Chapter 6

Nora's POV

I'm halfway to the police station when I realize I left my jacket at the shelter. The one with my documents in the pockets. Everything important. My ID. My copy of the surrogacy contract. The photo of the baby.

I turn around and head back. The shelter is only six blocks but my body is screaming at me to stop moving. Three days postpartum and I've been on my feet for hours. Blood is soaking through the pad again. I need to rest but there's no time.

When I get back to the shelter, there are two men standing outside. The same ones from ten months ago. Cheap suits. Dead eyes. Debt collectors.

My stomach drops.

They see me before I can turn around. The tall one smiles. "Miss Ashford. We've been looking for you."

"I don't live here," I say. "I'm just staying temporarily."

"We know. We've been to your old apartment. Building management said you were kicked out. Gave us this address." He pulls out a tablet. "You owe forty-nine thousand, two hundred and seventeen dollars. Plus late fees and collection costs accrued since our last conversation. Total balance is now fifty-three thousand, four hundred and eight dollars."

Four thousand dollars in fees in ten months. That can't be right.

"I need to see an itemized statement," I say.

The shorter one hands me a printout. I scan it quickly. Medical bills from Dad's last month. Funeral costs. Credit card debt in his name that somehow transferred to me. And then a section labeled "Business Debt Recovery."

That section alone is thirty thousand dollars.

"What's this?" I point to it. "Business debt recovery?"

"Your father's company. Ashford Technologies. When it went bankrupt, there were outstanding debts. As his sole heir, you're responsible."

"That's not how bankruptcy works. Business debt doesn't transfer to family members."

The tall one's smile doesn't waver. "It does when the heir signed personal guarantees on business loans."

"I never signed anything."

"According to our records, you did. Three years ago. Your signature is on file."

Three years ago I was in college. I never signed any business documents. Never even saw any business documents.

"I want to see these signatures," I say.

"They're available upon request through our legal department. For a processing f*e."

"How much?"

"Five hundred dollars."

Of course. Everything costs money I don't have.

"I'm disputing these charges," I say. "All of them. I want a full audit of this debt."

The shorter one steps closer. "You can dispute all you want, Miss Ashford. But in the meantime, the debt stands. We need payment. Today."

"I don't have it."

"Then we'll be forced to pursue legal remedies. Wage garnishment. Asset seizure. We can also report this to credit bureaus, which will make it impossible for you to rent an apartment, get a loan, or find employment in most fields."

"You already destroyed my credit. And I don't have wages to garnish. I don't have assets to seize. So do whatever you want."

The tall one loses his smile. "We can make your life very difficult, Miss Ashford."

"My life is already difficult. You can't threaten me with worse when I'm already at the bottom."

They exchange a look. The shorter one pulls out his phone, makes a call. Walks a few feet away. I can't hear what he's saying but I see him nod, then come back.

"Our client is willing to negotiate," he says. "If you agree to a payment plan of one thousand dollars per month, we'll freeze the interest and fees."

One thousand dollars a month. I don't even have one hundred dollars to my name.

"And if I can't pay that?"

"Then we proceed with legal action. Garnishment. Seizure. Potentially criminal fraud charges if we determine you deliberately misrepresented your ability to repay."

Criminal charges. They're threatening me with jail now.

"Who's your client?" I ask. "Who actually owns this debt?"

"That information is confidential."

"Confidential or you don't want me to know?"

The tall one closes his tablet. "You have forty-eight hours to respond to our offer, Miss Ashford. After that, we proceed with legal action. Here's our card."

He hands me a business card. Consolidated Debt Solutions. Same company as before. But there's something off about it. The logo looks slightly different. The font is wrong.

They leave before I can ask more questions.

I go inside the shelter, grab my jacket from where I left it, and sit down at the computer again. Pull up the business card. Search for Consolidated Debt Solutions.

The company exists. Website looks legitimate. But when I click on "About Us," there's barely any information. No names of executives. No physical office address. Just a PO box and an email.

I search for reviews. Find a few scattered across different sites. Most are complaints. People saying the company is aggressive. Threatening. That they add fees that don't make sense.

One review catches my eye. Posted three months ago.

"This company added 15k in fake fees to my debt. When I hired a lawyer to audit it, half the charges disappeared. They're running a scam. File a complaint with the FTC."

I keep searching. Find more reviews saying the same thing. Fake fees. Fraudulent charges. Debts that don't actually exist.

My hands start shaking.

Someone's been adding charges to my debt. Charges that aren't real. Making it bigger and bigger until I can't possibly pay it off.

But who?

I think about the timing. Dad died five years ago. The debt started at thirty-five thousand. Medical bills and funeral costs. That part made sense. But over five years, it's grown to fifty-three thousand even though I've been making small payments when I could.

