January 2021 - Happy New Year everyone! If you didn't already know, I'm in the process of rewriting the next few chapters. I got really stuck, and sometimes the only way to go forward is to go backwards first. It's essentially the same story and events but... not the same. You'll see what I mean. And for those who are reading for the first time - ignore me! ;)
The other thing I'm kinda experimenting with is, I'm thinking about switching to diary/journal form. It's a whole different ball game and will mean a ton more work for me, but... I just feel inclined to go with this. This is the first chapter that is written this way (for now - I will go back and update the rest eventually) so please please let me know what you think of it so I know if I'm making a mistake. If so, it will be a huge one lol.
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Thursday 21st July, 1960 - 3 am
I hate going to the mansion. I'm always so worried about crossing paths with Diego, even when there's a high possibility that we won't. The guy gives me the creeps. Maybe it's because he's so powerful in his position, with all the money in the world and a team of mobsters (cough... hitmen) to call on at his will. But me, who am I? I don't think I'd even rank as a pawn. I'm more like a cow that he enjoys sucking the milk out of, especially when I'm running on empty. I thank the stars above that Ace is here for me, to help me through this.
However... as much as I appreciate Ace, and as much as I hate Diego, I didn't want Ace to pay him. It's my debt, not his.
But, Ace calls the shots around here.
We were told to wait for Carl in a little room that looked like it was usually used for playing poker games or something. It had a round, antique wooden table in the center of a few red velvet dining chairs. And it wasn't fake velvet either. The extravagant nudist paintings on the wall were framed in real gold too, I'm sure. There was just that genuine shine about them. I'm telling you, whoever played poker in there, played in style.
Ace and I made ourselves as comfortable as we could while we waited for over an hour to see Carl. They could have at least left us a deck of cards to break the monotony - or to take our minds off the sad reality that we were about to hand over more than twenty-seven thousand dollars of hard-earned (albeit illegally) American greenery to a guy who didn't need a scrap of it.
Carl eventually showed up, his big basketball shoulders only just fitting through the narrow doorway, and as soon as he set eyes on me, he grinned me a genuine grin.
"Cassie!" he said in his smokey voice that sounds like a well-tuned tuba. He greeted Ace and I each with a respectful handshake across the table before taking a seat. "I'm so sorry to keep you waiting. I wasn't expecting you tonight."
The more I have gotten to know Carl, the more I like him. Even in that horrible place and situation, he could turn my worries around and make me feel comfortable enough to smile.
"How you both been?" he asked, looking over our war wounds. "You look like you've gone a round with Sugar Ray Robinson," he nodded at me with a throaty bellow.
"It was just some guy wanting to cause trouble."
Carl's expression turned serious. "A guy did that to you? On purpose? What's his name?"
"Uhhh..." I looked sideways at Ace who slightly shook his head. Going back to that point about hitmen...
"You know... Ace sorted him out."
"Oh. Well, that's good to hear. A real man looks after his woman."
"Yeah..." I said, giving Ace a small smile. "He looks after me more than you know."
"Well, moving onto business." Carl laced his fingers together and looked between the both of us. "You weren't due until tomorrow. You wanna pay early?"
"Yes. In fact... I have the rest of the money." My heart did a jump for joy when I said that. And pouring more than twenty-seven thousand dollars out of my backpack and onto the table for Carl to feast his eyes on was beyond satisfying.
Carl's heavy eyebrows raised, and he looked impressed as the rolled up wads formed a mountain between us. Ace, however, turned a little pale. Nearly seventeen of it was his. Watching him pull it all out of his safe was a hard thing to witness. I could see the anguish in his eyes as he turned out paper bag after paper bag. I hugged him at his side and told him he didn't have to do it, but he was insistent. Determined even.
"Well, you've done well!" Carl praised us from behind the mountain. He started counting, his big fingers opening each roll and flicking through the bills fast as lightning like a cashier at a bank. You could tell he did this a lot. He finished counting, and now sat behind a row of neatly stacked bills. "Your man had a hand in this, yes?" he asked.
"Err.... does that matter?"
"Of course not. Relax. I know he knows how to make a buck or two, that's all. He's good at it; look, the proof's in the pudding. And that's what I've always liked about him." Carl served Ace a proud grin too, but all he got back was that nonchalant, 'whatever' look. "He's never been one to take a compliment though, huh? Can I get you anything tonight, Ace?"
"Yeah. I want out."
"Oh," Carl said, seeming startled. "Is that so? Well, you understood the terms when you signed up, so you'll be aware that if you cease trade with us, you're cutting yourself out of the market for good."
"Yeah. I know."
Carl noticed me looking between them both in confusion. "We have, what we call, a 'restraint of trade' clause in our... verbal agreement," he explained. "We'll never sell to Ace again, and he can't buy from anywhere else in the world. Nor can he sell it. Diego is very strict on this, and the consequences for breaking that rule are... harsh."
Ace relaxed back in his velvet chair, looking resolved on his decision. "I'm out."
"OK. Well, if there's nothing else-"
The door suddenly opened behind us. I glanced over my shoulder, and my entire well-being shrunk as I saw Diego walk strictly into the room. He's like that authoritarian style school principal that everyone has had at least once in their lives, where, one minute everyone's having a ton of fun, and then it all sort of flutters away into nothing as they stroll on past. I bet whipping the behinds of naughty school children with the cane would be his sunshine for the day.
