Chapter 2

• “Wait, wait, wait, I have some money,” Audrey screamed. The three men turn to her.
• “Now that’s what I wanna hear,” the boss says in a cocky voice before rising to his feet. Audrey dashed to our room and returns in a flash with her piggy bank. I closed my eyes in pain as I watched her hand it over to the man with shaky hands. Audrey has had that piggy bank since she was a child! And she has been saving up for college since I can remember. Now she was just going to give it all away.
• The man scratched his beards before snatching the piggybank out of Audrey’s arms.
• “How much is in there?” he asks.
• “I’m not sure, maybe ten thousand,” she says.
• The three men start to laugh “Ten grand?” The boss clutched his stomach and laughed even harder.
• “So, what happens to my balance?” he quirks a brow.
• “We’ll raise your money, but please don’t take my sister,” Audrey cries.
• I saw their boss wink at the man who was holding me. Then he let go of his grip on my arm.
• I gulped down the bile forming in my throat and scrunched my nose as the smell of cigarette and alcohol in his breath made my stomach churn. I would like to spit in his face, but I’m fully aware of the implications of that.
• He touches my face before making for the door “Three weeks, or you are a dead man Harry boy,” He huffed, whistling to his thugs who followed behind him, carrying my sister’s life savings with them.
• My mum and Audrey rushes to where my dad is laying on the floor, and mum pulls him to hug him to her chest, crying profusely, but my own tears wouldn’t form.
• I’m still trying to process all that happened this afternoon. My father lost his tiny finger today, who knows what may happen tomorrow? Or the day after? How do we raise a hundred and ninety grand within three weeks? Even if we sold this whole house and everything in it, it wouldn’t amount to anything, and where would we live after that? I don’t even have a penny saved up anywhere, and it hurt to see Audrey give out her college money that way. Audrey is smart, I know how badly she wants to go to college, now everything she had saved up was gone, just like that, and we have Harold Edgar to thank for it. The man we call father.
• “Ouch..” my dad flinched as mum cleans the amputated area with saline solution. His hand was swelling already and I fear it may already be contaminated. My mum applies less pressure and once she is done, she starts to cover it in gauze wrap.
• Audrey returns from the kitchen with a bag of ice and lays it on the table while my mother wraps his entire palms in a waterproof bag and goes on to dip it inside the bag of ice. The care she showed this man, the feelings she had for him, the love she showered him with her every touch.
• “I’m sorry Peaches,” My dad says gently. Peaches. His pet name for my mum. I used to like how that name sounded on his lips, but right now I just feel irritated.
• “Sorry is not going to change anything,” My mother murmured.
• “Stop it Harry,” she stands up from where she was seated opposite him. “Audrey gave up any hopes of going to school to save you,” She dabbed her hands on a towel and tossed it harshly on the table “You look what you have bring to our family? I mean, how are we supposed to raise that kind of money? Just how Harry?” she screamed.
• “We should run,” Audrey suggested.
• “There’s no running from Pablo,” Father says “He has his thugs watching me. If I make any attempt to run, then I’m dead.”
• “What other options do we have?” my mum turns to him “We have sold out all our assets. We could work for Pablo if he wants,” she suggests.
• My dad scoffed “I know Pablo, and I know what he wants,” he stated.
• “And what’s that?” mum asks.
• “He likes Aria,” dad says flatly.
• My fists curl up in a ball beside me.
• “What do you mean Harry?” mum’s eyes widened.
• Father dips his hands back into the bag of ice and wouldn’t turn to make eye contact with any of us “You heard him, he said so himself. He likes Aria. The only way we can have him forget about the loan is if we let him have her,” he says.
• I feel like the air had just been sucked out of my windpipe, and I had to hold the wall for support.
• “What!” mum exclaims.
• “Don’t scream like I just said something that isn’t unheard of. Right now, that’s the only solution I can think of. If any of you has any other ideas how we can raise two hundred grand in three weeks, then let us know,”
• I blinked severally and once more, I feel my stomach begin to churn. He did not just say that. No, he can’t possibly be suggesting that I give my body to that swine to pay off his debts.
• “Father, how can your mind even conceive a thing like this?” Audrey screeched, rising to my defense.
• “Let’s be logical. What else can we possibly do? You all want me to die? I know how it sounds, but give me a better idea if you have any. I’m not saying you get married to him. Just be his mistress, what do you have to lose?”
• His words were accompanied by a deafening silence. I stared unbelievably at the man that sired me. I didn’t think a day would come when we would be reduced to this. When I would be reduced to this.
• “Harold. You do know what you are asking of your daughter? She’s seventeen,” My mum shrieked.
• “Eighteen in a few days,” my father corrected.
• I’m surprised he even knows my birthday. He never buys me gifts or even says a simple ‘Happy birthday' but it appears as though he’s already thought about it. When he’d taken that loan, he had it somewhere at the back of his mind that if it didn’t turn out well for him, he’d make any of his daughters sell their bodies to pay back. Monster.
• “I would do no such thing,” I spat out.
• At this point I just want to be alone, and far away from this house. So, I jumped up, grabbed my purse and stormed out of the house.