Page 60

“Shut up, Brandy, you're not helping.” Dad's tone was softer with her, but firm. I knew that tone, the one when he wanted you to listen, but he didn't want to upset you more.

“Frank, you didn't hold up your end of this shit.” The unknown man spoke clear, his voice low and more controlled. “You know what happens now. I gave you more than enough time, and instead of paying up, you chose to run. Did you think I wouldn't find you?”

“I left because I had to, I left because I didn't have a choice.” The sound of metal clanked, but I had no clue what it could be. “And if you don't get the fuck out now, the cops will be pulling your lifeless body out of Narragansett Bay.”

“Do you think that scares me? Do you really think that you're the first man to ever put a gun in my face?” The evil sound in his voice cut me deep, forcing me to squeeze the wall as I crept up to the garage door. “You better hope you kill me with your first shot, because if not. . .” There was a moment of silence, and my ears strained to listen. “You're a dead man.”

Who's dead? What the hell is going on?!

I need to look—

No! Don't look!

My brain was begging me to stop moving forward. It was screaming for me to listen and do what it said. But I couldn't. I had to see what was happening. I needed to know what the hell was going on.

“Normally, this would end with just one, Frank, but it seems your wife wants to die beside you.” The man growled, and I heard him take in a deep breath. “You shouldn't even be here, this doesn't involve you.”

“You're in my house, so it involves me now.” My mother was standing her ground. “I want you to leave. Stop being a prick and just go.”

She never was one to sit back and let people walk all over her. My mom would hold her tongue for as long as she could, and she always told me that if you didn't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. But that phrase only went so far with her. Push her and eventually you'd unleash her inner bitch.

I once watched her make a grown man cry at the park. He yelled at me for taking the swing his daughter was going to use. I got up, telling him I was sorry. But he wouldn't let it go, he kept harassing me about it, calling me selfish and ungrateful.

My mom stepped in, attempting to remind him that I was just a child like his daughter and to calm down. She really did give it her best shot, but then he called me a spoiled bitch, and that was it.

By the time she was done, the man was in tears and his daughter was soothing him.

“This isn't on me, this is on your husband. All he had to do was pay me what he owed, and he didn't. He ran, he skipped town like the fucking pussy he is. He stole sixty grand from me.”

“I needed the money, I was going to pay you back. But shit got hot, the cops were starting to nose around and I had to leave before anything happened.”

“You were going to pay me? No, you used me and ran. You might as well have come into my home and stole from my family!”

“You didn't need the money, it's not like you were hurting for it. I needed everything I had, I didn't have it to give. I can get it for you in a few days, just give me that.”

“You shouldn't have shook my hand that day. That sealed your fate, Frank. Your word means shit, it'll never mean anything ever again.”

“You're really going to make me shoot you? Just go and we can both walk away from this.”

Shoot?! Why the hell would my father shoot anyone?!

Closing my eyes, I gripped the handle and turned it as quietly as I could. Peeling it open, I did my best to not make a sound. Cold air splashed against my cheeks as I poked my head inside.

My parents were standing with their backs to me, and a man I had never seen before was holding a gun up, aiming it at my father.

Oh my God. . . What the hell is going on?!

The man's eyes stayed on my father's, but my mother turned as I stuck my head inside.

“Go! Go!” Mom screamed at me instantly, and a loud pop rang out making my ears hurt. Her hands were on my shoulders before I had time to react or take in what had happened.

I heard the man yell in pain, and from the corner of my eye I saw him drop to the floor.

“Get inside! Lock the door!” Shoving my mom from behind, my dad pushed us back into the kitchen.

“You fucking dick!” the man screamed out as the door slammed shut behind us.

“Go! Go!” my dad screeched, darting forward and snagging my hand to drag me away.