Indecent Pawn: What price is too high to pay for another person’s debt? (5 page)

“You are damn right you will pay me back with interest for my troubles. The question is how? With what collateral will you buy some time with?”

“My wife?” Derek said eagerly like he just thought of the million dollar answer.

“Your wife?” The man by the name of Mr. Mucciono questioned. From the tone of his question, Allison could tell he was frowning. “What the fuck do I need with your homely wife? She’s battered and bruised already from your hands I’m sure.” Allison didn’t quite understand what she could possibly have to do with this and how she could be of assistance to this man. Especially hearing him talk about her as if she were a piece of bad property. Nothing. Homely. Broken piece of nothing.

“Take her as collateral.”

“W-what?” Allison questioned. The room was starting to spin. None of this made sense. There was no way he would just give her away like she was puppy being dropped off at the pound. With all the eyes on her, she had tuned out the conversations going on around them. This had to be a nightmare. It just had to be.

Antonio was more than pleased when they brought back the current thorn in his side. Dealing with a debt of this magnitude had been obsolete for some time now. The hands he sent to fetch him did a little number on the boy. He was knocked out cold on the hard slab of concrete. His suit was a tad bit wrinkled, probably from the trunk ride from the next state over. The audacity of this punk to think he could borrow money and not have to pay it back. What kind of fuckery did he think he was dealing with? When they drug him out of the casino he only had ten measly thousand dollars left to his name. That wouldn’t even tickle the amount that is owed to the family.

“Wake up!” Gio kicked Mr. Myers to wake him from his peaceful slumber. Antonio had just arrived to see Gio approaching from the rear. His guess was that he was checking on the guest appearance.

“…” Groans was coming from the worthless body. “Where am I?” He jumped to defense when the cold water hit his face.

“Your location doesn’t matter at the moment.” Antonio said calmly. “Where is my money?”

“Mr. Mucciono…?”

“I ask the questions and you answer. Understand?”

“Yes sir.”

“WHERE IS MY MONEY?”

“I don’t have it yet.”

“What were the terms of the loan and bet?”

“All bets settled at the end of the night. The loan was to be completed by the weekend.”

“Please enlighten me on the other bet you made across town.”

“Sir…”

“Stop. Before you begin with your excuses let me break it down for you one time. As I am sure you know I hate repeating myself. I ask the questions and you answer them, capisce?” Antonio cut off the man’s rant. They were all the same. Same excuses different corpse when it’s all said and done. “The other bet?”

“Yes sir. I thought it would be a way to gain back the money quicker. I placed half with Paolo and the other half with Lucian.”

“Did you not think that would be a conflict? Since you are quite seasoned in the gambling world. What is something like that called?”

“Betting on both sides of the pond.”

“You lost one and won one. That’s the way the cookie crumbles. Now I ask again. WHERE IS MY MONEY?!” Just then the woman of the hour walked up with his men. He had the wife snatched in hopes of him coughing up his funds.

Antonio turned his attention from the prick in front of him to the timid woman who seemed afraid of her own shadow. Speaking to the woman is what snapped the man out of his fuming. He was staring at the woman like he wanted to inflict some serious pain upon her. When her head snapped up at his bark is when Antonio saw apparently he already had.

For some odd reason that pissed him off terribly. Women that put up with this sort of treatment was a waste of air to him. Low self-esteem females was a turn off completely. She was dressed in some very unappealing clothing, her hair was damaged, and her face was the playground for bullies. The back and forth had gone on to a point where the sniveling woman was starting to become damn near annoying.

When he first bartered his wife in turn for more time to get the money that he owes, Antonio wanted to shoot him in the head and say to hell with it. Three hundred and fifty thousand dollars’ worth of reasons is what’s saving his pathetic life. No way in hell was this woman worth that much money. From what he could tell just from looking at her, she wasn’t too much to look at. She had potential if she wasn’t so sickly looking but other than that nothing. Even if it wasn’t nice to judge a book by its cover, her cover is doing a good ass job at concealing anything other than a punching bag.

