$1500!

“Omigod...” she whispered, counting each $100 bill in her head. “There's fifteen hundred dollars in here...”

She assumed it must have been a mistake, but he just gave her a smile.

She looked down momentarily before exhuming a slight gasp. Suddenly, she throttled her body against his, offering the warmest, tightest hug!

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!” she cried! Not only would this settle her Mafia debt, but now she had extra spending money! She jumped up into the air and giggled.

“Yes!!” she screamed, throwing her hands up like a cheerleader.

Mr. Brady, of course, loved it. He chuckled and smiled away watching her.

“Now, promise me that you won't get yourself into any more trouble,” he instructed.

“I won't.”

“Good. Then, give me one more kiss before you go.”

With pleasure, she connected her lips to his, and they held each other for a long moment. But, though goodbyes are hard, they aren't rare, and it was soon time for each to part.

Outside, and on her own, big envelope in hand, the first thing Elyse did was reach into her pocket, pull out her cell phone, and call Ronny the Mafia guy. She told him that she had the money, and they arranged a meeting for later that night at her house. “Bye bye!” she said.

But, while disconnecting her phone, she became distracted! And, not seeing the curb, she tripped over it. Fortunately, she fell onto the grass and escaped a good bruising, but she had been juggling her phone the whole time during the fall and had somewhere in between parted ways with the envelope containing all the money!

“Oh no!” she cried.

Scanning the area, she soon found the missing envelope...