Bait

XI

Marching into my room on day fourteen I was surprised to see Charles without his lap dog, the Hulk.

"Afternoon Richards, it's time for that debt to start getting paid off."

I gulped as I stood up from where I was laying down. Straightening out my old ratted clothes I chanted to myself that I was strong and that I could handle whatever Charles was about to tell me.

Sitting down across from him, Charles reached out and slided a manila folder across the table. I heard it swish towards me and I used my right hand to stop it flying straight off the edge.

"Your Father stole $2 million from me so it's only fair you help me get back $2 million that is currently in debt."

I forced myself to not laugh, but a slight giggle escaped my lips. "So i'm your debt collector then?"

Charles straightened up in his chair and his piercing eyes connected with mine. No matter what Charles had told me, it was still hard to believe that my Dad was a thief.

My Dad stole Costco food samples, not money. But the evidence was stacking up against Dad so in the best interest for my own safety and those of my family back home, I had to accept what Charles had embedded into my brain.

"Sweetheart, i'd say your more like bait to me than a debt collector," he said as I slowly opened the folder to find multiple files and photos.

I picked up a photo of a blonde headed man before showing it to Charles while pulling a 'continue talking, you idiot' face.

"Uh, yes, straight to business I see. Well, we have been hunting down this man for a number of weeks but we have had no sightings. I believe he has been keeping a low profile which may have been why my men or surveillance are having trouble locating him. One thing I know is that he is a regular at a club down south so I want to stake out the club and send you in to find him."

Hold up, did he just say what I thought he just said, "you want me to what?"

Charles' patience was soon wearing off, "you've seen what he looks like now, so were going to send you to the bar to see if he's there. I can't send in my men, this guy will run and we'd lose him again but if you chatted him up he'd be dumb and clueless."

I understood what Charles wanted me to do but was I seriously prepared to do this. I had no idea what I was doing and even still didn't know what this guy did that put them on Charles' radar and in debt.

"What did this guy do? I'm not going in looking for a murderer!"

Charles burst out laughing, when his laughs eventually stopped Charles looked at me and smirked, "fortunate for you, this man isn't a murderer."

I still wasn't pleased with his response, "well what exactly are you hunting him down for?"

"Princess, my secrets are my secrets. The less you know the better."

"Well i'm not helping you unless I know what i'm getting in return," I said straightening my back to help make me look more intimidating.

"You do a couple of things like this for me and then I will release you." A couple of things? So I had to do this more than once?