Page 29 of Gene

“I look forward to hearing what your guys have to say,” Deccan replied.

“Before I forget, Pres,” Xavier started to say as Gene made his way toward the door. “Someone who owes us money wants to know if you would be willing to wait a little for the next payment so their sister can put her house up for sale?”

Poor people. Getting involved with Deccan was dangerous. The interest he charged, along with the money people owed was astronomical. To be so in debt that your sister had to sell her house to pay the debt off. Gene couldn’t wrap his head around it.

“Get all the details and see how much the house would be worth. Then we’ll make our decision,” Deccan retorted as Gene walked out the door.

CHAPTER TEN

SAMMI

“Are you sure you want to work today?” Daddy asked. “You look a little sick today. Did you sleep well last night? Eat and drink enough?”

“I’m fine.” Sammi sighed. “I’m perfectly fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, boss. I am.”

Sammi hadn’t slept well at all. She kept tossing and turning, her mind going a thousand miles per minute, but she couldn’t remember a thing she was thinking about.

Was she okay? Probably not.

She was absolutely exhausted, both mentally and physically today. Worse than all the times before, and she didn’t know what was different. Maybe it was because she got spanked two days ago and took yesterday off. When was the last time she’d had a day off?

She held back a snort. She did have days off, Daddy made sure everyone did. Hers happened to be on Monday and Tuesday, her new weekend. But she still found herself doing odd jobs around the town so she could earn a little money on the side.

Delivering food to elderly people, baking cookies for fundraisers, helping people with their yards, and a lot more. Any spare cash she could get, she was working for. And yet her brother was still in debt, no matter how much either of them worked.

“Little One?” Daddy brought her back to the present.

“Hmm?” She looked up from her hands.

She was supposed to be writing her lines, but ever since Daddy saw her looking worse, she had been sitting in front of him. What was he going to do? Would he allow her to work?

“Off with the princesses again?”

Sammi giggled. Princesses. He thought she was a princess.

“Find that funny? You don’t think you’re a princess?”

“Am I ever going to finish these?” she asked.

Sammi didn’t really want to do her lines, but she didn’t want to talk about how exhausted she felt. She needed the money, which meant working. And if Daddy was worried about how tired she looked, then he could tell her she wasn’t going to work.

“Nothing is stopping you from finishing your punishment,” Daddy pointed out. “You’ve already started them. You can talk while you write.”

Sammi glared at Daddy. She had thought that he would want her to look at him while he spoke. Okay, she hadn’t really thought that because he told her they were going to talk while she did her punishment. She just didn’t want to talk about how awful she felt. She knew she looked awful, but there was nothing she could do about it.

She had tried so many different things, and they all failed. Now, she wasn’t trying anything and was waiting for her doctor’s appointment tomorrow.

“Oh, I have something I need to tell you.” She looked at Daddy.

“Yes, Little One?” He leaned back in his chair.

“Tomorrow I’m taking my lunch break a little bit later so I can go to an appointment. It was a last-minute thing. I will eat my lunch as I walk to the doctor’s office.”

Nerves raced through her as she waited for his reaction. Would he realize that her insurance had just kicked in? Would he ask her if she only got this job for the insurance? Sammi didn’t want to get into trouble, but she needed to find out what was going on with her health.

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