Chapter 14

Josiah left Rossalyn in the dining room finishing her coffee after giving her permission to explore the inside of the house. He wanted to give her the tour of the outside since there were a few buildings that he wouldn't allow her inside for the time being. When he was ready for her to be let outside without him, he'd station men outside the buildings that she wasn't allowed in to make sure she didn't wander in by mistake. But she had enough to explore inside to keep her entertained for the day, he was sure. He went upstairs to his office to find a few of the bookies that he employed waiting for him.

"Tell me about what has been going on with Roger." Josiah said as he took a seat at his desk.

"He's been trying to get loans from all of us. We've not given him anything but he keeps trying. He's brought stuff from his house, like jewelry and even the title of his wife's car, to try and get money for them. We've told him no but we did take the title of the car like you said to do if he tried so he couldn't go sell it somewhere else." Ben told him pulling out the folded document and handing it over to Josiah for him to keep.

"The son of a bitch." Josiah muttered under his breath. Roger was clearly getting desperate and going to end up losing everything. It wasn't even his stuff that he was offering up, it was his wife's vehicle and jewelry.

"He brought a check for three grand for me to cash but it was made off your lady's checking account." Tom said and handed the check and check book to him as well. "I didn't give him anything but took it. I even shook him down and the dumbass had the whole checkbook in his pocket so I took it too."

"It seems like he is getting more and more desperate. I knew he had a gambling addiction, but I didn't realize when he was consistently turned down he'd start doing all this stuff. The man has no care for anyone in his life. His sister has went above and beyond to keep him out of trouble with his addiction and this is how he wants to repay her kindness." Josiah said angrily.

The men discussed several options that they thought would get Roger back on the straight and narrow along with giving him a wake up call. Josiah wasn't opposed to any of them, including the ones that involved beating Roger to within an inch of his life. Regardless of how he felt, though, he wanted whatever they did to have Rossalyn's approval. He was positive she had no idea what he had been upto the last few days and she knew she'd be very angry. She loved her brother but she was fed up with what he had been doing. When he heard the door handle jiggle he called an end to the meeting. There was either someone trying to get in to see him, or Rossalyn had made her way up the stairs and found his office. When he heard her voice asking what the room contained, he knew the second option was the correct one. He wanted to discuss everything with her anyway so he went to the door.

Once he had her alone in his office he told her everything that the bookies had told him and offered her the documents they had given back to him as proof of what he was saying. She stared down at the check from her account forged by her brother in shock. Josiah felt his heart squeeze at the hurt on her face and wished he could take it away from her but it wouldn't serve her to not be completely aware of what excactly was going on with Roger. He'd promised her honesty and that all started from the moment she said yes to their deal.

"I can't believe that he would do this." Rossalyn said quietly and the urge to cry was clear in her voice though she was trying to hide it.

"Unfortunately, people with addictions can't just stop when they meet obsticles. It is almost like the more they're denied the more fiercely they want what they are trying to get. I don't think it is even registering that what he is doing is a betrayal of his wife and children and you. I don't know if he is even capable of thinking like that right now." Josiah said gently.

"It doesn't change the fact that what he's done is wrong. He promised he'd get help if I paid his debt for him this last time." She said, still staring at the documents in her hands. "He lied to me and I fell for it. Again." The last word was uttered with such anger that it shook her.

Josiah went over the many things his men offered to do to help him. Some involved forcing him to get to a rehab facility. Some involved basically abducting him and giving him a throw down the twelve steps that would leave some broken bones and bruises but hopefully make Roger much less willing to mess with the type of men he employed.

"If you choose to force him into the rehab facility, I'll pay for it. I'll even cover the bills for his wife and kids to make sure they're okay. I'll even make sure the staff doesn't allow him visitors and doesn't allow him to check himself out. Then we'll move on to the steps of making sure when he's out he doesn't go right back to doing what he wants. Or we can go straight to giving him the beating that he sorely deserves. Or we can do both. Its up to you." Josiah said with a shrug.

"So you'd let me choose to have my brother beaten and tortured or thrown into a rehab program or both?" Rossalyn looked up at him in shock.

"I said I wouldn't lie to you nor would I blatently hide anything from you. Personally, I believe rabid dogs need put down. But this is your brother so we need to figure out how to turn him back into a regular dog." Josiah said with a sigh.

Those words were extremely chilling for Rossalyn to hear. She was very clear on the implications of what he had just said to her. She fell quiet, not out of fear of him, but because she needed to decide how she wanted him to handle the situation. She was so mad at Roger that she wanted to take up the option of having him beat senseless, but she didn't think that she'd be able to live with that. She wanted to give him the chance to do what he was supposed to do on his own.

"Well, what should I tell the guys to do?" Josiah asked her after a few minutes of silence.