Switchblade

Chapter 6: She Comes With Me

Killian checked his watch for the third time that day.

"Do you have somewhere to be?" Doc asked.
"Yea."
"Where?"
"To get your money."
"And what will you do if she doesn't have it?"
"She owns a restaurant. I'll make her sell it and give me the money."
"And if she disagrees?" Doc tested him.
"Then she'll have to find a new job." He wouldn't touch her, but that didn't mean he wouldn't damage everything else.

The door was knocked on.

"Enter." Doc permitted.

Waylon walked inside. "Good afternoon, sir. Other sir." he said and bowed his head.
"What do you need, Waylon?" Doc asked.
He walked over with his tablet and stylus. He faced it towards Doc.

"Almost everyone has returned their money. Or was...dealt with accordingly and their home has been bought by you and will be sold soon enough. You're back on track at a..." he looked closely. "213 million dollar net worth."
"How do they like the women?" Killian asked.
Waylon thought about it. He realized his boss's nephew meant the new women at their club who served as waitresses. "Ah. Since then we have gotten more money in Club 2, but not as much as Club 1. About a 15% increase."
"15%?" Doc questioned. "That all? What, did you hire butterfaces?"
"Well...in terms of how much you were already earning, it's not a bad amount..." Waylon stated.
Doc leaned over the table and looked at Waylon. "But it's not how much I want. Are you tryin' to tell me I should just be grateful I got anything?"
"N-No, sir. I was just...hoping you didn't think it was anything cheap. The club makes around $25,000 a night."
"Not good enough."
Waylon nodded.

Killian checked his watch again.
"Sun should be setting." he said and stood up. "Tell Kanan and Teo to meet me downstairs. We got an errand to run."
He began walking out of the office.
"Yes, sir."

Waylon took out his phone to start texting.

"That bitch better have my money." Doc stated.

~•~

Denise was teary eyed as she went through all of the furniture looking for left over cash. Anything. Ones, fives, tens, quarters, it didn't matter.

Tati came into the kitchen to look for a snack and her mother stopped crying.
Tati looked up from her phone.
"Tati..."
"Mom, what's wrong?"
"I'm sorry, but do you...do you have any cash? Any at all. Any little bit will do."
"What? Maybe? Why, what happened?"

Denise heard footsteps approaching her door and a shadow cascaded in front of the curtain thanks to the evening sun.
She started crying again and panicked with her hands holding her face. She was sweating and didn't know what to do.

He began to knock.

Denise hurried to her bedroom.

Tati was confused and concerned but went to the door to answer it.

Once it opened she saw three large men standing in front of her.
"Is Denise here?" Killian asked. His eyes scanned down Tati's body as a cigarette rested between his lips.
"Why?" Tati asked. "Who the fuck are you?" She believed there was no way this was the restaurant suite's landlord. He had two goons with him and he was in a suit with no tie. No landlord dresses so professionally.

"I'm here!" Denise yelled as she hurried out of her room. She'd stuffed all the cash she had into a small bag. "Tati, go to your room."
"What?" Tati asked.
"Go to your room! Please!" Denise begged.
Tati eyed the man in front of her again, questioning him as he looked at and adjusted the cuffs of his dress shirt.
She turned around and started to walk off. Killian's eyes followed her.

The men stepped inside, uninvited and shut the door.

"I-I got as much as I could." she said and held the bag out. "It's a little less than $15,000."
"You owed me fifty." he responded.
"I-..." she sniffed. "I couldn't get $50,000 in a week. I tried! Please! Let me have another week and I'll get the rest!"
"No, you won't." he sighed.
She gasped in defeat. Her eyes full of tears as she stared at him.
"What else do you have?"
"Huh?"
"That's worth $50,000. What do you have?"
"Um...Um...You can have my car!" she offered. "I'll give you my car! I left the keys around here somewhere." She looked around to find them.
"That piece of shit ain't worth the amount you got in that bag."
Denise's tears streamed down her cheeks.

He came up with a new idea.

"I'll tell you what..." he began. He took his cigarette between two fingers and scratched the side of his nose.
"You're a restaurant owner, right? That what you told me?"
"Y-...Yes...?"
"You got a month to sell it and bring me the money."
Denise's eyes widened. "Wh-What?"
"And for collateral..." he hit his cigarette again as he looked around the house. "They're gonna go get your daughter and she's gonna come with me. How's that sound?"
"N-No! NO! No, I can get the money! Please! No, please! I can't! You can't make me do any of those, please!" Denise cried.

"Go get her." Killian instructed.
The men walked off and Denise grabbed onto one of them, she pulled at his sleeve but he was too strong and kept walking. She cried harder.

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS! PLEASE! I DIDN'T KNOW!" she cried and looked up at him. "Please! I'll sell it! I'll sell it and I'll sell my car! Please don't take her! PLEASE!"

Denise heard her daughter's door break open and she grabbed onto Killian's suit to beg harder.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Tati shouted as two men entered her room. "GET THE FUCK OU-...HEY!" They latched onto her and began pulling her out of the room. She screamed in fear. "LET ME GO! LET ME FUCKING GO! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!"
They held tightly as she squirmed in their grasps to get free.
Her eyes watered in terror but she continued to fight back.

"TAKE IT!" Denise demanded and slammed the bag into Killian's chest. "TAKE IT! JUST DON'T TAKE HER! I'LL SELL THE HOUSE, PLEASE!" she shouted.

She listened to Tati's screams as she was held by the two men.
"MOOOOMM! MAMA!" she shouted through tears. Her legs swung hard enough that her slippers began to fly off. One of the men bent down to grab them.
Denise cried and watched. "Let her go...please...!" she cried exhaustedly.
"Sell it." Killian instructed.
"OKAY! I'LL SELL THE RESTAURANT! JUST PLEASE LET HER GO!"
Tati heard. "WHAT?! NO!" she shouted. "NO! DON'T SELL IT!"
She started being dragged out of the house.
"I'll sell it." Denise nodded to Killian. "Please let her go..."
"IF YOU SELL IT I WON'T FUCKING FORGIVE YOU! DON'T TOUCH IT!" Tati yelled. "I'LL HATE YOU FOREVER! DON'T SELL IT, MOM, PLEASE!"
Denise knew her daughter was taking the situation too lightly. If selling the restaurant was the only way to get her home then that was what she'd do.

Killian flicked his cigarette out and stepped on it.
"However long you take is how long we keep her. You take over half a year and she dies. You call the police? She dies." He turned around and walked out of the house.

Denise fell to her knees and cried with her hands and head on the floor.

Killian followed his goons to the car as she still fought them to let her go.
He walked over to her and watched her fight.
She spit in his face. "What the fuck are you looking at?! Is this the shit you do?! Kidnap people?! You fucking weirdo! Let me go!" she yelled but was only continuously forced into the car until she'd gotten in and one goon sat at one side to keep her there while the other shut the door.
He offered his boss a handkerchief.

But instead Killian wiped the spit with his thumb.
"She seems dumb, doesn't she?" he asked and looked at the wetness on the pad of it. He wiped it on Kanan's jacket before opening the passenger seat and getting inside.