Chapter 4 - The Debt Collector
The heavy metal door of the storage unit was violently ripped open by a tow truck chain.
Blinding halogen lights flooded the small space, forcing Jason to shield his sensitive eyes.
Several massive men in tactical gear dragged him out onto the cold asphalt without a word.
He was thrown onto his knees in front of a customized luxury vehicle.
A window slowly rolled down, revealing the scarred face of Victor, the city's most ruthless underground loan shark.
Jason gasped for air, promising that he would pay back every single cent of his gambling debts.
Victor stepped out of the car, adjusting his expensive silk tie with a look of pure disgust.
"You do not owe me anything anymore, Jason," Victor stated in a gravelly voice.
Jason felt a brief wave of relief, assuming that Sarah's payment had actually cleared his name.
Victor quickly shattered that illusion with a cruel, mocking laugh.
He explained that Sarah did not just pay off the massive debt.
She had actually purchased Jason's entire contract at a premium price.
Victor was no longer Jason's dangerous creditor; he was now acting as Sarah's personal debt collector.
He ordered his men to bind Jason's hands with thick plastic zip ties.
Victor leaned down and showed Jason a highly encrypted video file on his tablet.
The video clearly showed Jason intentionally pushing Sarah down the stairs on the night she finally left.
"Your ex-wife wants you to experience exactly what it feels like to be completely powerless," Victor sneered.
He informed Jason that he would be working in a hazardous underground recycling plant until the debt was paid through manual labor.
It would take approximately forty-five years of backbreaking work to clear the balance.
Jason screamed and thrashed against his captors, refusing to become a modern-day slave for his ex-wife.
He managed to kick one of the guards in the knee and sprinted blindly toward the nearby woods.
Gunfire erupted behind him, tearing through the leaves and branches as he ran for his life.
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He stumbled into a deep ravine, tumbling painfully through the mud and sharp rocks.
When he finally stopped rolling, he looked up and saw a pair of muddy combat boots standing directly over him.
