Healing hearts

Chapter thirty two

Xander's pov

I was so furious. How dare Ryan and Shawn go to my house and bother Cassie? I couldn't believe them. I was so mad, I drove like a crazy man to the club they were at. I stormed in and went straight to the VIP section where they were. I grabbed Ryan by his shirt, but Shawn pulled me away from him.

"How dare you guys go to my home?" I yelled. "How many times do I have to tell you to stay the f--- away from me and my family?"

"We were looking for you," Shawn said.

"For what?" I asked. "I don't want anything to do with either of you anymore."

"Relax, man," Ryan said. "We're in trouble. We need to get our hands on a million dollars or we could be killed."

"Screw you," I said. "Maybe the world would be a better place without you scumbags."

"Shut up, okay?" Ryan said, pushing me. "Don't act like a saint, okay?"

"Look," Shawn said, his tone threatening. "We're asking nicely. Give us the money."

"No," I said, my voice firm.

"You'll regret this, Smith," Ryan said. "After all we did for you in college. You're a traitor, and you're a bastard.

"I know what would make you change your mind," Shawn said, his voice low. "Your wife. You both hid the fact that you raped her, isn't it? , if you don give us the money I will expose you and the truth about your marriage and how you forced her to marry you."

I felt a chill go down my spine. I couldn't let them use that to threaten me.

"You have no proof of that," I said. "And even if you did, I would just deny the allegations. You have nothing against me."

They both looked furious. Then they attacked me, trying to grab my wallet. I fought them off and ran away as fast as I could.

They ran after me, but I was faster. I ran outside, looking for somewhere to hide in the alley backyard of the club then  I saw a group of men dragging Brian into a van.

I was shocked, and went to fight them off.

"Smith! Get out of here!" Brian shouted.

"No, I'm not leaving you with them," I said. "Who are they?"

One of them brought out a gun and I stopped fighting and held my hands up in surrender.

"You want to play hero, huh?" one of them said. "You're going to regret this."

He hit me on the head with his gun, and everything went black as I passed out and when I woke up, I was in what looked like a den which stinks.

I looked around and saw Brian beside me, beaten up and tied.

"You shouldn't have tried to fight those guys," he said weakly. "Now they're going to kill us both."

"What's going on, Brian?" I asked. "Who are these guys, and what did they want with you?"

He sighed. "I borrowed money from this guy to finance the company," he said. "I didn't want you to provide the money, so I took a loan from him. He promised to give me time to pay it back, but then he had conditions, which I refused. And he got mad. So now we're here," he said and I sighed angrily.

"How could you do that, Brian?" I asked, my voice rising in anger. "I was willing to give you the money. Do you hate me so much that this seemed like a better option to you?"

"I'm sorry," he said. "It was a foolish mistake, and I regret it now, and I've involved you. Cassie will never forgive me."

I thought of her, and how worried she must be right now. I sighed in frustration.

"What are they going to do to us?" I asked. "Are they going to kill us?"

"They are definitely going to kill me" he said , "but I don't  know what they would do with you".

Then, a man who looked like a drug lord - and two other men I recognized from the kidnapping - came to us.

"It's nice to see the traitor is awake," he said to Brian, looking at me slowly. "Who's this?" he asked his men.

"We're sorry, boss," they said. "He was sticking his nose in our business, and he already saw our faces. We couldn't let him go. We had to bring him. We were sure you would decide what to do with him."

"How many times have I warned you two to be careful when doing these jobs for me?" the man said, his voice low and menacing.

"We're sorry," they said again.

He sighed, and then his gaze turned back to me. I looked at him. "I know Brian owes you a lot of money," I said. "Tell me how much he owes, and I'll write a check. Then you'll let us go."

"What makes you think that money will solve all of this?" he asked. "Brian dug himself a deep hole that he can't get out of, and now you've unfortunately fallen into the same hole."

"Run a background check on him," the man said, looking at me. "I want to know what fool would risk their life for Brian James."

Then they all left and I felt a rush of pain and anger. What were they going to do with us? I couldn't help but cry, feeling hopeless.