Loan Sharks

“The loan sharks are here again. They are probably headed to the Asmodeus family’s apartment.”

I felt my heart skip a beat after hearing those words with my family surname included. I immediately ran as quickly as I could towards our place. It was rather shocking news to hear about them going on a rampage again after a few months of absence. 

Fuck! I even wished for them to be killed by someone so they would never come back here again! 

They shouldn’t have come back. 

I just finished working as a marketing strategist at a small firm when I heard about them harassing my family again. I didn’t expect that the loan sharks would come back to our place when I almost paid all of our debt. I had been working my ass off just to pay grandpa’s debt to avoid this incident from happening, but still, it happened. 

I grind my teeth in irritation. 

Upon arrival, I saw my father lying on the floor while taking all the punches a man was throwing at him. I looked around and saw that our place wasn’t in its best shape. Some of the cheap furniture hanging on the wall fell on the floor.  Some were hanging loose. Almost all of the furniture was upturned. The apartment was in a great mess.  Ron was crying on the side while grandpa was hugging him. There were two men in black outside our apartment standing on both sides of the door. 

I gritted my teeth and barged into the building where our good neighbors were watching my father taking all the blows like it was some sort of a live show. I know that they were too afraid to interfere. They witnessed what kind of these people are and what they can do. 

The man punched father again and I felt like something in me snapped. 

I pushed and slapped everyone who tried stopping me from going in. As soon as I entered their apartment, I immediately grabbed the man’s hand and pushed him away. “What do you think you’re doing?!”

“Collecting debts, dumb woman.”

I looked at the man who was punching my father with my jaw clenching. “I already paid almost all of it. Why are you here making quite a fuss?! Can’t you just wait until the end of this month?!”

The man laughed while shaking his head. “Miss Asmodeus, I have quite a fun time seeing you work hard to pay such debt, but these days, observing you has become dull. So let me pop your bubble, Miss Asmodeus. Your grandfather’s debt costs quite a lot.”

I gulped. I already knew about my grandfather’s debt though I didn’t know the exact amount. However, I am very eager to pay the damn debt no matter how much it was. “How much is it?”

“It costs more than your life… More than how much you could offer.”

“How muc—”

“A million dollars. I already lessen your family’s debt by half for making me enjoy your dumb dull life. Only a half and you still have to pay the remaining half, Miss Asmodeus,” the man said. 

I clenched my fist. I glared at grandpa who just looked away in guilt. You better protect the little guy or else….. 

I sighed. I wasn’t expecting that the debt would cost that much. All my money was spent on my grandfather’s other benefactors and I have nothing right now but forty thousand dollars! Do they want me to sell my soul just to pay that?!   

The man then added, “Watching you struggle was refreshing, you see.”

“Fuck you!” I shouted angrily. 

The man smirked as he licked his lower lip. “It would be my pleasure, Miss Asmodeus,” he stated. 

I rolled my eyes before looking at my father and sighed. His face was all beaten up. There were purple bruises all over his face. 

More than anything, I should aid my father’s wound first. 

I walked towards my father and helped him get up. I was clenching my jaw so hard while pulling all of my rationality in place and my reasons. I knew that punching Bryce would only push me and my family’s life in danger. That’s the last thing that I wanted to happen.  

“Boss Bryce, your father is here.”

The head. 

I gulped and closed my eyes. 

Bryce Vergara, the rumored ruthless chaebol of the Vergara Marquisate who knows no sympathy was the one who was playing with me all this time. I am such a fool to believe that Bryce will let me go just like that. After all, Bryce was good at playing someone’s life and it seemed like he took a liking to me being one of his pawns in his games. 

While Bryce looked at the man who told him the news with clenched jaws. After only a few minutes, an old man entered our apartment. 

“So… this is where you are investing your free time, Bryce. I see…”

Bryce immediately bowed his head while the other men knelt on one knee while their right fist was bumping into the ground. 

It is the infamous almost-cringey way of showing respect to the most powerful person of the Vergara Marquisate and I never thought I would witness the iconic scene. 