The math doesn't work unless someone's been adding to it.

I pull up my bank records on my phone. Look at every payment I've made to Consolidated Debt Solutions. Twelve payments over the last year. Ranging from fifty to three hundred dollars depending on what I could afford.

Total paid: two thousand, one hundred dollars.

But according to their statement, I've only paid off eight hundred dollars of principal. The rest went to "fees and interest."

That's not legal. Even with high interest rates, the numbers don't work.

I search for the FTC complaint database. Find dozens of complaints against Consolidated Debt Solutions. All recent. All saying the same thing. Fraudulent fees. Harassment. Threats.

But nothing's been done about it. The company is still operating.

I need to talk to Detective Chen. She said to call if I found anything. This counts.

I'm about to dial when my phone buzzes. Text from an unknown number.

"Stop digging into things that don't concern you."

I stare at it. Who sent this? The debt collectors? Marcus?

Another text. "You're making things harder than they need to be. Accept the payment plan. Move on with your life."

They're watching me. They know I'm investigating.

I delete the texts and call Chen. She answers on the second ring.

"Nora. Where are you?"

"At the shelter. Listen, I think someone's been adding fraudulent charges to my debt. The debt collectors just showed up and the numbers don't make sense. I think it's connected to Marcus."

"Slow down. What debt collectors?"

I tell her everything. The fifty-three thousand dollar debt. The business charges I never agreed to. The signatures I supposedly signed. The company with barely any information online.

Chen is quiet for a moment. "Send me everything you have. The statements, the business card, the texts. All of it."

"You think it's connected?"

"I think Marcus Wolfe has a pattern of using financial pressure to control people. Your father's company collapsed right before he died. Your debt conveniently exploded right when you were desperate enough to sign a surrogacy contract. That's not coincidence."

"So what do I do?"

"First, stop talking to those debt collectors. Don't agree to anything. Don't pay anything. Second, file a complaint with the FTC and the state attorney general. Third, get over here. I found something in your father's files that you need to see."

"What is it?"

"Not over the phone. Just get here."

She hangs up.

I gather my stuff and head out. The streets are crowded with afternoon traffic. I keep looking over my shoulder, paranoid that someone's following me. But I don't see anyone suspicious.

The police station is the same as before. Chen meets me at the entrance, looks me up and down. "You're bleeding."

I glance down. There's a small stain on my jeans. "I'm fine."

"You're not fine. When's the last time you saw a doctor?"

"I can't afford a doctor."

"There's a clinic two blocks from here. Free for low-income patients. You need to go. Today."

"After we talk. You said you found something."

She sighs but doesn't argue. Leads me back to the same interview room. This time there's only one file on the table. Thin. Maybe twenty pages.

"I went through your father's financial records," she says. "The ones from the box. Found something interesting. Three weeks before he died, someone transferred fifty thousand dollars out of his business account. Unauthorized transfer. He reported it to his bank as fraud."

"Who took it?"

"That's the thing. The transfer was reversed two days later. Money came back. But your father kept digging. Found evidence that someone had accessed his accounts multiple times. Small amounts. A few thousand here and there. Always reversed before he could catch it. Like someone was testing his security."

"Marcus."

"Maybe. Or someone working for him. The IP addresses trace back to a server in the Cayman Islands. Completely untraceable."

"So we can't prove it."

"Not directly. But here's what I find interesting. Those fraudulent transfers? They stopped the day your father died. And three days later, Consolidated Debt Solutions contacted you for the first time about his debts."

The room spins. "You think Marcus created the debt collection company?"

"I think it's possible. Or he's connected to it somehow. Think about it. He steals your father's technology. Has him killed. Then creates a massive debt that forces you into a corner. You're desperate. Vulnerable. Perfect target for exploitation."

"The surrogacy," I whisper.

"Was probably the plan all along. He needed a surrogate. Needed someone he could control completely. Someone with no power, no resources, no way to fight back. So he manufactures your desperation."

I feel sick. "That's insane."

"That's methodical. Marcus Wolfe doesn't do anything without a reason. Every move is calculated." Chen leans forward. "I pulled his personal records. Did you know his mother used a surrogate for him? He was born via surrogacy thirty-four years ago."

"So?"

"So his mother chose a surrogate who later tried to sue for custody. Huge legal battle. Very public. Very messy. The surrogate lost but it damaged the family's reputation. Marcus grew up knowing exactly how to handle surrogacy contracts to avoid that happening to him. He wrote his contract to be ironclad specifically because he learned from his mother's mistakes."

"He planned this for years."

"Probably since he decided he wanted kids. He just needed the right target. Someone desperate enough to agree to his terms. Someone isolated enough that they wouldn't have support to fight back." She pauses. "Someone whose father he'd already destroyed."

