Debts and Graves

Elowen POV.

The security guard's mouth closed.

Nick's thumb pressed against my racing pulse one more time before he released my wrist, his attention shifting to Dominic. "We're finished here."

"Of course, Mr. Bodeen," Dominic's smile was professionally blank as he ushered the guard away from the door. "Enjoy the rest of your evening."

I didn't breathe until they disappeared down the hallway.

Nick stood, adjusting his jacket, and I realized I was still frozen in place. My legs felt like water. "Friday" he said again, softer this time, then walked out.

The door clicked shut. I collapsed onto the sofa, my whole body shaking.

Three AM found me staring at the ceiling of my studio apartment, too wired to sleep, but too exhausted to do anything else.

The space was barely bigger than Nick's office. Peeling paint on the walls, a mattress on the floor because I'd sold the bed frame two years ago, a mini fridge that hummed too loud, and a hotplate I used to make ramen because turning on the actual stove cost extra in utilities.

This was what fifteen million dollars of debt looked like.

I turned my head, and there they were. The only photograph I'd kept when I sold everything else.

Mom. Dad. Liam.

Marie Roberts had my red hair and green eyes. Thomas Roberts had Liam's gap-toothed grin. They were standing in front of our old house, the one the bank seized three weeks after the funeral. Liam was ten in that photo, his arms wrapped around both parents, so happy he practically glowed.

My chest tightened, that familiar ache spreading through my ribs like it always did.

Four years ago, I'd been nineteen. Pre-med at State University, drowning in organic chemistry and dreams of becoming a doctor. I was in the library when my phone rang, it was an unknown number, and I almost didn't answer.

"Is this Elowen Roberts?"

"Yes?"

"This is Mercy General Hospital, there's been an accident."

The world tilted.

I remembered running, remembered my roommate driving me because I couldn't see through the tears, and the fluorescent lights of the emergency room burning my eyes.

"I'm sorry," the doctor said. She had kind eyes and I hated her for it. "They were all dead on arrival. The other driver walked away with minor injuries."

Dead on arrival. All three of them, gone in the time it took a drunk driver to run a red light.

The funeral was small, I sold my textbooks to pay for it, and stood alone at three graves while a priest who'd never met them said empty words about God's plan.

I was nineteen years old and I'd never felt so alone in my entire life.

One week later, I sat in a lawyer's office while he explained why ‘alone’ was about to get so much worse.

"Your parents had significant business debts," he said, shuffling papers like they were just numbers and not the rest of my life. "As next of kin, you're legally responsible."

"How much?"

He looked at me over his glasses. "Twenty million dollars."

The room spun. I still remember how light headed I felt.

Twenty million.

I already had two million in student loans from three years of pre-med, and now I owed twenty million more for business deals I didn't understand, for risks my parents took that I never knew about.

Twenty-two million total.

Four years later, I was twenty-three and I'd managed to pay off five million through sheer desperation. 

Fifteen million now, plus the two million in student loans I'd never finish paying because I'd had to drop out of pre-med to work double shifts.

Seventeen million total.

Four years of sixty-hour work weeks at the office plus thirty hours dancing at Nocturne. I was so tired.

The sky outside my single window was turning gray. Almost dawn.

I dragged myself out of bed, pulled on jeans and a hoodie, and drove to Riverside Cemetery on the edge of town.

Their graves sat under an oak tree. I'd picked the location because Liam loved climbing trees, I stopped at the gas station on the way and bought the cheapest flowers they had, twelve dollars I couldn't afford but bought anyway.

The grass was wet with dew as I walked up the hill. Placed the flowers between their headstones.

"Hi, Mom." My voice cracked. "Hi, Dad. Hey, Liam." The sun was rising, painting everything gold, and I sat down on the damp grass between them.

"I'm so tired." The words came out as a whisper. "I don't know how much longer I can do this."

A bird sang somewhere in the oak tree. Liam would have loved that.

"Something happened last night at the club, I mean. My boss came in." I laughed, but it sounded hollow. "Nicholas Bodeen."

I trailed off because what was the point.

"There was a security guard from Aurelian. I think he recognized me. I don't know, maybe I'm just paranoid." I wiped my eyes with my sleeve. "If he tells anyone, I lose both jobs, and if I lose both jobs..."

I couldn't finish that sentence.

"Liam, you'd be fourteen now, you wanted to play basketball, remember? You were so excited about try outs." My throat closed up. "Why did I survive and you didn't? It should have been me in that car." Survivor's guilt. That's what the grief counselor I saw twice before my insurance ran out, called it, but I called it the truth.

My phone buzzed. I pulled it from my pocket, checking my bank account out of habit.

$247.83 until next paycheck.

Debt payment due in seven days: $25,000.

I was short by $24,752.17.

My phone rang, shattering the cemetery silence.

Unknown number.

My finger hovered over decline. Unknown numbers were never good news. I should let it go to voicemail, but I answered.

Heavy breathing on the other end, then a voice, low and threatening, with an accent I couldn't place. "Elowen Roberts?"

My blood turned to ice. "Who is this?"

"You know who this is," The voice was calm. "Your parents made promises. You inherited those promises and interest, so we'll be in touch about collection."

"Wait, I don't..."

"Nice flowers, by the way, but you could’ve chosen something better."

The line went dead. A car started somewhere really close.

I stared at my phone, my hands shaking so hard I nearly dropped it. My parents had borrowed money from dangerous people. 

And they just found me.