The Windfall (21 page)

“He was kind and thoughtful,” I finally said, my heart aching at the thought of never seeing him again. “He always put me first and made me laugh. I really enjoyed spending time with him.

“So, did you try to look at this from his point of view? Do that, Em, and then decide if his lie was really all that bad,” my dad suggested, picking out the one thing I was wrestling with. No, he wasn’t honest with me, but had there been a good reason behind it? I tried to put myself in Cooper’s position for a moment. Why would I keep something like that from someone I cared about? Was he just a private person? I could relate to that. Was he worried I might only like him for his money if he told me about it the first day we met? If that’s the kind of person I was, I’d have just stayed with Tim. I pushed out a hard breath.

“Okay, fine. Maybe not when you put it like that,” I replied softly, thinking of all the good things I liked about Cooper. Could I trust him? Could I potentially be about to ruin something good? I needed to know why he did it. I needed to hear him tell me that it was because he was trying to protect himself and not because he just felt the need to keep things from me. I also had to find out if everything else he had told me was the truth. Then I could decide if Cooper was a man I could trust.

I looked at my dad and gave him a smile. “You always know what to say.”

“Well,” my dad replied, giving me a wink. “It’s in the job description. Besides, I heard you had a little pow wow with William, and I couldn’t let him one up me on my own daughter, now could I?”

I laughed at how competitive the two were. Leave it up to them to try to outdo each other on advice. I started to say something but was interrupted by a knock at the door. “Are you expecting company?” I asked, looking at him.

He shrugged and shook his head. I got up, wiping my hands on my jeans as I approached the door.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Cooper

The light turned red and I was forced to slam on my brakes, my heart hammering in my chest. I blew the horn and zoomed around the car suddenly stopped in front of me, glad that I had given them at least a little bit of a leeway or else I would have rear ended them. I was still trying to get to Emma’s dad’s house so that I could explain myself and beg her forgiveness. Finally, when I had found someone who had liked me for me, the money had once again slammed that door and ruined it all. I hated the money. I wished that I had never walked into that mart that day. My life was so much simpler without it. Though it had provided me with some opportunity, it was costing me probably the greatest opportunity of my life — a future with Emma.

The light turned green and I pressed the gas, looking in my rearview mirror for the car that had been tailing me for the last few minutes. Sure enough, it was back there, still following me. Damn Felix and his goon of a friend. I wasn’t about to lead them to Emma, not when I wasn’t sure what they would do to get their greedy hands on some money. I pulled over into an empty parking lot and waited as the car did the same before I jumped out, slamming the door shut behind me.

“Felix, come out and talk to me face to face!” I yelled as I approached the car. I was tired of all of this talking on the phone, these threats I was going to stop once and for all. “Get out of the car!”

The car door opened, and I prepared for a fight, unless they had a gun and then I was going to be dead before we even started. But at least I had stood up for myself. I was tired of being pushed around.

Felix’s name died on my lips as I realized that my follower was actually Emma’s ex-boyfriend, his face red with anger as he shut the car door. “I’m tired of you trying to steal my girl away,” he said, pointing a finger at me. “She’s mine, and she will always be mine.”

I started toward the guy, not believing that he was still so delusional that he couldn’t get the picture that Emma didn’t want to be with him. Hadn’t she already dumped him before I ever came into the picture? “You’re kidding, right?”

“No I am far from it,” he yelled, rolling up his sleeves of his dress shirt. “I was well on my way to getting her back before you and your billions showed up. Well, I can say I don’t have to worry about her going back to you anymore.”

“It was you,” I said, surprised. “You told her about the money.”

He grinned, looking extremely pleased with himself. “You should have seen her face. She couldn’t believe that you had lied to her. You’re no different than me, man, other than I am going to swoop in and sweep her off of her feet once more and you will be nothing but a distant memory.”

I felt the anger start to rise in my chest as I looked at him. “She will never take you back.”

“Oh, she will,” he laughed. “I will be there to pick up the pieces from you. Don’t you have a plane to catch, loser?”

“Stay away from her,” I warned, thinking this had gone on too long. “I am the man in her life now, not you. You had your chance and you blew it.”

