Captive

Chapter Six

For a moment they just looked at one another, green eyes locked with brown ones but then she bowed her head, afraid of what she saw there. If she had hoped that he might be merciful she was to be disappointed when she met his gaze, seeing nothing but hostility in it. Her fingers reached to her throat, feeling her familiar gold chain there which she never removed but then they dropped. She had no desire to draw his attention to it. He tilted his head back, his mouth drawn in a thin line of dislike, his eyes narrowed as if trying to work out why she was here. But where else could she be once she had discovered the lengths her father had gone to? He'd borrowed in excess of fifty thousand dollars and when repayment letters came through he'd burnt them, ignored them. Finally when the men who surrounded her chair arrived at the house he had promised to pay, but then instead had gone into a drug fuelled rage and attacked the man who had given him the loan, the man whose son was standing over her, his arms folded across his chest, biceps twitching and eyes full of anger. She had heard that Bret's father had been moved into a home, the  damage from the injuries her father had given him significant and a concern he might never heal from them. She wondered why they had not simply killed Michael for what he had done but then she recalled her stepmother telling her long ago that they always operated just on the right side of the law. Killing someone was most definitely not that. Michael had wept when he realised what he had done, begged her to put it right said he wasn't in his right mind and was getting help. That was when she had offered herself up to pay off the debt, saying she would work for them, do whatever was needed. She'd even offered to care for the old man if he was able to come home, though for now that didn't look likely.

The four men took chairs around the fire place, surrounding her and for now none of them spoke to her. Instead they talked over her, their voices deep and low as they gave Bret their updates. It was strange to be discussed as if she were an object but she made no noise of protest, just sat silently, her arms wrapped around herself, conscious of his presence in the chair opposite to her, those dark eyes flickering across to her every now and again with barely concealed contempt.

"She didn't cause any fuss boss," said Davey. "Was quiet as a mouse through the whole contract signing and accepted every clause in it."

"Yeah she's essentially agreed to be your slave for the foreseeable future," Brian agreed, a huge grin splitting his face.

"Only thing she asked for was a weekly check in with her old man," Owen said. Bret considered this and then shook his head.

"No," he said, firmly. Her head shot up at this and she opened her mouth as if she would speak but at the look on his face she fell silent. "No point in taking her away from him if she then goes to see him once a week."

"Please sir, he is very sick," she said softly, her voice startling them all.

"No he isn't sick, he's a fucking addict," Bret replied,the disgust plain in his voice.

"Which is a type of illness and..."

"Shut the fuck up," he said coldly and she immediately fell silent in the face of his very obvious disdain. He turned his attention back to his men. "Michael Callaway is to be left alone now, nobody goes near him for any reason. All the time she is here, doing what she's told he is off our radar. But if she leaves all bets are off and we haul his ass down here and he settles the debt he owes one way or another. Everyone clear on that?"

"Yes boss," they all said,  but then Owen looked across at him.

"How was Dad today?" he asked. For a moment a flicker of the old Bret appeared in his features as his gaze softened and a small smile crept across his lips.

"I thought better but you know? Sometimes I guess you see what you want to see. They're still not happy for him to come home. He'll need a fair amount of rehabilitation and the shock of it all, well it's effected his mind they think. I'm just glad Mom wasn't here to see what happened to him." The hard look returned to his gaze and Juliet looked away from him, her heart thudding in her chest. She knew that Bret's mom had passed a couple of years ago suddenly to a short illness, had even sent him a card when it happened. Now the act seemed foolish at best, as even then her own father had been draining Stu of all his resources, borrowing money to pay for treatments for his wife that were hokie at best and no doubt paying for the drugs he had used to numb the pain of watching his wife fade away.