Chapter 4 - The Debt Collector
The heavy knock on my apartment door echoed through the quiet hallway like a gunshot.
I did not move a single muscle.
I stood perfectly still in the center of my living room, clutching a heavy brass candlestick.
A deep, gravelly voice ordered me to open the door before they kicked it off the hinges.
I knew the reinforced deadbolt would not hold against professional criminals.
I quietly slipped into the kitchen and climbed out the fire escape window into the freezing night air.
I scrambled down the rusted iron stairs just as I heard the front door of my apartment splinter and crash open.
Heavy boots stomped across my hardwood floors.
I dropped into the alleyway and sprinted blindly toward the main street.
A sleek black car suddenly swerved around the corner, its tires screeching against the asphalt.
The passenger door flew open, and Silas Vance yelled at me to get inside.
I dove into the leather seat, and the car sped away before the men in my apartment could even look out the window.
I sat in the passenger seat, gasping for air, my heart hammering violently against my ribs.
I demanded to know how Silas had known they were coming for me.
Silas kept his eyes on the road, his jaw clenched incredibly tight.
He admitted that his law firm frequently represented shadow corporations, and he had intercepted a hit order with my name on it.
I stared at him in utter shock, realizing my lawyer was deeply entangled in the criminal underworld.
I asked why the syndicate was targeting me instead of Madison or my parents.
Silas pulled a tablet from the center console and handed it to me.
He told me to look at the forged contract my parents had signed when they bought the condo.
I read the document, and my blood instantly turned to ice.
My parents had not just used my stolen money for the down payment.
They had forged my signature to list me as the sole guarantor of the remaining two-million-dollar mortgage.
They had intentionally legally bound me to a cartel to ensure they would never be held responsible for the debt.
They had essentially sold my life to a criminal syndicate so Madison could have a pretty view of the city.
I handed the tablet back to Silas, a cold, terrifying calm settling over my mind.
I told Silas we were no longer going to play a slow legal game.
I wanted to burn my family's entire world to the ground by morning.
May you like
Silas smiled, a predatory gleam flashing in his dark eyes.
He told me he knew exactly how to redirect the cartel's anger directly toward my father.