His grin fell into a sneer, and I watched as his hands balled into fists. “I will be here long after you go back to wherever the hell you are from.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” I said firmly as he approached me closer still. I wasn’t either. I was planning on making my home here, giving the bar back home to Jane and patching things up with Emma. Oh, and getting rid of my ex-friend Felix, but I already had a plan in the works for that. “So I suggest you get your ass back in your car before things get ugly.”

“You threatening me, pretty boy?” he asked, right before he swung at me, missing my face by inches.

“I’m doing more than that,” I said. “You’ve seen where I am from and what I had to grow up in. A pansy boy like you doesn't scare me.”

“You asshole,” he said, swinging at me again.

I was able to see it coming and dodged it, too, thinking that this was getting quite ridiculous. I grabbed his fist and turned it quickly, spinning the guy down on the pavement before he realized what was happening. While I tried to stay away from trouble, it didn’t mean I hadn’t learned a thing or two on the streets growing up. There was more than enough training in between the scrapes that Felix liked to get in and the run ins with the wannabe gang members. I had protected myself pretty well in my day. “No,” I said, pinning him down with my knee. “You are the asshole and it’s about time that you realized it. I’m not going to tell you again. Leave me and Emma alone.”

He struggled under my weight but I held fast, letting him feel the hurt of his face being pressed up against the pavement, hoping he realized that this was how much he had hurt Emma. I wasn’t going to do that to her ever again, even if I had to spend a lifetime making it up to her. I cared about her too much to be hurting her in such a dumbass manner. “Promise me you will leave us alone.”

“Yeah, fine, whatever, let me up!” he yelled.

I lifted my knee off of his chest and released his hand, stepping back as he peeled himself off of the pavement. I grinned as I saw the small cuts on his face, glad that perhaps this was his wake-up call. He could go and find someone who would deal with his lies, but he couldn’t have Emma. He didn’t deserve her and lately, I didn’t either.

“Fine,” he said again before he launched himself at me. I struck him right on the side of the jaw, sending him careening against the hood of his car, my hand stinging from the force of the blow. I might have looked like a pushover, but he had brought the worst out in me. “Dude, are you never going to learn your lesson?”

He looked at me then, rubbing the side of his jaw. “I think you cracked some of my teeth!”

“I will do worse than that if you don’t get back in your damn car and drive off,” I said, anger rolling out with every word. I saw the uncertainty in his eyes and inwardly grinned, glad that I was scaring the hell out of him. I was running out of tricks to keep him down and just hoped he was tired of being beat up. My hand was throbbing, and I was sure it was going to be twice the size it should be by the end of the day.

“You know what, it’s not worth this,” he finally said, yanking his door open. “I can get any bitch I want. You can have that one.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and waited until he had peeled out of the parking lot before I took in a deep breath, flexing my aching knuckles. I hoped I had done enough to keep him away from Emma from now on. Next time, I was just going to file a restraining order.

With a sigh, I climbed back in the car, noticing the text message light was blinking on my phone. Maybe it was Emma wanting to talk. This would be the perfect time to apologize to her and beg her to take me back. I would give her whatever she wanted. Scrolling through the texts, I frowned as I saw it was a text from Felix, sent five minutes ago.

Call me
, it read. I got a funny feeling in my chest as I looked at the text message, the internal conflict on whether or not I needed to call him raging within. I knew what he wanted, and I was still on the fence whether or not to actually give him the money. It wasn’t going to solve anything, but on the other hand, I would be risking someone’s life in the process if I didn’t.

“Argh!” I yelled out, beating my fists on the steering wheel. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Hitting the send button, I held it up to ear and waited for them to answer.

“Yo.”

“Felix,” I forced out, keeping my voice as even as possible. “This is Cooper.”

“Coop! I knew you would call. This dude thought I was tripping, but I know you.”

“What do you want, Felix?” I asked, wishing he would just get to the point. We were far beyond any niceties between us now. He had overstepped the friendship boundaries a long time ago with his first attempt to fleece me out of money.

