“Howmuch?”
“A hundred grand,” he says,grimacing.
I can’t help it — I laugh. Andlaugh. And then I laugh some more, until I’m bent over at the waist, gasping for breath, wiping tears from my eyes. The dog adds to the chorus with a series of squeaky yaps, as if he hasn’t quite figured out how to use his fullbarkyet.
A hundredgrand.
Is my brotherinsane?
My bout of laughter comes to an abrupt end when a set of hands land on my shoulders and jerk meupright.
“Stop!” Duncan hisses in my face, voice gruff. His eyes are flashing with a scary edge I’ve never seen before. “This isn’t ajoke,Lila!”
“Could’ve fooled me.” I snort again. “You show up at my door unannounced and ask me for ahundred thousand dollarsmore casually than a neighbor wanting to borrow a cup of sugar!” I choke down a sound of hysteria — it could be either a laugh or a sob, it’s hard to tell. “So, yes, I’m still waiting for a punchline, because there’s no way in hell you’re seriousrightnow.”
“I need the money, don’t you understand?” His hands flex so hard on my biceps, I wince in pain. The puppy unleashes a low sound ofdispleasure.
“You’re hurting me,” I sayquietly.
“Sorry.” He drops his hands with an apologetic look and runs them through his mussed hair. “I’m sorry, Lila. I’m just… I don’t know who else to go to for help with this. I’m at the end of my rope. If I don’t get the money in the nextfewdays…”
My eyes are wide. “Why would you possibly need a hundred thousand dollars? What happened, Duncan? Where did all the money Mom and Dad gaveyougo?”
He’ssilent.
I cross my arms over my chest. “I can’t help you if I don’t know what’sgoingon.”
“I made some faulty investments,” he says tiredly. “The thing is, the loan Mom and Dad gave me wasn’t nearly enough to keepManScentsafloat.”
“Isn’t that why you haveinvestors?”
He nods. “Yes. But between production costs, employee salaries, and our first retail shipments to stores… there was practically nothing left to keep us out of the red. No more money to manufacture new scents, or to market our existing products.” A defeated look twists his face. “The loan from Mom and Dad was great, but I needed at least three times that amount to keep investors from pulling out and production lines fromshuttingdown.”
Foreboding fills my chest. I have a feeling his story is only going to get more upsetting from thispointon.
“So… rather than putting their money straight into the company accounts to keep them flush… I took a gamble and used it to buy a bunch of stock in a new form of e-currency. I figured I’d purchase early, wait until the values increased, then flip my shares for a huge profit. That way, I’d be able to pay back Mom and Dad but also save my company. Problem solved. A perfectsolution.”
“Clearlynot,Duncan!”
“It was supposed to be the new bitcoin,” he says defensively. “Every shareholder was projected to quadruple their initial investment. If things had gone as planned, I would’ve made more than enough to keepManScentsin the black. But… the market took anunexpectedturn…”
“How much did you lose?” I askflatly.
Hehesitates.
“Duncan.”
“Allofit.”
My eyes liftheavenward.
Jesus.
“So… now you need another loan to make up for the loan you threw away on a shady trading opportunity,” I ask the ceiling, unable to look at himdirectly.
“…Notexactly.”
My eyes lock on his again, and I see he’s looking even moresqueamish.