But I am nowhere near elated to witness this scene especially since the head of the Vergara Marquisate is known for his ruthlessness.  In short, the head is much worse than Bryce and if Henry Vergara, the head of the family visited us for the same reason as Bryce, I could only imagine myself being in a predicament where there was no way out but death. Seeing the head walk towards us, I knew that it would only double my troubles. 

I really fucked up this time. 

I do not only have to deal with Bryce. Now, I also had to deal with the head, the biggest threat of all the Vergaras and the one that could cause me a severe headache. Just thinking about it stressed me out. 

“So, this is where your new-found toy was hiding, Bryce?” Henry asked. 

Bryce shook his head. “I was just paying a visit to them as their benefactor, father.”

Henry cackled. “Never heard such an excuse before. I believe this time, your toy is a bit special.”

I saw the fuckard Bryce clenched his jaw. 

I secretly rolled my eyes before looking at the people slowly dispersing and leaving the old rundown building. I sighed as I licked my lips. 

Though I knew that those people couldn’t possibly do anything to stop the men who were harassing my father, and trying to stop them is a dumb thing to do, I couldn’t help but feel aggrieved and disappointed. If it was me who saw such a scene, I would stop the men from beating a stranger to me. But they were different and I understood that. Blindly helping someone in need without thinking of repercussions was my dumbest forte after all. 

Bryce just looked at me as I was helping my father get up and guide him to the old sofa. 

I helped my father get up and let him sit on the nearest sofa. I didn’t bother letting our benefactors sit at our filthy home. They don’t deserve my compassion anyway.

I looked at Bryce and our eyes met. 

I felt like I’ve seen those eyes before. Those blue eyes that are looking at me boldly as if it can read what’s on my mind. I’ve never had such a feeling while being stared at but this fuckard eyes is making me uncomfortable. 

We exchange daggers through our looks. 

Bryce clenched his jaw as he looked at me. I smirked.

“How about marrying that girl?” Henry Vergara, the current richest Marques of Spain, asked while pointing his index finger at me. My brows automatically furrowed. 

Bryce's face darkened. “There’s no way in hell that I’ll marry someone like her,” he stated.

“Wanna bet?”

Bryce gave a wry smile. “Please spare me from whatever you have in mind, old man. I’m too busy to have any spare time to play your games.” 

“Who says that I am suggesting this idea just for a mere game?” Henry asked, his right brow arching a bit. “You know how much I value marriage, little Bryce. You don’t have to marry her legally with a contract and take all the legal processes that a normal husband and wife would bother to assess. You just have to marry her for a show and shun her after you’re done with your act. You want to prove your ex-fiance wrong, don’t you?” 

Bryce gulped and thought. He looked like he was thinking of considering his father’s idea. 

I know Hanzel Green, Bryce fiancée, as I saw her in the Magazines and newspapers. I saw her once in person and I could tell that she is one fine woman who men could simp for and would go crazy for. And it wasn’t long after the announcement of Bryce Vergara and Hanzel Green’s engagement when Hanzel Green ran away with yet another mysterious man which is not Bryce Vergara. 

It was a slap to the Vergara household. 

“Well, it is still your choice to make, little Bryce. Just remember that Vergara is always proud and wouldn’t waver for an undeserving woman like her. That girl is undeserving of you. She doesn’t deserve my name to be her last name. I wouldn’t accept her as my daughter-in-law no matter what the circumstance is. Not ever.” Henry Vergara looked at me. One smile and I know he’s already scheming something. “A woman who’ll do everything for her family is much of a better choice, little Bryce. Think about it carefully.”

Bryce looked at me while I was tending my father’s wounds. I look back directly at his eyes and I feel like I was being pulled. Bryce shook his head. 

“That should do it,” he said as he nodded his head. “I will never fall for this woman anyway and I need someone who would pretend to be my bride. Ranleigh Asmodeus is the perfect woman who could do it.”

I shook my head. It’s the same way for me. I would never fall for someone like him at all, over my dead body. But why does that belief waiver every time I’ll look at those blue eyes? 

It’s luring me into a trap I can’t refuse.