My family—I fucking called them my family.
“Don’t threaten me, Grady. You were just a shit stain on this town before I took you in. Mr. Adamson has until the end of the week—and then Ray’s coming for Mr. Adamson if I don’t have every dollar he owes me in my hands. He’s way worse than you ever were.” Walter stood and patted me on the shoulder. “Take care.”
Ray kept his eyes locked on me as I walked away from Walter and he followed me halfway to the door before he stopped. Things had definitely changed. Walter wasn’t the same man I remembered. I certainly didn’t have fifty thousand dollars and I was fairly certain there was no way for Mr. Adamson or Monica to get it in less than a week. If they could have pulled that off, they would have done it already.
Even if it wasn’t my problem, Walter had crossed the line. I wasn’t going to let him hurt Monica’s father, even if it meant going to war with my former boss. I might have been a shit stain when he found me and took me in, but I was still the same man he stopped calling because he didn’t like how I handled business.
I drove to a parking lot and started making some calls. I had to get Monica’s father out of town and make sure Walter couldn’t find him. There was no way for him to collect the money or hurt Monica’s father if he couldn’t find him, and that would at least give us more time to figure out how to pay the debt.
Here I go making this my problem...
Chapter 7: Monica
After Grady was gone, I spent the day unpacking the boxes I had been trying to gather for our getaway. The threat from Walter Grant’s brutish collector was one that my father seemed to be taking seriously and he no longer wanted to try and run. I still left a few things packed in a bag just in case plans challenged. I went back into my bedroom and started to cry from sheer worry. I couldn’t lose my father. I had been willing to do anything to keep him safe, even marry a man that I didn’t love. It was hard to still hate
Grady for ruining my chance at that since it no longer mattered. Dane wouldn’t even sign his contract before the deadline Walter Grant had put us under if the weekly payments weren’t going to be sufficient.
I heard my father’s voice from the living room and it sounded like he was talking to someone. Panic swept over me. I ran to the door, expecting to see the bastard that was there the night before standing over my father again, but instead I saw Grady. My father had a solemn look on his face.
“We have to get your father out of town.” Grady’s words were hurried and after he said them, he walked to the window and peeked outside.
“He can’t run. You heard what that guy said last night.” I looked at the two of them. “Right?”
“Yeah, well, things are fucking different now.” Grady turned back towards me.
“How do you know? What changed?” I blinked a couple of times in surprise.
“I used to work for Walter Grant.” Grady shrugged. “I went to see him after I left here and what he’s doing now isn’t anything like what he had going when I worked for him.”
“I knew you looked familiar.” My father narrowed his eyes at Grady. “I think you came to collect some money from me one time.”
“Maybe.” Grady shrugged again and then looked back at me. “I collected money from a lot of people.”
“So you were the guy who beat up people who didn’t pay their debts?” I took a step back and tilted my head with concern.
“If I had to—yeah.” Grady nodded. “But Walter ran a different operation back then. He didn’t like it when I got rough with people. That ain’t the case anymore.”
“That’s what Grady was telling me when you walked in.” My father sighed and shook his head. “This is really bad.”
“Yeah it is.” Grady nodded, confirming what my father said with his body language. “That’s why we have to get you out of town.”
“How?” I looked back and forth between them. “They’re obviously watching our every move if they saw me packing boxes yesterday.”
“They got a guy outside.” Grady motioned towards the window. “Take a peek. He’s in the black sedan to the right of your house.”
“Crap...” I walked over and pushed the curtain to the side. The car was exactly where Grady said it would be. “How are we going to get Dad out of town if they’re watching us?”
“I’ve got a plan.” Grady looked at my father. “Can you ride a motorcycle?”
“I’ve been on one before.” My father nodded.
“Dad, you haven’t ridden a motorcycle since before I was born.” I shook my head back and forth.
“I’m pretty sure I still remember how.” My father looked at Grady. “What are you thinking?”
“Well, you’re about my size.” Grady stood up and peeled off his leather jacket, putting it in my father’s hands. “My helmet is by the door.”
“So what...” I tilted my head in confusion. “He just gets on your motorcycle and rides away?”