Mitch wasn't good for her. How many times had Lisa been told that. Mitch wasn't good for her. He was a degenerate, a gambler, a liar, a nothing, a thief. There didn't seem to be enough words in the language to let people fully describe him. It didn't change the fact that she loved him, though. For all of his flaws, and there were a lot of them, she still couldn't stand the idea of being without him. She was sure she would do anything for him, and she prided herself on that.

That was why when he was arrested, she bailed him out. When he gambled all their money, she worked harder to make the bills. With her job as a waitress, they could never get rich off of her money, but at least they could hold their own. It wasn't so expensive in Biloxi that they couldn't afford housing, and Mitch could be close to his casinos - The Hard Rock, the IP, Boomtown.. wherever he felt that he'd be lucky, he was there.

Having been with him for two years after meeting him when she was working in a bar at 22, she knew his ways fairly well. He had been nervous lately, pent up with energy. That couldn't be a good thing. It meant there was a big tournament coming, and that he'd be entering. Some tournaments were big enough that he had to have a backer, and that's what made her nervous. They always wanted their money back, and Mitch was at least sensible enough not to dig them so far into debt that they could never get out, but she never much cared for the type of man that would back someone like Mitch.

Leg Breakers. That's what they all were. Loan sharks and predators that fed on chum like her Mitch.

She sat back in her chair, brushing out her golden blond hair as she thought. It was a hot day, close to 95 degrees and humidity like no one's business. Mitch had been gone for a few hours, having kissed her when he left and promising to make it all better soon enough. Sigh. That meant the game must have been today.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard a tremendous smashing sound at the front door. Jerking up from her chair, tossing her brush on the nightstand, she debated what to do. Go downstairs and see what was happening, hide, call 911? It was pure instinct that caused her to clutch her sheer robe around herself, tying it off as she dashed for the stairs and looked down, seeing her husband lying broken and bloody on the wooden floor. "Mitch!" she screamed out as she flew down the stairs. As her bare feet touched the wood floor, however, she was tugged back as a hand clamped across her mouth.

"We're going to have to talk, you and us. Your guy here, Mitch, he owes a whole lot of cash. What we do about that is gonna be up to you, understand?"

Tears flowed freely from her eyes as she nodded, her heart pounding with fear in her chest. The man felt so strong, she knew she didn't stand a chance of fighting her way free. One hand was clamped over her mouth, silencing her and making it harder to breathe, while the other arm was wrapped around her waist, holding her body just above the floor, dangling helplessly. She tried to kick back against him, her eyes locked on her bleeding lover. What had Mitch gotten into??

"See, Mitch is in it deep for $750,000. Sure thing tournament, he told us. So we backed him, and he was the first one out. Fucking pathetic. Worst poker player I've ever seen. There are two ways we're gonna get paid. You love Mitch, lady?"

Mitch groaned and rolled over a bit, but a second man kicked him in his ribs and he cried out, sobbing again. She couldn't even tell where all he had been hurt. He looked like a twitching mass of blood and bruises. She had never seen anything so horrible in her sheltered life. When the man holding her asked if she loved him, she could only nod as she watched him writhe in his horrible pain.

"Good. Then maybe this will all work out well for him. See, for $750,000 there are two ways to go. One, we kill Mitch slowly and painfully, making it clear to everyone else that they shouldn't.. well.. gather debts they don't have a chance of paying. It's never good to give out money and then never get it back, and Mitch here will never be worth that much money I don't think. The boss has another way, though. We use it sometimes when we have the option."

$750,000?? He owed that much? Oh, Mitch was a fool! A fool! She had tried to tell him he was bad at Poker but he never wanted to believe it. He had ridden his high school friends when he was a kid and he was convinced it was pure skill that did it. But she couldn't let him die, either. Her heart was matched with his, regardless of his stupid addictions.. She listened and relaxed, no longer kicking, as he stated the second option.

"The second is that you come to work for us. In two years time, you're likely to have made enough money to return to Mitch, and he'll have time to heal and get some help for this problem of his. We do hate to encourage compulsive gambling you know." She could almost hear the smirk in his words. Work for them? What could that even mean? Surely she would have to leave her current job, but it never quite paid enough anyway. Maybe this would be what would put Mitch back into his place! Maybe this is what would let them finally get married and make a life together.

"No details, no second chances, understand? You wanna let him die, nod once. You wanna work for us and save his worthless little life, nod twice. Answer now. No thinking. Answer right now."

Without hesitating, sobbing and struggling for deep breaths through her nose, she nodded twice firmly. Mitch watched her out of his one good eye as the man holding her set her down on the floor but was careful to keep one large, solid hand on her shoulder. He wanted to cry out for her not to do it. He wanted to stop her. In the end, though, he just passed out as his woman was taken from him wearing just a robe, to discover her new job.