The pieces click together in my head. Marcus didn't just kill Dad for the technology. He killed him to get to me. To create the circumstances that would force me into the surrogacy.

"That's why Jade approached me," I say. "She was in on it from the start."

"Probably. I'm still trying to figure out their relationship timeline. But yeah, my guess is they planned it together."

I stand up. Start pacing. My legs barely hold me but I need to move. Need to process this.

"So what do I do?" I ask. "How do I prove any of this?"

"That's the hard part. Everything I just told you is speculation based on circumstantial evidence. To prove it in court, we'd need direct evidence. Witnesses. Documentation. Something concrete."

"The debt collectors. If they're connected to Marcus, if we can prove the debt is fraudulent—"

"That's a start. But even if we prove the debt is fake, that doesn't prove Marcus created it. He'll have layers of shell companies protecting him. We'd need someone on the inside to flip. Someone who knows the whole operation and is willing to testify."

"The other surrogates. The women who signed NDAs."

"They're too scared. We already established that."

"Then what? We just give up?"

Chen's expression hardens. "No. We keep digging. We find something he can't hide from. Something that connects him directly to your father's death or the fraudulent debt or the surrogacy scheme. But Nora, I need you to be smart about this. Don't confront him. Don't do anything that gives him ammunition against you."

"I already slapped Jade. I'm being sued for two million dollars. Assault charges are pending. I don't have anything left to lose."

"You have your life. And your freedom. Don't forget that."

There's a knock on the door. Another detective pokes his head in. "Chen. Got a second?"

She steps out. I'm alone with the file. I flip through it again, looking for something we missed. Some detail that proves everything.

But there's nothing. Just fragments. Pieces of a puzzle that make a picture but won't hold up in court.

Chen comes back in. Her face is tight. "We have a problem."

"What?"

"Jade Rivers just filed a restraining order against you. Says you threatened her at the coffee shop. Assaulted her. That you're unstable and dangerous. Judge granted a temporary order. You're not allowed within five hundred feet of her, Marcus, or their residence."

"I didn't threaten her."

"She has the recording. I just listened to it. You accuse Marcus of murder. You call her a monster. Then you slap her. To a judge, that looks like escalating behavior."

"She provoked me."

"Doesn't matter. You put hands on her. That's assault. And combined with the restraining order and the NDA violation, you're looking at serious legal trouble." Chen sits down heavily. "Nora, I'm trying to help you. But you're not making this easy."

"I'm not trying to make it easy. I'm trying to survive."

"Then you need to be smarter. Stop reacting emotionally. Stop giving them ammunition."

"How am I supposed to do that when they keep taking everything from me?"

"By playing the long game. By being patient. By letting me build the case properly."

"I don't have time for the long game. I have twenty-four hours to leave New York or get arrested."

Chen rubs her temples. "Then leave. Get out of the city. Lay low for a few weeks while I work this."

"And go where? I have no money. No car. Nowhere to go."

"You have family somewhere? Friends?"

"No."

"Then go to another shelter. Different city. New Jersey. Connecticut. Somewhere Jade can't find you."

I think about it. Running away. Hiding. Giving up the only leverage I might have.

"If I leave, I lose," I say. "Marcus wins."

"If you stay and get arrested, you definitely lose. At least if you leave, you're free. You can fight from a distance."

She's right. I know she's right.

But every part of me rebels against running.

My phone buzzes. Text from the debt collectors.

"Final offer. Payment plan or legal action. Decide now."

I show it to Chen. She reads it, her jaw tightening.

"Don't respond," she says. "Let me handle this."

"How?"

"I'll contact the FTC. File an official complaint. Start an investigation into Consolidated Debt Solutions. It'll take time but if they're running a scam, we'll find proof."

"And in the meantime?"

"In the meantime, you disappear. Get out of New York. Stay off the grid. Let things cool down."

I look at her. At the files on the table. At the evidence that proves Marcus destroyed my father and me but won't hold up in court.

Then I look at my phone. At the threats from debt collectors and lawyers and Jade.

Twenty-four hours.

"Okay," I say. "I'll leave."

"Good. Smart choice."

"But I'm coming back. When you find something, when you have real evidence, I'm coming back and I'm testifying against him. Whatever it takes."

"Deal."

She walks me out of the station. Gives me fifty dollars from her own wallet for bus fare. Makes me promise to check in with her in a few days.

I take the money. Make the promise.

But as I walk away from the station, I'm already changing my mind.

Running won't solve anything. Marcus will still be out there. Still destroying people. Still getting away with murder.

And my daughter will grow up thinking Jade is her mother.

I can't let that happen.

I need to find a way to fight back.

Even if it destroys me.