Alfredo embraced Natalie, and with tears in his eyes emotionally sunk his head into her lap. She was taken aback wondering what had happened.
“Tell me!” She asked.
At this moment, he realized his plan was working and she had to take pity on him. Momentarily, he thought his plot was the icing on the cake, as it was working.
He whispered sensitively, “I’m doomed!”
Then he held her tighter. She responded by showing her sympathy and returning the gesture. She was falling passionately in love with him.
He continued, “The Sampson twins are holding me ransom for Mariano. I have to pay them $100,000 for his drug debt. Ten thousand has to be settled today and I have to be there by midday, or otherwise they will kill me!”
“Oh, I see!” She said sympathetically. “Let me help you! I have some savings and can pay them back.”
“Could you darling! That would really help me in this difficult time.”
“Of course, I can. That’s what lovers do.”
They kissed and cuddled for a while, and then drove home. Alfredo dropped Natalie off, before driving to meet the twins and settle the first payment.
In a twist, he had transferred the responsibility over to Natalie who felt guilty, as Mariano had had the debt when he was murdered.
Little did she know, the debt was really Alfredo’s!
Take care!
Prof. Carl Boniface
P.S. Next week’s climax will be the last part of Mysterious Man short story series.
Vocabulary builder:
Taken aback (idiom) = to surprise or shock (someone) —usually used as (be) taken aback, “When I told him my answer, he seemed taken aback.” —often + by “He was taken aback by her answer.”
Icing on the cake (idiom) = something extra that makes a good thing even better. “The concert itself was great, and getting to meet the band afterward was (the) icing on the cake.”
Doomed (adj) = fated, destined, predestined, condemned, discaster-prone