Never Ever ✔️

Chapter 37

The money represented years of savings. By Fifteen thousand dollars ,She could buy a new house back in Punjab. She knew the importance of money being born  into a lower Middle Class Indian family, She had worked very hard to earn that amount. But Reet had approached Klaus and confronted him about something that wasn’t technically any of her business, and now she was paying for it. Literally. She’d made him aware, put ideas in his head, and made herself, Varun, and especially Gia, vulnerable. If she’d just kept her mouth shut, none of this would be happening. It was her fault, and now she had to fix it.

Paying him to go away wasn’t wise, but she didn’t know what else to do, and deep down, she hoped Klaus would have enough shame and selfishness that he would take the money and go, never to be seen again. If that happened, it would be money well spent.

She went to the bank and withdrew the funds, trying to quiet the nervous quake beneath her skin, but she didn’t give the money to Klaus right away.

Reet wouldn’t be giving him a dime until he was officially gone. She sat silently by as he gave his two-week notice and set the staff at Niyasa into a tizzy. No one wanted Klaus to go. For a week, it was all anyone talked about. Saloon's owner even offered him a raise and ten percent ownership in Niyasa if he stayed. Reet began to see her dreams of purchasing Niyasa and turning it into GiNa slipping away.

That night, Klaus was waiting for her in the parking lot again after work, shaking his head and biting his lip. “I don’t know, Reet. Owner really wants me to stay. She’s making it hard for me to leave. I’m thinking fifteen thousand isn’t going to cut it, after all.”

“And what about your problem that only money can fix? Owner has sweetened the pot, but not with cash,” Reet retorted.

“True. Which is why I’m still willing to work with you.”

“Work with me?” Reet whispered, incredulous.

“Yeah. Make it twenty-five, and I’ll leave tomorrow. I’ll just go. The two weeks are almost up. A few days won’t matter.”

“Twenty-five thousand?” Reet was going to be sick.

“Take it or leave it. I’m thinking that other little problem will work itself out, and I’d be a fool to walk out on Niyasa.”

“And next week or next month you’ll be back saying you need more. That twenty-five isn’t enough. So, I’m going to have to pass, Klaus. I don’t trust you to keep your end of the bargain.” Her back was so tight and her stomach so twisted, she wouldn’t have been surprised if her spine suddenly snapped.

She moved to open her car door and Klaus’s arm shot out, pushing it closed again. He crowded her, pushing her back against the side of her Car.

“Don’t do this, Reet.”

“Don’t do what? Don’t say no to you, Klaus?” she said, shoving him, trying again to get in her car.

“I called a lawyer. I have an appointment for next Wednesday. Twenty-five thousand or Varun Khanna is facing a paternity suit. I don’t like the idea of my niece being raised by another man.”

Reet froze, and Klaus saw the moment he had her. He put his hands on her shoulders and ducked his lips close to her ear, like a lover saying sweet things.
“Pay up and I’m gone tomorrow, Reet. Give me the twenty-five, and this is over. You can continue playing house with the actor and my niece . I don’t really give a shit what you do. But I need that money.”

She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. She just wanted him to go away, to leave her alone. To leave Varun and Gia alone.

“I have twenty, Klaus. I’ll give you twenty thousand dollars. That’s the best I can do,” she relented. Oh, God. Twenty grand. It would take her five years to save that much money again.