Chapter 4 - The Debt Collector
I stared at the glowing screen of my phone, the name 'Brian' flashing like a dangerous warning sign.
Evelyn watched me carefully, nodding her head to silently encourage me to answer the call.
I swiped the green button, holding the phone slowly up to my trembling ear.
"Where are you?" I asked, skipping any form of greeting.
"You need to leave the bank right now, they are watching you," Brian's frantic voice crackled through the speaker.
I walked toward the frosted glass window of the private room, peeking out into the main lobby.
Two large men in dark suits were standing near the exit, staring directly at the vault entrance.
"Who are they, Brian? What did you do?" I demanded, my anger momentarily overriding my fear.
Brian let out a ragged, desperate breath that sounded remarkably like a sob.
"I didn't run away because I didn't want the baby, I ran because I owed Mr. Whitaker money," he confessed.
My mind struggled to connect my sweet, deceased neighbor's husband with my ex-husband's gambling debts.
"Mr. Whitaker wasn't a sweet old man, he ran the biggest illegal lending ring in the state," Brian rushed out.
He explained that he had borrowed a hundred thousand dollars against our house without telling me.
When he couldn't pay it back, Mr. Whitaker's ruthless associates came to collect the debt in blood.
"I made a deal with Mrs. Whitaker after her husband died," Brian continued, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper.
"She agreed to forgive the debt and leave me that insurance money if I gave her the one thing she wanted."
I felt my stomach drop violently, a sickening realization washing over my pregnant body.
"What did you give her, Brian?" I asked, my voice terrifyingly calm.
"She couldn't have children, and her late husband's empire required a blood heir to legally inherit the assets," he stammered.
Tears of pure, unadulterated rage began to stream rapidly down my hot cheeks.
"I signed over my full parental rights to Mrs. Whitaker's estate," Brian finally admitted.
He had sold our unborn child to a dead crime boss's family just to save his own pathetic life.
"They aren't foreclosing on the house because you missed payments," Brian warned, his voice rising in panic.
"They are legally evicting you so they can take you to a private facility until the baby is born."
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Suddenly, the heavy metal door to the private viewing room was kicked violently open.
The two men in dark suits stepped inside, blocking the only exit with their massive frames.
