The Shakedown

The door suddenly opened exposing Lex and Alex who nearly fell into the room.

"Hello boys." Sam sneered down at them. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Sam," Alex said panicking. "We were just..." Lex saw that the situation looked bad and tried to run, but it was already too late.

Sam grabbed them both by their collars and hauled them into the room.

"Mr. Long," he reported, "They were just standing outside the door. It wasn't a struggle to find them at all."

Mr. Long nodded in satisfaction and looked intently at the two newcomers.

"George, is it true that Terry and this pair cheated their way out of their arrangement with you?" He glanced at George out of the corner of his eye.

George froze and he cursed in his head. "What's he doing? He's telling them what I said." Georgia had told Mr. Long was that Terry, Lex, and Alex had jointly tricked his money away. In order to help sell the story, he had even said how they had mercilessly plotted against him during dinner the previous night.

Apparently Mr. Long doubted the truth of his confession and wanted to verify it.

"You little shit, George," Alex pointed at him, menacingly. "How dare you accuse us?"

"Yeah," Lex sneered his agreement.

"You've got it all the wrong way around." George laughed. "You should be clear about what you've done." He refused to be outdone. He had felt a bit guilty at the beginning, but when he thought how his life might depend on it, he had forced himself to remain calm.

Lex tried to explain. "Mr. Long, he's lying. You can't believe anything he says. We didn't cheat him out of his money. After the meal, he left early. Alex and I only got back this morning and George went out to meet his ex-girlfriend. He's obviously lying, as we wouldn't have had the time to trick him."

"Mr. Long, you must trust us," Alex added unconvincingly.

"How can I trust you?" Mr. Long looked at them both keenly. "What if you are lying to me?"

Lex glared fiercely at George and explained what had happened. "Yesterday, George had a black plastic bag in his hands, which was filled with dollar bills. He told everyone that he won 50,000 and he was so generous that he invited us all to dinner. He paid about $30,000. He paid by card and didn't even blink as he did it. Like it was nothing to him. He didn't touch the cash at all. So he should still have it. If you don't believe me, you can go and search yourself."

"Indeed." Mr. Long mussed.

"Really, Mr. Long. I wouldn't dare lie to you." Alex quickly backed up his friend.

"Mr. Long, I already told you that his brat is dishonest." Sam added looking menacingly at George.

"So you still have 50,000 in cash then," Mr. Long turned on George as well. "What do you have to say about that?"

George knew that he wouldn't be able to get away with it now. He had no choice, but to brace himself for what was to come. "Mr. Long, I have nothing else to say. Just do whatever you're going to do." He was a mess.

Mr. Long started to waiver when he saw how indifferent George was. "Are you really not going to say anything?"

Even Lex and the others weren't easy people to deal with, let alone Mr. Long and his crew. George knew that there was no way out. He would lose the money and get taken advantage of, no matter what he said.

He sneered, "What is there to say? You don't believe me when I say I don't have the money anymore. Haven't you already made your choice."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that." Mr. Long smiled, pretending to be affectionate. "And next to that ridiculous story, I still believe you more than I believe them, but you mustn't let me down now."

George thought that Mr. Long might actually believe him. He felt his whole body relaxed, but he quickly tensed up again as Mr. Long said, "Someone, search him."

"Check out his bed, and the wardrobe too." Alex called out helpfully.

Mr. Long smiled and pointed his men in the direction Alex had indicated.

George was furious. He had thought for a moment that his lie was good enough and had fooled everyone. "Is this it then," he thought, "Is it really over? Is the money really going to be taken away by these dogs?" He kept a serious expression on his face and didn't say a word.

After patting him down, not too carefully, Sam's face went from happy to grim. He looked up at Mr. Long and said, "Little brat doesn't have any money on him."

"What about the bed? The wardrobe?" Mr. Long gritted his teeth in anger.

Another of his cronies looked up with an embarrassed premise and said, "Mr. Long, I've searched them. There's nothing."

"I don't believe it. Why didn't you find it?" Alex shouted angrily. "You probably just haven't looked hard enough."

"Yeah. It's impossible." Lex added. "He must still have the cash on him."

George knew that they wouldn't find the money. He felt triumph, but tried hard to keep a smile from his face. He had deposited most of the money into his normal bank account the previous day when on his way to the restaurant. He had only kept a small amount in cash as a reserve. But after his meeting with Alice, he had deposited that into his bank as well. After all, he didn't want to expose his continued wealth. Besides, he wasn't stupid. He already knew that, as well as Alice, there would definitely be a lot of other people who were scheming against him. In this world, it wasn't enough to be nice to others. You also had to guard against others not being nice to you.

"Where's the money, George, you little bitch. Where is it?" Lex rushed him and yelled in his face. "Where have you hidden it?"

"Cut the crap, just beat him up until he tells the truth," Alex clamored.

Out of all of them, Lex and Alex were the most anxious. They not only wanted to teach George lesson, they also wanted to extort some money of their own from him. However, not only were they unable to find the money, but they also looked bad in front of Mr. Long. He would definitely be angry, and they might end up as the ones getting beaten up. Lex didn't want to get beaten up and he didn't want anyone laughing at him either.

"Search it again," Mr. Long ordered.

Logically speaking, he thought George must have at least a little money on him. From what he had heard about the restaurant, there should be at least a few thousand left from the night before. Since he was already there, it would be a waste for him to go away empty handed.

Sam searched George again and found nothing, again.

"He's only got this on him." He showed a handful of change to Mr. Long, all coins, not a single note to be seen.

Mr. Long felt like a bully in the playground, stealing some kids' lunch money, but he pocketed the coins. "At least I've got something out of today then," he said in disdain. Despite his calm tone, he looked like he was about to explode.

George shrugged. "Mr. Long, what can I say? I told you I didn't have anything."

"George, I'm sorry. Maybe I'll make it up to you someday." Mr. Long apologized.

George didn't think it sounded very sincere.