“Boss?” Gio snapped Antonio out of his silent pondering. “My suggestion?” He quietly asked if he wanted to hear what he had to say. One thing about Antonio is that he valued his right hands opinions when it came to business and personal arrangements. He was not only his employee he was his best friend and brother before any of the Don talk came up.

“By all means.” Antonio said equally as low never taking his eyes off the barter chip.

“Take the collateral.”

“I am assuming there is more to this than what you are willing to say here.”

“Of course.”

“This isn’t a dick move is it?”

“Never. My dick and I don’t agree on a lot.”

“This had better be good.”

“Have I ever let you down thus far?”

“Fine.”

“Tell your wife goodbye.” Antonio said gruffly with a scowl on his face.

“NO!” The woman shouted.

“Shut her up or I will.” He threatened as an afterthought.

“Allison! Quiet now!”

“D-Derek please. How can you be alright with this? What have you done?”

“Don’t question me, just do as I say.”

“There has to be another way. Why must I pay for your bad luck? Why must I pay for your sins?” No sooner than that left her mouth did the weak man slap the whiney woman with such force she fell in a heap on the floor.

“You will do as Mr. Mucciono says without back talk. Once I pay him back it will be all over. Just be a good girl and comply. It’s no different than being home. Do you understand?”

“…”

“Answer me.”

“Yes Derek.”

“You have sixty days to come up with my money. I don’t give a damn how you do it, just do it.” Antonio said calmly. “Take her to the Estates.” He ordered his men that were standing guard.

“Yes sir.” Assisting the woman to her feet they ushered her out of the meeting area.

“Don’t try anything stupid. As you know, I am everywhere and I hear everything. Don’t fuck me over.”

“Yes sir, Mr. Mucciono.”

“Oh and one other thing. You’re fired.”

“W-what?”

“You think I will let you pay me back with my money. What the hell sense does that make? Find your own way but it better be by the deadline.”

“Knock him out and get him out of here.” Antonio ordered his boys that brought him in. The weasel tried to block the blows but that didn’t help. “Weak ass.” He grumbled leaving the premises as well. He needed to give out the rest of his orders for his newly acquired package.

*****

“Mrs. Myers, we haven’t been formally introduced. I am Antonio Mucciono. Welcome to my home. My apologies that it isn’t under better circumstances.” Antonio greeted. “Were your accommodations acceptable?” She had just awaken from what seemed to be a pretty peaceful night’s sleep.

“Y-yes sir.” She stopped to fidget with the bed sheet.

“One thing you will learn from me is that I require eye to eye contact when I am in conversation with another.” Antonio stated with a smirk playing on his lips. “Let us try this again. Shall we?” Having only watched her sleep for the last ten minutes gave him time to assess his collateral. She had potential to be pretty decent.

“Yes sir.” She finally raised her head as she was requested. Now looking at her face that had been cleaned free of tears and other embarrassing fluids, he saw how bad the bruises looked even against her light brown sugar skin tone. Obviously her loving husband had done a number on her.

He had his workers bring her to his home out in the country. Once they arrived she was instructed to take a much needed shower so that her worn clothes could be discarded. Until other clothes could be acquired he had them dress her in one of his button down shirts and boxers from one of his charity boxes. Antonio had to admit she made that shirt look sexy as hell. If it weren’t for her terrible posture she would make him look twice. The slouch in her back made her breast look saggy. As if she could read his mind she pulled the cover snugger against her body. Unbeknownst to her she had nothing to worry about in that department. With all the willing pussy in the world taking some that has probably seen better days didn’t sound so appealing.

“Good. There are things that you may need to know about me but I doubt if you ever will actually get all the answers that you seek. I am a fair, straight-forward type of man. I don’t put up with liars, bull-shitters, and I absolutely hate procrastinators. Loyalty is a must. If pushed wrong, of course danger will become prevalent. Do you follow me so far?”

“Yes sir.”

