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The man tossed down two small packages of wrapped money. She recognized them as the starter cash that had been in the safe.
“That doesn’t even begin to cover what he was supposed to give us.” He gestured at the wrapped ones and fives.
“Where’s the money, Jade? You have to give it to them.” Eric’s voice was strained since the big man still had his hand wrapped around his throat.
“Eric, who are these guys?”
“I’m sorry, that was rude of me. I’m Andrey Petrov and that is my associate Maxim. Do you have the money your partner owes us?”
Jade didn’t like the way he kept emphasizing the word partner. It made it seem like this man held her responsible for Eric’s actions and debts.
“I told you I needed the money. You said you’d get it for me.” Eric’s whine grated against her nerves.
Indignation overrode sense, and she snapped at him, “No, Eric. I told you if you told me what you needed the money for, then I would buy out some more of your shares.”
“It seems Eric here likes to lie to both of us.” She knew her words were unwise, but her shock and anger seemed to have taken control of her mouth. It was like the guy was trying to build some sort of camaraderie between the two of them. While she was pissed as hell at Eric, it didn’t mean she wanted anything to do with these two men.
“Just give him the money, Jade and I’ll explain everything.”
Jade wanted to roll her eyes and she probably would have if the situation wasn’t so tense. “I don’t have that kind of money lying around. We’ve never kept a lot of cash in the safe.”
Eric tried to move, but Maxim held him in place. “What about the money from today? Give that to them. I can get them the rest tomorrow after you give it to me.”
“Did you ever pay attention to anything that went on here?” The urge to shake her friend even as he was held against the wall was almost overwhelming. “The deposit tonight wasn’t even two hundred dollars. We don’t do most of our business in cash. People use credit cards. I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have been dragged to an out of the way business in the middle of the night if a couple hundred dollars would have made them happy.”
“It seems your lovely partner is smarter than you are, Eric.”
Eric tried to shove away the big man holding him, his outrage clear on his face. He was obviously more pissed about being called dumb than afraid of what they were going to do to him. “Fuck you!”
The man’s punch to his stomach sounded so painful that Jade flinched and her adrenaline spiked. If she didn’t de-escalate things quickly, they would both end up badly injured or even possibly dead. Her brain scrambled to find a way out of the situation Eric’s recklessness had gotten them into.
They’d been in trouble before and she wished this situation was a surprise. In the beginning, they lived in their car more than an apartment because he couldn’t be trusted to pay the bills. When they started making more money, she had made sure she was the one responsible for paying for things.
Which looking back meant she covered all the expenses out of her portion of any winnings they got. She’d honestly thought him buying into the business had been his way of repaying her for all the years that she’d bailed him out.
It was impossible now to believe that fiction. He probably didn’t even think of things that way. Never even considered the consequences his actions might have on other people. Earlier, he had said he needed ten-thousand-dollars. Which probably meant he needed more.
She’d never borrowed money from a loan shark, but she’d seen enough movies to guess that the interest had probably hiked the amount up and above what he even realized he owed. A second punch had Eric coughing in pain.
“Please stop.” She tried to hide the concern and fear in her voice. Jade focused on the man who was obviously in charge. “How do we resolve this without him getting hurt anymore? There’s no money here, other than what you guys already took. And even when the banks open up, it will take time for me to transfer money around to pull together the money. There’s paperwork, and a contract needed to buy him out of the business.”
“I told you I’m not selling any more to you.”
Jade glared at the idiot. “Are you fucking kidding me? Got a man’s hand wrapped around your throat. We’re in an office in the middle of the night like a bad action flick. You owe these men money for God knows why. I’m offering you a lifeline and you want to toss back at me?”
Eric seemed to finally process the situation. His huffy attitude wilted under her harsh words. “Fine. You’re right. Just set up the deal, then it is settled.”
Andrey Petrov nodded. “I will give you two days to get together the money to pay off his debt, in exchange for him handing over his portion of the business.”
“I didn’t say I was paying off his debt. I said I was going to buy his shares out in the business.”
Petrov stepped forward and Jade’s body froze like a deer caught in headlights. He tapped her cheek with a roughened palm in a disturbingly gentle gesture. “I repeat. You have two days to pay his debt.”
Her body trembled. She wished she trusted Eric enough to believe that he would go from the bank straight to pay off his debt. But unfortunately, it was too easy to picture him taking off with the money and leaving her alone to handle the debt for him. Her mind bounced between the different options she had.
The original thought had been to give him the $30,000 she had saved, leaving him with a small portion of the business still in his name. With everything that had happened, she couldn’t stomach being in business with him any longer. She needed a clean break.
There was an account that held three months’ operating expenses for the gym. It was the intended collateral for the expansion loan. She could dip into that to round out the money she had in her personal savings. With that, she would have the full fifty-thousand-dollars, but no safety net. It would be worth it if it would save Eric.
