Oh, Frankie, don’t tell me you’ve given the money to
some dodgy investment broker.”
“Nope,
something better. I’m investing the money in our new business,” he said, his
chin jutting out.
Grace’s
heart sank further. She knew what new business he was talking about but she had
to let him say it anyway. “What new business?”
Frankie
opened his palm towards the TV screen, “The storage auction business, I’m a
natural. We’ll use our money from the coins to bid for more lockers. We’ll fill
up the shop with quality items, and I just know we’ll find more valuable things
like those coins, I can feel it in my water. Oh! Talking of which, I need the
toilet, too much lager. Won’t be a moment.”
Frankie
jumped up and headed out of the room.
Grace
sank even further into the sofa, she was going to end up disappearing in to it
at this rate. She felt drained, she didn’t even have the energy to remind
Frankie to put the toilet seat down when he’d finished.
Why
couldn’t he use the money to pay off some of their debts? Eddie Tominski, their
friendly neighbourhood loan shark, was breathing down their necks for the
£50,000 that they owed. It was part of their father’s enormous debts, something
they knew nothing about until after he had died, along with their mother, in a
car accident. The debts had been so high that they’d had to sell the family
home and belongings. All they had left was the family antique shop. Eddie had
threatened to take that away too, unless they paid the £50,000. They had one
week left to pay.
Frankie’s
phone beeped as a message came through. Grace looked over at where he’d been
sitting, it must have fallen out of his pocket.
What
was all that nonsense about an ex-girlfriend? She didn’t know anything about
that, he was up to something. Grace had no qualms about reading the message.
She
soon wished she hadn’t.
It
wasn’t a nice text, and it wasn’t the only one.
There
were many texts from Eddie Tominski.
Nasty,
threatening messages.
He’d
even put a link to a newspaper article. Grace knew she shouldn’t but she
clicked on it anyway.
Her
stomach heaved as she read, ‘Local man kills himself and wife, tries to kill
daughter too. Medical reports show that Mr David Abrahams was driving whilst
drunk.’
Grace
had seen the article, and ones like it many times.
It
was all lies! Her dad would never have put them in danger. How dare Eddie
Tominski send this to Frankie?
A
rage began to build in Grace. “I’ll show him,” she muttered to herself. “He’s
taking our shop over my dead body!”
Frankie
returned to the room. “Hey! I told you not to look!”
Grace
waved the phone at him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to worry you, I can deal with Eddie,” Frankie puffed his chest
out. “I can take care of everything.”
Grace
saw the stubbornness in his face, she also noticed how tired he looked.
She
stood up and said, “You don’t have to do this on your own, let’s go for it!
Let’s start our own storage buying business!
Chapter 3
Grace’s
brave front soon disappeared when she saw the crowds gathered at the storage
locker facility the next day. The crowd did not look friendly, even less so
when Grace and Frankie walked over to join them. Grace heard mutters of,
‘Newbies,’ and ‘Time wasters.’
She
mumbled to Frankie, “If looks could kill, we’d be the walking dead.”
Frankie
gave her a wink. “Ignore them, they were new once. Remember your poker-face,
Grace, and let me do the bidding.”
Grace’s
mouth twitched. Frankie had insisted on them practising their poker-faces so
that the other bidders wouldn’t know when they were interested in a locker.
Grace almost laughed out loud as she remembered seeing Frankie practising in
the bathroom mirror the previous night.
Sylvester
Sylver walked over to the crowd.
Grace
couldn’t help but admire how the older man carried himself. He beamed at the
crowd, his
Sharon Kleve, Jennifer Conner, Danica Winters, Casey Dawes