“Dude, no need to be so mean,” Felix replied, hurt actually in his voice. I wanted to beg to differ that I had plenty of reason to be mean, but I also needed to know what he wanted as well. “Listen, I got something to tell you.”

“Felix, if this is about the money,” I started, making up my mind. He could threaten me or those I cared about all he wanted to. I had my mind made up and I wasn’t going to be bullied into blackmail constantly. I was going to make a stand on this and let him know that I wasn’t scared of him or the rest of his gang friends.

“Wait, Coop, before you say anything,” Felix interrupted. “I got someone here that wants to talk to you.”

“Cooper?”

I froze as I heard Emma’s shaky voice on the other end, all of my well-laid words going by the wayside. “Emma?”

“Cooper,” she said with some relief in her voice. “I don’t know who these people are but they say that they know you. They are here at my dad’s house and Cooper; th-they have guns.”

I felt my rage exploded internally, my hands literally starting to shake as I realized that Felix had gone after Emma and her ill father. All because of some money. “Are you okay?” I asked, my voice barely constrained.

“W-we are okay,” she replied. “Just hurry, Cooper, and give them whatever they want to make them go away.”

“I’m coming for you, Emma,” I said into the phone, already cranking the engine.

“Dude, how’d you bag that babe? She is hot.”

“Felix,” I growled. “If you lay one hand on her or her father, I will kill you with my bare hands. You got that?”

“Relax, Coop,” Felix laughed, though I could hear the uncertainty in his voice and I wondered if he thought that maybe, just maybe, he had overstepped a dangerous line. Well, he had and he was going to pay for it. “We aren’t going to harm your pretty little girlfriend or her dad. We just want the money.”

“Felix, how the hell did you even know I was out here? And how the hell did you find me or Emma for that matter? This is way beyond your pay-grade,” I wanted to try to keep him on the phone. The longer he talked to me, the less attention he would pay to Emma and her dad.

“How we found you doesn’t matter, Coop. But once Axe saw you with your girl here, we followed her. I know you, Coop. Always putting others before yourself. Kinda figured your girl would fit into that.”

I heard some commotion in the background and felt my heart drop into my stomach. Was I about to hear a gunshot?

A different voice rang through the phone. “I ain’t as nice as F-bomb here. Bring the money or I will hurt your girl and her daddy dearest here.”

I recognized the voice from the first phone call and gripped the steering wheel tightly in my hand, itching to get them around this guy’s neck. Axe, I presumed. “What do you want?”

“One million,” he said automatically. “Or you will be finding some dead bodies.”

I heard Emma sob in the background and felt the urge to throw something or punch something really hard in anger and frustration. I had caused this. I had gotten her into this mess and now her life was in danger.

“That’s going to take me some time,” I finally said tightly. “I need several hours at least.” It was getting on three o’clock in the afternoon and attempting to get that kind of cash was going to prove difficult.

“I’ll give you three,” Axe said with a sneer. “Don’t call the cops either. One even comes around this house I’ll blow the father’s head off and then I will have some fun with yo girl.” He then hung up and I threw the phone into the seat, my entire body trembling in anger. “Shit!” I yelled in the interior of the car. This was not what I had thought was going to happen this morning when I woke up. I had some serious issues going on in my life and now I had two hours to figure out how in god’s name I was going to get one hundred thousand dollars.

Should I involve the police? The thug of course had said not to but how was he going to know? I couldn’t let them get away with this. I couldn’t let them just walk out with the money after threatening Emma’s life and that of her dad’s. It wasn’t right and they should never be able to do this to anyone else again.

I threw the car in drive and pulled out onto the highway, ignoring the honks of the cars around me. I had two hours to fix this.

* * * * *

“So you say that this guy is from the East Coast? Why in hell would he be coming all the way out here to get money from you?”

I sighed in frustration as I looked at the detective across from me, wishing that he would just trust that this was going on and help me. For the last hour, I had been sitting at his desk while I told my story, seeing his expression go from incredulous to downright unsure. Right now he was somewhere in the middle. “I don’t know, Detective, but I have two people who are depending on me to make an appearance in an hour to save their lives. Are you really going to have me at this desk knowing that I could be telling the truth?”