go back to them now and tell them you’re out. You know too much.”
“Is that a threat?” George asked, standing up tall. The man in front of him shrank back, backing up against a chair. “Because you came to me. I didn’t ask you to tell me about your plans. But now that I know, you can bet I’m going to hang onto this information.”
“No!” The man shouted as George walked over to his safe. “I’ll make it work.”
“I know you will.” George opened his wall safe and slipped the information inside. “I have more leverage on you than I ever thought possible, and believe me, I won’t hesitate to use it if I feel you’re going to double cross me.”
I knew he had other information on the senators. This wasn’t the first meeting that I had seen where George collected information and then threatened whoever was visiting him. In fact, it seemed to be a regular occurrence. I couldn’t figure out why people kept coming to see him when he never helped anyone but himself.
“George, let’s talk about this-”
“There’s nothing to talk about. You go ahead with your plans and I’ll be there to clean up the pieces when it fails.”
“I’m telling you, this time it won’t fail. Everything’s in place. The lab is already working on everything. A year and a half, that’s all it’ll take to get everything in place. We have everything in the works and this time we’ll get what we want.”
“I’m sure everything will run as you say,” George said, “and I’ll be waiting for that time to cash in on a few favors.”
The meeting seemed to be coming to a close, so I started to back away from the door, but I tripped over my shoelaces and fell backwards. I only made a small thump, but it must have been enough to alert the senator that I was there. It got deadly quiet, and then I heard the dreaded footsteps as he crossed the room to where I was hiding. The door swung open and the senator stood tall, glaring down at me.
“You little shit. How many times have I told you to mind your own fucking business?”
He grabbed me by the collar of the shirt and hauled me up to my feet. The rage on his face had me shaking where I stood. I knew what was coming, and there was no stopping it. Still, I couldn’t help the pleas that fell from my mouth.
“Please, I didn’t do anything. I was just walking-”
“Shut the fuck up! Do you really think I’m that stupid, you little shit head? I should have never married your mother. I should have known that you were a worthless piece of shit.”
Tears pricked my eyes even though this was nothing new to my ears. The senator always said things like this to me. He had made it very clear soon after he married my mom that he had thought having a family would make him more popular with voters. But I had been a disappointment, and he had never been able to mold me into the son that would give him the image he wanted. Sometimes he beat me, hoping to correct my behavior. Other times he starved me. But what he was about to do, that was what I dreaded the most.
He pulled me behind him as he made his way to the basement door. I started to fight against him, knowing that if I went down there, there was no telling how long it would be before I saw my mother again. He flung the door open and pulled me toward the stairs, but I fought, pushing against him to try and break free. His fist shot out and hit me in the face. It was so hard that my head snapped to the side and smacked the doorframe.
I felt my body being dragged forward and then I was flung down the stairs. I bounced off the sharp edges, smacking my head several times as I tumbled down the stairs. But the worst was the sharp crack of my forehead against the concrete wall at the bottom of the stairs.
“We’ll give you a few days to think about what you’ve done.”
The door slammed closed at the top of the stairs, and I heard the lock slide into place. I didn’t dare move from my spot at the bottom of the stairs. The basement was my worst nightmare. I was usually down here for days at a