"You want my money?"
His voice cracked with emotion. In that single instant I watched his face get transformed by hurt. He became this utterly depleted man, the spark in his eyes fizzling out into complete blankness.
"Of course you do." He scoffed, running his fingers through his hair. "How much do you want?" His whole tone with me changed, like I disgusted him and tears brimmed behind my eyes, I felt ashamed of myself.
I couldn't explain it to him, it would complicate things. Put River in danger of Hendrix and his men. I didn't know of Rivers enemies, I knew nothing about his life anymore. Did he defeat his stepbrother? Would him knowing he had a child put Everly in even more danger?
No.
This was going to be a quick in and out visit.
He would hopefully give me money and then Everly and I would be on our way, all debts paid in a simple exchange. We would be safe.
"Five hundred thousand dollars."
I hid the tremble in my voice, he didn't even flinch at that amount, he just stared at me for a long moment. A hollow pit of guilt opened up in my tummy.
"I'm sorry, okay? I wouldn't have come here if I wasn't desperate. I really need this money River, remember when you really needed money? I was there for you." His glare hardened on me, I just used his past against him, that was a low move.
"I wasn't aware I was indebted to you for that. My mistake. This way Ms Barnes, my cheque books are in my office and we'll get this straightened out so you can be on your way."
He stated that flatly, icicles forming between us at how cold he was being. With one hand he gestured towards the elevator. The little call button illuminated with a blue circle and once the doors slid open I followed him in.
He didn't press a single number on the keypad, instead he typed in his own code and smoothly the tiny space lifted up the shaft.
I was enclosed inside a block of metal, the space felt extremely small and suffocating, especially with the tension crackling between us. I could taste it on my tongue, bitter like salt.
His mere presence was so powerful it shifted the air entirely. Like magnetic energy. I was breathing him in, his essence, how much I missed him. How much I still wanted him.
Shyly, I looked at him. His eyes two heavy, shadowy weights on me. I felt naked.
"You're much better these days, you know with your claustrophobia?" I gave him an uncomfortable half-smile but he tightened his jaw muscles and fixated his glare straight ahead.
The elevator pinged and when the doors slid open I finally felt like I could breathe again.
His office was huge, walls of glass looking out over the entire skyline. He typed in another code on the wall and some fancy framed painting popped open to reveal a vault. River used a handprint detector to open that vault.
I stepped closer, curious.
It was like Narnia inside that thing. He had shelves of boxes labelled confidential, real life gold blocks and several guns. He licked his finger and gathered up a scatter of different papers in his hand, then he backed up and closed the vault.
He leaned over his desk, writing in his little cheque book and then pushed the check across the table. "Here's five hundred thousand dollars."
I went to grab it but he slammed another sheet of paper down over the top of it and so I snatched my hand back.
"This is a contract, I want you to sign it. It explicitly states that you won't ask or accept anymore money from myself or my company after this. You will proceed to leave town and never bother me again."