He relaxed back in his chair at the head of the table, and his hard, formidable eyes glared at me. Just at me. Like I was the only one in the room. I wanted to tell him that I had his money; that I had been a good girl by getting it early, but I doubted anything I said would appease him. I snuck a glance at Ace, knowing how much he hates Diego, and his face had gone from pale to boiling red.
"Cassie's brought the rest of the money," Carl said. "Plus all interest."
Diego looked at the cash on the table, clearly unappeased. "This isn't enough."
"She already paid $13,700 last month. This makes it a total of $41,100 which is the original amount plus one-third interest."
"I wait for this money for six months, and all I get is ten thousand interest?"
"That's what we agreed on, remember?" Carl said.
"No, no. Ten thousand per month. This is what we do Carl – always. You know this."
"But we talked about that. I told you-"
"You wan' go easy on her? No. She took my money and ran with it. She purposely hid from us for months!" Diego brought his fist down on the beautiful antique table, and it made a solid whump sound that made me jump in my seat. I was really glad right then, that he doesn't carry a cane.
Ace's shade of red had turned violent, and I could hear the whispers of a growl with every outward breath. When he starts clenching his fists and anxiously running his thumbs over his knuckles, you know that whoever he's giving the evil-eyes is about to get it. My heart was racing. If he hit Diego, especially on his turf, Ace was a dead man. We were both dead.
Carl noticed Ace's death stare, and I felt his shoe brush my knee as he kicked Ace in the leg. Ace looked at Carl, breaking his trance. Boy, was I glad we had him on our side.
"I don't believe Cassie would run with the money, knowing we'd be after her," Carl said. "She's smarter than that. Her and I had an agreement, and Lewis-"
"Are you saying you don't trust my judgment, Carl? You better reconsider whose side you're on, don' you think?"
As Carl stared at Diego, I noticed his eyes narrow slightly as his right hand squeezed into a fist. It was only subtle, but there was a lot to read in Carl's demeanor in those few moments, backed by the fact that he didn't answer right away. He and Diego stared hard at each other for, what felt like, forever. It was like a game-of-chicken-style staring showdown.
"Well, what are you doin'? Work it out!" Diego snapped.
Carl clenched his jaw and cleared his throat before doing as he was told. If it was a game of chicken, I guess Diego won.
"February, March, April, May," Carl said stiffly. "Four months. That's forty thousand."
"And June, July," Diego added.
"She's already paid the principal plus one-month interest."
"Then, that's fifty thousand. Every month I have to wait, I wan' ten thousand more."
Carl looked at me, and amidst the fury in his eyes, I saw regret. Diego is nothing but a greedy, selfish bastard, and Carl knows it - I'm sure. Unfortunately, it seemed there wasn't much he could do about it. Ace, on the other hand, looked ready to leap up off his seat and strangle Diego. His blue eyes were bloodshot, and his chest heaved as the whispers of a growl became much more audible.
"You-" Ace snarled, but Carl kicked him again to shut him up.
"You got somethin' to say?" Diego asked, coolly tossing his head to the side. "Go ahead and tell me what it is you have to say."
"We have nothing to say," I jumped in. "It is what it is."
Ace burst up out of his chair and shot out of the room without another word. I was sure to thank Carl before quickly making my own exit and high-tailing it after Ace. To say he was pissed off was an understatement. He kicked out at several expensive sculptures on the way out, but somehow, found enough restraint to not destroy the place. By the time we got out to the car, he was hyperventilating. I rubbed his back and couldn't help a tear or two leaking out. I felt sick to see Ace's efforts and generosity thrown back in his face in the most disrespectful way possible.
He reached for the keys, still in the ignition, and I stopped him.
"I'm staying here," I said quietly.
"What?"
"I can't fix this. It's over. I have to belong to Diego for a while."
"Fuck, Cassie! You wanna hand yourself over to that piece of scum? What are you, stupid?"
"Well, I don't have the money. And you can't seriously be considering paying him; it's fifty thousand dollars!"
"If you walk in there, he'll get your working, sure. But, it'll be an infinite debt - you get it? He'll twist things to make sure you're always paying but can never pay it off. Ants once said, he's like a parasite. He'll try to bury himself right down deep in your skin, making it near impossible to dig him out. Paying him right now is the only way."
"If what you say is true, how do you know it will work? How do you know he won't find some other excuse to make us pay even more? I don't want you to throw away all that money for nothing."
"I don't think Carl will stand for any more of that. He likes us. And that counts for something."
I nodded, bottom lip still shaking. I hate to be so much of a burden on him; that's what was the most upsetting for me. "OK. But I'm going to pay you back. This is just too much. I can't accept-"
"You have to, just like I do. The money's gone - end of fucking story." Ace fired the ignition and tore out of there, laying more rubber tracks on the paving.
So, here I am, waiting at Ace's while he drives back to the mansion with fifty grand stuffed in his truck. I wanted to go - I felt I should. But he wouldn't let me. He was probably tired of me whining about how sorry I was. I will get the money back though - I will find a way. Ace worked so hard for it, and this was no fault of his. It was my fault. Whether I remember making the deal with Diego and Carl or not, I did it. This is all on me, and I'm determined to make amends.
So, that was the first chapter of 'Journal form' - Would so appreciate it if you say if it's confusing or if you like it better or if you're good either way! Ty! :)