Three Years Underwater Gambling My Life, His Punishment for Her Dog

I'm the only female commercial diver in the country. To pay off Joseph Delgado's debt, I made 499 descents in three years, a hundred meters down into slurry to work the pilings.

Every dive was a gamble with my life, and my body carries the damage that will never heal.

I was bleeding from every opening in my face and still couldn't bring myself to spend the money on the decompression chamber. I clutched the twenty thousand I'd just earned and rushed to Joseph, desperate to pay down the debt. That was when I heard him talking with Ruby Chase.

"Joe, you spoil Pudding way too much. Flora Henson's just allergic to dog hair, so she wouldn't let Pudding in the house, and you turned around and played broke and sick to fool her for three whole years."

"You even sent her off to do something that dangerous, something grown men won't touch. If she ever finds out, won't she hate you?"

Joseph answered lazily.

"No. Flora's a lovesick fool. She won't have the heart."

"When she's hit the bottom five hundred times and earned Pudding a clean ten million, the punishment's done."

"After that I'll just give her a kid to make up for it. A little coaxing and she'll be fine."

Ruby let out a soft laugh.

"Pudding, come here, come see the gold chain Daddy Joe had custom-made just for you. Flora would have to haul up a drill bit ten times over just to earn this."

The tears came before I could stop them.

So it turned out that in three years I'd traded my life for money 499 times, and it was only his punishment of me, for the sake of Ruby's dog.

His bankruptcy, his debt, his depression, all of it was just an excuse to punish me.

I wiped the bloody tears away, dug out the number of his mortal enemy, and sent a message:

"Mr. Gilbert's always wanted to swallow the Delgado Group, hasn't he? Let me help you."

1

I stood frozen in the doorway, my ears ringing, the ache of bone crushed by water pressure spreading through my whole body.

Before I could even take in that gutting truth, his best friend, Max Fox, chimed in with a smirk.

"Joe doesn't care about Pudding. He's just partial to Ruby, partial to her right down to the bone."

"If Pudding weren't Ruby's dog, you think Joe would drop two hundred grand on a custom gold collar for it?"

A burst of laughter went up inside the room.

Two hundred grand.

I had to risk my life diving a hundred meters into the slurry and haul up a drill bit ten times over.

And Joseph had taken that money I nearly died for and used it to have a custom gold collar made for Ruby's dog.

My heart felt scooped hollow, throbbing in waves.

Another one of them jumped in at once.

"Everybody knows Joe never went bankrupt. The group's market value doubled last year. It's only that fool Flora who's still in the dark, throwing herself into the mud pit day after day."

"A sealed mud pit a hundred meters down, black as pitch, you can't see your own hand. One cave-in and you're dead. Plenty of strong men won't take that job, and she's done it for three years, a woman!"

"Her skin's gone the color of cement, her face has changed, and her body's about wrecked by now. You think Joe's still got any interest in her?"

Max egged it on.

"Honestly, Joe, just quit the act. Anybody can see Flora's a stand-in for Ruby. The two of you never got over each other, so just get together already."

Ruby scolded in a soft, sweet little voice.

"Max, don't say things like that. Your Joe is a married man. I don't want to be the other woman breaking up somebody's marriage."

Joseph gave a light cough and answered gently.

"You're not."

The laughter filling the room was piercing, like countless fine needles driven deep into the gaps between my bones.

My fingertips had gone white, the bundle of twenty thousand crushed out of shape in my grip.

Three years, 499 gambles with my life for that money, every one a brush with death, leaving me with permanent joint damage, decompression sickness, chest tightness and blackouts that came again and again.

To them it was only a punishment, a joke to keep them amused.

Joseph's voice went cold as he warned them.

"All of you, keep your mouths shut. Don't let Flora find out yet. Once we've built up ten million for Pudding, then the punishment's over."

Max laughed and fawned.

"Yes, yes, yes, Joe's got a real gift for handling women! But us brothers playing broke alongside you, driving food deliveries, we're about worn out."

"Hurry up and let Flora finish the last job, and let us go home!"

I was shaking all over. I couldn't listen to another word, and I turned and left.

The moment I got downstairs, Joseph's mortal enemy, Lambert Gilbert, sent a message.

"Let's set a time to meet."

I typed out an address and slid quickly into a cab.

Joseph, after the way you've used me and ruined me, I'll make you watch your business empire crumble, piece by piece, with your own eyes.