Daniel awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of the front screen door of his home slamming against the house. The countryside where he lived was normally so quiet at night that even though he was on the second floor of the house, the noise was loud enough to startle him awake. Knowing that his father, who he lived and worked with, had probably been awoken by the sound as well, Daniel got out of bed and poked his head out into the hall, expecting to see his father doing the same from his own room.
When Daniel poked his head out of his room, the hall was empty and, much to his surprise, the door to his father's room was wide open. Surely his father, who was well into his fifties, hadn't gotten out of bed and gone downstairs to investigate that quickly? Deciding that he needed to investigate further, Daniel left his room and, quietly as he could, ventured downstairs.
As he padded down to the landing, Daniel couldn't see anyone about or anything amiss. Then Daniel's eyes found the front door and he saw that it was slightly ajar, having apparently bounced off the house and nearly closed again. Not believing for a second that his father had managed to not only make it downstairs in the amount of time it had taken him to get out of bed let alone make his way outside, Daniel walked over to the door, a perplexed frown playing his face.
That's when Daniel saw that the barn a ways back on the property was lit up. Daniel knew for a fact that it had been dark when he'd gone to bed, his father would never leave the barn lit up since it was mostly lit by lanterns and that would be dangerous if left unattended overnight. That meant someone was in the barn. It had to be his father since he was nowhere in sight but how he'd managed to get all the way out to the barn and light it up in such a short amount of time, Daniel couldn't puzzle out.
Pulling on the pair of shoes he kept beside the door and noting with mounting suspicion and a bit of dread that his father's shoes were still there, Daniel left the house and began the trek to the barn. A knot of anxiety began to form itself in his stomach and before Daniel could decipher a logical reason why, he was running to the barn. As he neared, he heard voices. One was definitely his father's, but the others he didn't recognize.
Suspicions validated, Daniel slowed down and crept to the cracked open barn doors. He slowly peered around the door to look inside and found a decidedly worrying sight. His father was on his knees in front of a man in a suit who had a gun and who was talking rather animatedly with very little regard for where his gun was pointing as he waved his hands about. There were two larger men in suits behind his father and before Daniel could really notice anything else about the situation, the door opened more and two more large men grabbed him and dragged him inside.
"Daniel!" His father, Bill, hissed, the leader having stopped talking when his men had dragged him inside. "What are you doin' out here, boy?" Despite his position, Bill's voice came out as strong as ever, his deep voice and country accent a contrast to the suited men with their city accents.
"You weren't in the house and I heard the door slam and I was worried." Daniel hurried out, trying to shrug off the men who held him but stopping when their grips only tightened. "What's goin' on? Who are all these guys?"
"Oh! How rude of me!" The leader exclaimed, a wide grin on his face. "My name is Venice and these are my goons." He introduced, pointing his gun at himself and then waving it around the barn carelessly. "Hasn't your pa ever mentioned me? His dear, old friend Vinny?" Venice asked, sounding a touch hurt as a playful pout played his face.
"N-no, sir." Daniel answered softly, unnerved by the way Venice behaved and especially by the way he waved his gun about.
"Sir." Venice mocked, grinning wide in delight and looking around at his goons who snickered. "I see your daddy at least taught you manners."
"Leave 'im alone, Venice." Bill bit out, getting up to one knee before Venice's goons pushed him back down. "This is between me and you. Leave Daniel out of it."
Clicking his tongue, Venice spun on his heel to face Bill. "See, I'd like to, but you STILL don't have that money you promised me even with all the extensions I've been so generous in givin' you." Venice crouched in front of Bill and used his gun to lift the man's chin and force him to look at him. "Normally in these sorts of situations, I'd resort to drastic measures to make you understand that you need to pay me asap, but seeing as you don't have a wife, I can't very well do what I usually do."
As Bill's eyes widened in horror, Venice grinned and stepped back, releasing Bill's chin. "However," he started coyly, backing up a few steps and aiming his gun at a now-kneeling Daniel who flinched at having the weapon so close to his face. "you do have a son." Venice's grin was that of pure sadistic glee as Bill tried to charge at him but was forced down by his goons and held there. "And," Venice laughed darkly, stepping behind Daniel and, as he crouched down to be closer to the frightened man's face, gripped his throat in one hand and pressed the gun to his temple with the other. "he's actually pretty cute for a hick."
"Don't you fuckin' touch him, Venice, or I swear to--" Bill's threat was cut off as Venice tilted his head and cocked his gun, trying hard to keep up his now serious expression as Daniel began to tremble against him.
"You'll what?" Venice purred, letting his grin split his face once more as Bill deflated before him.
"Please. I swear I'll have your money. I just need more time." Bill begged, voice quieter now and nowhere near as strong and sure as it had been mere moments ago. "It's been a--"
"Slow year, yeah." Venice interrupted, releasing Daniel and straightening up. "You keep saying that. Clearly this shitty little dirt farm of yours is dead. You should've just sold it in the first place instead of coming to me."
