Chapter 2: An Unwanted Errand

Nadine Black's POV:

"Yes, father, I understand you," I told him as I sulked there on the couch in my apartment.

"Very good. Andrew will be there shortly," my father, Germaine, said as he relaxed his tone in his voice. "Now, why don't you go ahead and head downstairs. Andrew should be pulling into the parking lot any moment."

He hung up the phone, and I stood up as I walked over to a small table by the door where I always set my purse down. Why keep a purse right by the door? It's not safe, you'd think to yourself, but not here. My father owned this entire apartment complex. How else would I have my own place all to myself? Even the guy who lived across from my apartment worked for my father. He even had a camera that pointed right at my door, triggering my father's phone when I came and went.

I placed my phone in my small nap purse and headed out the door. I made my way down the stairs and could feel eyes on me with every step I took. It was a small walk down the pathway, and when I reached the end where the curb was, Andrew pulled up. It was like the timing was choreographed. It was perfect, to say the least.

Suddenly, the front passenger got out of the front seat and opened the back door for me. When I climbed into the seat, he climbed in with me, making sure I scooted over. Then he sat down next to me, closing the door behind him. Then he reached around me, fastening my seatbelt as the driver took off.

"Greetings, Miss Nadine," Andrew said from the driver's seat.

"Save it," I told him as he reached into the passenger seat next to him, grabbed a briefcase, and handed it to Mathis, Andrew's bodyguard. Mine too, if you thought about it like that. "Why is it that my father wants me to be the one who has to go and pay off Shane's fines? He can just go take care of it himself!"

Andrew looked at me in the rearview mirror and narrowed his eyebrows at me. "You know why your father won't have him do that."

I crossed my arms when Mathis took the briefcase and laid it on his lap, and I turned to look the other way when I heard the click on the latches being released. Mathis didn't say anything to anyone but did look over and see my small purse. He looked up at Andrew and shook his head.

"Do you have a bigger bag?" Andrew asked me as the vehicle turned to the side, causing me to fall into Mathis when he grabbed my shoulder and set me up right.

"No, just the same bag I always use. Why?" I asked him as I turned to see the open briefcase with a load of cash inside. I then uncrossed my arms when I looked back at Andrew and nearly shouted at him when I asked, "How much does Shane owe?"

Now I knew why my father wanted me to go to the courthouse instead of Shane. He owed a small fortune! I guess I could ask while I was there what charges he had racked up against him. Granted, this is not the first time I have seen a lot of money like this, but this is the first time I am going to pay this much money for something I would consider going to waste. Shane was crooked. We all knew this. Sure, I could pay this off now, and he couldn't go a week without the cops chasing him.

I turned my head the other way as a thought entered my mind. If there's one thing I know about my brother, it's this. Shane would not be caught in the same room with anyone who held a badge. Not unless they were in our pockets, and even then, he would have to have a wall of bodyguards between them. Heaven forbid Shane to get caught anywhere near the courthouse, of all places.

Hell! He knew they would have arrested him as soon as he pulled past the building, let alone drive into the parking lot and find a place to park. He steers clear of it like you would avoid the plague. There is no doubt about that! But still, why are there so many charges held against him that are so expensive, you might ask? I can say he has a stack of papers in the police chief's office thicker than my fist. Trust me, I've seen it with my own eyes when I was called in about something that happened here a while back.

It is a shame, really, and I am the only one associated with him who is asked to do his bidding like this. Hell, any time I went someplace, even if I happened to walk there, people would recognize me and walk the other way. When they did talk to me, I'd hear, 'Oh, you are his brother?'

"We're here," Andrew said as I looked out the front window when he pulled our blacked-out SUV into the courthouse parking lot. Suddenly, a cold surge ran down my spine. I was filled with fear, and Andrew looked in the mirror and saw that I was afraid. "You will be fine."

I looked at him as he pulled up to the curb and gritted, saying, "How the Hell do you know that?"

"No one is going to arrest you, Nadine," Andrew said as he put the vehicle in park and turned around to face me. Then he looked at Mathis, who closed the briefcase and opened the door, climbing out of the vehicle. I turned back to look at Andrew, and he said, "I will be close. Don't take all that long."

I nodded instead of saying anything to him as I turned to face Mathis. He helped me out of the vehicle, and when I stood up in front of him, he looked at me and handed me the briefcase.

"Guard this with your life," Mathis said as he looked at Andrew.

It wasn't all that often that Mathis spoke to me, but when he did, his words were always short. "She will do just fine," Andrew said as I took the weight of the briefcase in my hand.

Talk about an unwanted errand, but here I go. Now, I'm off to pay for my brother's fines. There's no telling what will happen when I get inside.