what I'd heard about him, Stepan had gone easy on Graham. He was a nasty piece of shit, as mafia pieces of shit went, and was known for taking delight in inflicting maximum pain. He'd delivered a serious beating on Graham but he hadn’t tortured the man, which was Stepan's forte.
"I know the Russians. If you don't give them the money by Wednesday, Graham will be dead. You can count on that."
I turned to leave. I'd already decided I'd pay off Graham's fucking debt and save his fucking life, despite everything. But I was going to make Celia sweat it out a bit longer.
It was small of me. I should have comforted her and told her, “Of course I'll pay off your fucking traitorous bastard of a brother's debt,” but I didn't.
She followed me to the door. "You're just going to let them kill Graham?"
I turned to her, enjoying the look of surprise and horror on her beautiful face.
"Tell me, Celia, why should I help?"
She came to my side, her eyes imploring.
"Because you and Graham were best friends all your life. From the time you were in middle school and all through college. You were going to go into business together…"
"You might think that would count for something," I said softly. "You might think that would mean he stood by me when I needed him. Instead, he went into business with someone else. He did nothing to stop Spencer from going after my uncle. Sean died, Celia," I said, losing it. "Sean's dead because of Spencer. Maybe if Graham dies, Spencer will know how it feels to lose someone."
I turned and walked away. Before I escaped her completely, she once again called out in a weepy voice.
"Yes, he died because of Spencer. Not because of Graham! You know Spencer," she said and came to my side, grabbed my arm. "You know what he was like with us. With me. There was nothing either of us could do."
I pulled my arm away.
"Graham should have thought about the cost before he went to the Russians. He should have come to me if he needed money."
"How could he? He knew you blamed him for what happened to Sean."
"I don’t blame him," I said quietly. "But he turned his back on me when I wanted to go into business with him. You threw me away like I was a bad apple when there were so many other fresh shiny ones to eat."
"I didn't do that."
The, to my utter surprise, she got down on her knees. She actually got down on her fucking knees and begged, her hands folded as if in prayer. She looked up into my eyes and pleaded for my help.
