Their money problems had been spiralling out of control for months now. They had never been very good with cash, struggling to keep their expenditure below their income, always falling a bit short at the end of the month. But they had always been able to manage… until Tony had been made redundant, that was. The first month hadn't been too bad - they still had his final salary to work with, and he was confident that he would find another job quickly - but positions in the IT industry weren't as easy to come by after the crash of the hi-tech market. The second month was difficult, but they had their savings to fall back on; the third month was really hard and, with credit cards close to their limits, they were starting to worry about how to pay their debts. Natasha still didn't know how they'd made it this far, but things were getting desperate now. If he didn't find work soon, they would have to declare bankruptcy and who knew what would happen then?
The trouble was that the more rejections Tony received from employers, the less he tried to find a new job. He had recently taken to sitting in the house all day, drinking whisky and watching "Trisha." The burden of responsibility now rested firmly on her shoulders and she didn't know how much longer she could support them both.
Arriving home after another hard day at work, she was disappointed - but not surprised - to find him lying half-asleep on the sofa, half-full bottle of whisky and empty glass by his side, TV blaring. A pile of unopened bills sat on the table; she didn't even bother looking at them as she knew they couldn't be paid. Looking around at the dirty living room - the un-swept floor, the piles of dishes by the sofa, the newspapers scattered across the table - she suddenly felt a wave of hopelessness flood over her. Picking up her husband's empty glass, she poured herself two fingers of whisky and downed them, coughing as the sharp liquid caught her throat. Without even waiting for a result, she poured another glass and necked this too. Warmth began to spread through her body; she sat down on an armchair and cradled a third glass of spirits, taking this one slower. The problems began to fade from her mind as the alcohol took over: no wonder her husband spent his days like this.
She didn't hear the bell at first, only being aware of a ringing noise on the edge of her consciousness. Jolting herself, she realised that there was somebody at the door. She pulled herself back to her feet and manoeuvred herself past the piles of magazines and general clutter in order to reach the front entrance. Opening the door, she saw three large, burly men standing in her porch.
"Can I help you," she asked, trying to keep her voice level in order to disguise the fact that she had been drinking.
"We're here to see your husband," said one man. He wore a jacket and trousers and had a scar on his right cheek. The other men also wore smart clothes, but all looked pretty rough, like nightclub bouncers.
"I'm afraid he's not available at the moment. He's not very well." She smiled apologetically. "Can I give him a message for you?"
The first man pushed against the door and shoved her aside, forcing his way into her hallway. Afraid, she tried again to shut the door but the other two men followed, brushing her aside as if she were no obstacle at all. Quickly closing the door after them, she stumbled through to the living room.
Her husband was awake now. The scar-faced man had his arm twisted up behind his back where he lay, and was snarling at him. "No!" cried Natasha. "Don't hurt him, please! What do you want?!"
"We want our money," said the man.
"Money?" She looked quizzically at him. "What money? Who are you? Why do you want money from my husband?"
The man rose slowly, leaving her husband whimpering on the couch, cradling his arm. It was his turn to look quizzical. "Do you mean he hasn't told you then? "
"Told me what?" she cried. "Tony, what's happening?" She faced her husband, questioning him, but he just hung his head in shame. It was up to his assailant to provide her with answers.
"Your husband is in a lot of trouble, Mrs Peters. He borrowed a sum of money from our boss a few weeks back, and we haven't seen hide nor hair of the repayments yet."
Natasha was furious: more debt problems! What was he thinking of? And to borrow money from people like this too! She supposed that it would be up to her to sort this out…as usual.
"I see. Well, gentlemen, can't we sort this out in a civilised way, without resorting to violence? I'm sure I can settle up with whatever we owe you…" She opened her bag and produced her purse. Looking up, she saw that the two side-kicks were laughing; 'scar-face' wore an amused look. "What's so funny?" she demanded, annoyed at the cheek of these men to barge into her home and make fun of her.
"Do you carry ten grand around in that little purse?" asked 'scar-face'. His mates laughed some more. She froze. Ten thousand pounds? Her husband wouldn't have borrowed that much money: he knew that they would never be able to pay it back. She looked at him again, her eyes pleading for an explanation, but he just turned his head away.
"It's the interest, you stupid bitch." snarled 'scar-face'. "When you miss a payment, it really starts to build up. And your lovely husband here's missed quite a few…"
She sank to the seat, her legs suddenly feeling like jelly. What could she do then? They had barely a couple of hundred pounds left in the bank and all their assets were tied to other, legitimate debts. Where in God's name would she ever get ten thousand pounds?
"That's not the worst of it either. The interest's still mounting." 'Scar-face' grinned. "You've been a very silly boy, haven't you Tony? And you know what we've got to do now…" One of the other men reached into his pocket and pulled out a rectangular, silver object. He passed it to 'scar-face', who opened it out to reveal a large, serrated blade. He stepped towards Tony and grabbed his hand. "Remember the deal? One finger for every week. That makes three little piggies going to market today." He sniggered at his own joke; his mates joined in. Tony's face turned deathly white and he withdrew as far as he could into the couch. He couldn't release his hand, though, and 'scar-face' moved the blade to Tony's little finger. "Eenie, meenie, miney, moe… where shall I start? With this little piggy?" He pressed the blade into Tony's flesh and a trickle of blood started to run down his hand and drip onto the wooden floor. Tony looked faint; Natasha began to sob uncontrollably at the thought of what was about to happen.
For the first time, Tony spoke. Cried, actually. "Please," he whimpered, "I'll do anything. Please don't do this Karl. Take whatever you want…the furniture, the TV, anything. I'll pay you back, I swear, just take them in the meantime. But don't do this. I won't be able to work. Please." The tears poured down his face and his body shook, racked with sobs.
Karl looked around at his fellow goons and raised an eyebrow. He'd seen this all before. Usually they took whatever was offered: jewellery, electrical goods, a car, sometimes something better…. This man didn't seem to have anything material worth taking, so…
He glanced over at Tony's wife. She was weeping on the chair, her arms hugging herself for comfort. Despite her swollen eyes and red cheeks, he could see that she was an attractive woman. She was dressed in a blouse and knee-length skirt and wearing either stockings or tights. She was slim, but her breasts looked full and pert; her legs were shapely and her long, dark hair was starting to fall out of it's clip and onto her shoulders. Yes, she was pretty hot. This could work.
He leant down and moved his mouth close to Tony's ear. He flinched, but Karl only wanted to whisper his idea to him. Natasha saw Tony's face fill with horror. "No!," he cried. "Not that! No!" His head turned towards his wife and he stared at her, pure terror in his eyes.
Karl stood up and pulled Tony's hand towards him again. This time he exerted more pressure with the knife and Tony's finger bled heavily, a stream of red liquid pouring from his hand. Natasha watched as he cracked, his face crumpling and his body bending in defeat and shame as he begged 'scar-face', Karl, to stop. Nursing his bleeding finger in his other hand, he said one more word to Karl: "OK." Then he turned to Natasha and whispered, "Sorry," his voice broken, his eyes dead. Fear gripped her heart.