Continued from Chapter 3 (thanks @Anise)
The one on the right spoke up. He took off his hat as he addressed Patrick.
"Good Morning, sir. My name is Mr. Everton and this is Mr. Lyle." Patrick looked at the pair. He doubted those were their real names. They both had square jaws and faces that he was certain had seen their share of fists more than once, which made them look more like blunt instruments than gentlemen of any sort. "We're here to collect our winnings."
Patrick scowled. "I'm afraid I don't follow. What winnings would you be collecting?" He suspected that Vivian had been on a losing streak last night. This wasn't the first time he had to field her debt collectors. The two men looked at each other. Mr. Lyle remained silent, fixing his stare on Patrick.
"As a way to settle the debts of Vivian Caldwell, she agreed to, er, offer her daughter as collateral for a period of one month."
Patrick shuddered. This was a joke, surely. Vivian would never do something...she couldn't be so...No. This was a joke.
This time Mr. Lyle removed a paper from his jacket and handed it to Everton. "In case there was any question, we were able to secure a special letter from Vivian."
Patrick took the letter Everton extended. He opened it and read it in disbelief. He leaned against the door jamb, as his knees threatened to buckle. It was a manually written affidavit that essentially sold their only child into indentured servitude doing God knows what to settle a sum of approximately four hundred and seventy-seven pounds. That's almost what he made in a year. Vivian had signed her name, which meant that these oafs had a legally binding agreement.
Everton sported a slight smile while Lyle's face was pure stone. Patrick's mind worked to find a solution, some way to be rid of these men until he could come up with a better solution.
Patrick cleared his throat. "I am sure that you feel this entitles you to put an under-aged child into indentured servitude but this agreement breaks a plethora of laws not the least of which includes jeopardizing the welfare of child as well as the ban on slavery. Now, if I may ask, what would my daughter be doing to settle these debts?"
Everton looked at Patrick tensely. "We have several establishments-"
"Who would be chaperoning this minor child?" Patrick looked at both men in earnest.
"Chaperoning?"
"Yes, my daughter is just thirteen." It was a lie that he hoped would have the desired effect and from the look of confusion on their faces, it did. "A thirteen-year-old child would need to be monitored to make sure that she does not work more than necessary hours per day and is not exposed to an illegal or immoral atmosphere that will corrupt her in any way."
Everton held up his hand. "Look, mate, as far as your daughter being thirteen, your woman signed this letter without even blinking because she couldn't afford the bet she put up. We accepted the terms because she told us the girl would bring in more money than the nearly five hundred quid she owed. We saw the value of that exchange especially for a new business venture we were planning to start. We want the money we were promised."
Patrick swallowed. He could only imagine the new business venture he was talking about. He knew of men like Everton and Lyle. Girls would suddenly disappear. Families would disavow that they ever existed, making sure to never mention their names again to anyone. They would never be seen or heard from again. No, not his Lisbette. He had to find a way using one simple tactic.
"I think between us we can come up with some other arrangement."
"We're listening."
"A simple payment plan. That's a much better option than having to deal with an inexperienced girl of thirteen and the possible legal and police problems that would come from this piece of paper."
Everton wanted twenty-five pounds per month at a ridiculous interest rate that would have practically added another fifty pounds to the original amount. Patrick skillfully countered trying to gain whatever ground he could, determined to rid himself of the thugs in the shortest time possible. In the end, neither was completely satisfied, which meant it was an equitable settlement: twenty pounds at half the original interest with the first payment due in two weeks. How he was going find the money to pay that much in that time, he didn't know, but he had two weeks to come up with a solution that rid him of these two oafs without paying a farthing and putting his wife before a magistrate.
With trembling hands, he closed the door, gripping the door knob hard until Patrick felt his knuckles would burst through the skin. His mouth was dry and there were jolts prickling the skin all around his neck and shoulders, which were tight. After watching them leave and finding enough strength to breathe through the trembling, Patrick turned his narrowed gaze to the top of the stairs. With a second wind fueled by adrenaline and fists curled into balls, his legs practically launched him up the stairs two steps at a time.
Before he knew it, he was in front of their door. He thrust door against the back wall and there it stayed. "Wake up!" he bellowed. When Vivian didn't stir, he strode to the bed and shook her awake a couple of times.
She wailed, fighting against hands that threatened what little peace she had. It took her a moment but she realized where she was and whose hands they were.
"What is it, Patrick?" her voice was thick as she licked her lips. "I'm trying to get some sleep."
"Get up," his voice was low and dangerous. Vivian gingerly raised herself from the bed and looked at her husband. Her blurred vision eventually focused enough for her to see darkness in Patrick's face. "Just when I thought you couldn't do anything to make me hate you, just when I thought I could find a way to..."
"What are you on about?" she muttered flatly.
"This," He held up the crumpled piece of paper between his curled fingers and for a moment Vivian stuttered, squinting and blinking. Her face changed from confusion to recognition as she looked at Patrick blankly. "You placed our daughter up as collateral in one of your games. You practically sold her into slavery to a pair of blokes who would do whatever to her..."
Despite the shame she had the good sense to feel, Vivian was indignant. "She's practically a woman. It's time that she knew what the world was like." Vivian pressed the back of her hand against her mouth and grimaced.
Patrick's blood was like lava and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. Letting out a wrathful growl, he curled his fingers into a white knuckled fist and raised it to her. He stopped suddenly seeing his wife shake with fright as she cowered behind her hands, murmuring unintelligibly. His chest heaved as he gathered his senses and slowly lowered his hand. What he was about to do, what he did, was not like him.
Vivian had successfully drawn him into her degenerative madness that caused her own father to beat her mother into a bloody pulp day after day. He had vowed to love and cherish her all the days of his life in spite of her drunkenness, in spite of her gambling, in spite of everything that she had done to make him stop. He fought every test she administered until now. All it took was that one moment when he had raised his hands to his own wife for him to realize that he had already lost the fight. He didn't know when. He just knew that he was done.
Vivian was still mumbling and crying when Patrick threw the crumpled paper at her. She flinched.
"It is finished," he muttered, closing his eyes and breathing deeply. As brokenhearted as he was, he felt freer than he had in years. He turned from his wife, leaving her whimpering and cowering. Vivian was no longer his priority. His only thoughts were Lisbette.
It wouldn't take long for those men to figure out that he had lied to them, steered them in a different direction with a few simple, well-placed lies. Even if they were getting their money with interest, the indignity they would feel at falling for a yarn meant that they would want to satisfy their pride with his hide or with Lisbette.
He didn't know how he would do it but he had less than two weeks to find a way to protect his little girl no matter what.
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