“Now as you probably already figured out, you are my property for now until I say otherwise.” At that revelation, he saw her physically tremble from his words. “To settle a debt of this magnitude I can use you anyway I see fit. Still with me?” Instead of answering she simply nodded as a tear fell from her eye. Trying to contain her unfazed exterior, she quickly wiped it away.

“To keep from using blunt force or tactical measures, I fully expect you to cooperate willingly.” He stopped again to wager her comprehension of the matter at hand. “Some would say this type of slavery is barbaric and downright cruel. Frankly I could give a rat’s ass what other’s think. Three-hundred and fifty thousand reasons leads me to believe this is a unprejudiced settlement. Do you have any questions thus far?”

“What will you do with me?”

“That I haven’t quite decided yet but when I figure it out, you will be one of the first to know.”

“…” Nodding her response to his answer, they were interrupted by knocking on the guest bedroom door. His right hand emerged carrying a manila envelope. Antonio noticed that she quickly lowered her head back to her chest as Gio fully walked in.

“I have the information you required.”

“Great thanks.”

“Mrs. Myers, I will have the kitchen staff bring you a bite to eat. We will continue this meet and greet after a very important meeting. And remember, if you try any type of escape, my guards won’t hesitate in putting a bullet through your heart. In which I will feed the remnants to my Rottweiler’s out back.” Antonio said all of this to end it with a dazzling smile. At the horror written all over her face, it made even Gio chuckle inside.

“Y-yes sir.”

~

“The Rottweiler’s? Really?” Gio questioned as they walked down the hall to his home office.

“Just a precaution.”

“She looks like she has had enough of an ass whooping in her day. I don’t think she would risk going against anything you say. It’s evident she has heard that you could possibly be a very dangerous man. I’m pretty sure that poor excuse of a husband has bragged about his powerful boss to put more fear into her heart.”

“What would make you think that?”

“My own personal research of course.”

“And what did you find?”

“Mrs. Myers tried to escape her hostile marriage only to be carted back by her beloved husband. Obviously the emergency room visit on that occasion was a warning to never try that again. One of our very own tracked her down in a matter of minutes.”

“Let me guess, Brian.”

“You would be correct. The cousin of a cousin through marriage.” Gio joked and successfully gained a chuckle from Antonio.

“If it wasn’t for my mother, I would have killed him a long time ago. Always into some mess.”

“Well this is no different. He has been bragging about a certain young woman to a few others. Because he is such a liar, I don’t know what all is true.”

“Surely Myers would have killed the woman if he even suspected her of being unfaithful.”

“Not if he was in on it.”

“No?”

“Let Brian tell it.” Antonio took in all of what Gio had to say including the bullshit his family member had to add to the scenario. Something just didn’t sit right. Although he doesn’t know this woman from a can of paint, she still doesn’t seem like the type. He is normally pretty good with calling peoples cards so he was sure if she was with Brian, she was forced. Then again he knew from personal experience that women are some sneaky and unpredictable creatures.

“There’s something else that I think would be beneficial in the long run.”

“What is that?”

“She was quite sneaky…”

“All women are sneaky.” Antonio cut Gio off.

“Perhaps. This time however it was for a positive reason.” Gio opened the file he carried and slid it across to Antonio. “She was enrolled in the community college under her maiden name. After her classes she would run to the market in that area as a cover. She only had a few classes she had that was required she attend personally. All of the others were online classes. While she worked online with her school work on a computer she snagged at a neighborhood yard sale, the household computer was on recipe sites. Home decorating sites and things of that nature. My thoughts are just in case he decided to do some checking up on her. Which I have records of him doing that as well through the security system and firewall set up on the computer.”

“It says here that she would be graduating this year. She has only been in school for almost two years.”

“Correct again. She is a smart cookie just wrapped up with the wrong man.”

“How the hell did a smart girl as she seems on paper end up with that low-life?”

“As you see in her file she is a foster kid that has no one and nothing to her name. Well up until she would receive her degree. Most women strive to be a kept woman, in her case all she wanted was just a little freedom. She was forced into being a kept woman. It’s pretty obvious she was fooled into thinking she had a prince charming but he turned out to be a bullfrog.”