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“What are you talking about?”
“You see, I know things about Laura’s past, too.”
“Her files were sealed.”
“But her father’s lips weren’t. He just wanted to help his poor, delinquent child. But you knew nothing about that, did you?”
I chewed the inside of my cheek, hoping to keep my face blank. But I was angry that he knew about Laura’s past before I did.
“Her past is her own. Her father shouldn’t have told you that.”
“Right. But maybe she should have told you about applying to graduate school. Do you know she got accepted?”
Laura mentioned nothing about that. Why didn’t she tell me? “How do you know this?”
He shook his head. “You keep asking me the wrong questions.”
“And you keep avoiding mine,” I shouted. “Enough of your head games. Tell me the truth. Why did you drop the charges against Laura? Did you hear I spoke to your cop and found out how dirty he was? Were you afraid I’d expose him and you?”
“Whatever you found wouldn’t have been admissible in court.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that. It’s for a judge to decide.”
“No. I dropped the charges for other reasons.”
I swallowed, my gut twisted in my insides, knowing before he said the words that I wouldn’t like them.
“I discovered Laura has many talents that could be more useful to me outside of prison.”
I stood up and pointed at him. “You stay away from her. Do you hear me?”
He smiled, and my stomach dropped.
“You asked me to drop the charges and now I have. The way I see it, you owe me a favor and in my business favors are far more valuable than money.”
“If you’re expecting some sort of gratitude on my behalf, you’ll be disappointed. I will never thank you for doing the right thing and keeping an innocent woman out of prison. I will not thank you for putting your nose in my business and Laura’s life. And I definitely won’t thank you for holding this over my head because as far as I’m concerned, we are done.”
I turned to leave.
“We’re not done, Ryan,” he said in a low voice. “We’ve only just begun.”
“I will never speak to you again. Stay away from me and stay away from Laura.”
A heartbeat passed before he replied, “We’ll see.”
I slammed the front door behind me and let the sound vibrate through me. A chill ran down my back, most likely from the crispness of the air, but I couldn’t help the hairs that prickled at the back of my neck. I worried those had nothing to do with the cold.
*
My head pounded along with the knocking on the door. I ducked under the covers and slammed a pillow over my head.
Bam, Bam, Bam!
“Go away,” I murmured under the sheets, hoping the sound would somehow carry to whoever was pounding at my door.
But the knocking just got louder.
Bam, Bam, Bam!
