Ch 1

RUE

“Insufficient funds” The voice of the attendant rang in my ears like a totally foreign object.

"No! No! That's impossible! I have it right here" I moan out loud, My eyes meet with the attendant's impatient glare. "I swear to you I had this money just a moment ago. I saw it before I left the house this morning. There is no way it has just disappeared! Can you refresh that again please?"

"Next!" Despite my pleas, I knew there was nothing else she could do. “There are a lot of students waiting in line behind you. When you figure out what is wrong, I will be here” Without any more arguments, I moved away from the line, because I know there is only one reason behind all this, My father.

I took out my phone with my shaky hands because even though I knew he was the only one who could have taken my tuition balance from my account, I didn’t want it to be true. I could not help but feel helpless and drained of all will to continue struggling.

“Dad!” I said into the phone as he picked up.

“Hey, kiddo. When are you coming home? I am hungry” He groans into the phone. He has been drinking again.

“Dad? Did you take my money?”

“What do you mean your money? We are a family. Your money is my money” Oh my God! How did I end up here?

“I am talking about my tuition f*e, Did you take my money?”

“Oh, that money? Don’t worry about it. I will get it back to you tonight with interest! I have a really good feeling about tonight, Rue! I am going to pay you back tenfold” I squint my eyes slightly in frustration.

“Just stay where you are, Dad, I am coming home” Before he takes that step to use my hard-earned money to fuel his selfish addiction. I must get it from him”

Since my mom died five years ago when I was fourteen, my dad has never truly helped me, never acted like a dad in any way. To be frank, I think I have become more of a mother to him than he is a father to me. I have been working from one job to the other, especially since Dad’s business began to go under.

It didn’t even take more than a year for him to be sucked into the world of gambling.

Dad’s business went bankrupt after his wife died, he has become so aggressive and completely neglectful, to himself and everything around him, me included.

I have decided long ago that I was better off without hope of ever getting the love of my father back but my sanity must still be intact. I have a roof over my head, and my bartending job somehow brings food to the table and I still manage to get myself into college despite everything screaming around me that it was not possible..

“Dad, where is it?” I say as I drop my study materials on the couch behind the dining table where he sits. Maybe when I show him how angry I am, he will take me seriously this time. But he is not even looking at me. He is munching on something and murmuring at the same time, but I could care less at this moment. I just need to get my money back.

“You have to go get a job to sponsor your gambling. I cannot keep losing more money. I work so hard to save for things like this. Don’t take from the little I bring to the table, That’s all I ask” He still doesn't answer me.

“Dad, what the hell? I am speaking to you. I have just a week left to pay for this semester.” Tears threaten to pour out in my eyes, the feeling of betrayal enveloping me.

The only reason why I have not curled up into a ball and cried my eyes out is because I know I have had enough. If he sees that show of weakness in me again today, I won’t be able to collect my money, since all he does is manipulate me until I give in.

But this time is different, I have so little time. There is no other way to get ten grand in two weeks.

“I am sorry pumpkin. But I think it has come to an end for me. There is no way out now. I am doomed and you are doomed with me”

“Hold on! What are you talking about? The only person who is doomed here is me, and if I don’t pay that money soon, Maybe then you will be doomed with me. Because I am going to unleash my immersed anger on you”

“You don’t understand Kiddo. Alessandro Vanillin’s men are coming here”

“The mafia don?” I laugh out loud then, the first time I will ever laugh at one of my father’s ridiculous excuses. “Don’t even try any of those lies. I am not joking with you, Dad. I would not be standing here and joking with you when I am supposed to be in school right now, Dad. Please, don’t do this to me again” I guess the closest thing to betrayal from a family member is when they lie to you so easily.

He raised his head and looked at me. My father looks like he has suddenly added twenty years to his forty-nine years. And I see fear in his eyes.

“What? You are serious. How did you even manage to get in trouble with a mafia Don? Alessandro Vanillin for that matter? You have heard bad news about that man and still went ahead to get in trouble with him? What did you do?”

“I. . . I owe the man some money” Okay, that is not a life-threatening situation. There is nothing a few more hours at the lounge won’t solve.

“Okay Dad, you almost gave me a heart attack there. Give me the money with you first, I will pay for my tuition and start to find the money you owe Mr. Vanillin”

“I don’t have it.”

“No, come on, what do you mean you don't have it?” I asked in frustration.

A loud bang at the door took my attention away from him for a moment.

“They are here! They have come to take me. They have come here to take your father” My father, whom I looked up to for most of my life started to cry and I suddenly felt like I had to protect him.

“They are not taking you anywhere. I will pay what you owe” I moved across the room to open the door for our ‘visitors’ when my father held my legs and refused my movement.

“Don’t open the door, Don’t open the door.” I am surprised they resorted to knocking in the first place, from what I know, the Vanillin men never ask permission for anything. I would have found it completely normal if they kicked the place open.

“They are not kicking our house open, Dad, that means the people here are some of the civilized men in his circle. We only need to talk with them, we will tell them to give us a little bit of time, your daughter is going to settle your debt for you, okay?”

He let me go then as if holding a sense of assurance.

“You took too long to open the door. Where is your father?” The man who spoke after I opened the door didn’t look like he could be patient for a discussion when he looked at me from head to toe and realized I was not the person he was hoping to see. He looked really intimidating with his scary expression but it didn’t stop the fact that all the men looked like something out of an exquisite magazine.

“You can talk to me. I am representing my father. What do you want with him?” I say with my hands fisted around my sides. Letting them know I will not be intimidated.

“Baby girl, I need to see your father. Except you are the one paying for what he owes” He seems like the leader of the other two.

“Yes, Mr Luka. My daughter here has agreed to pay for what I owe” I hear my father’s frightened voice behind me.

I look up into Mr Luka’s face then and nod. Daring him to see me unfit for the role.

“Okay, And how is that?” Mr Luka folds his hands in front of him as if he would love more than anything to get this over with.

“I am selling my daughter to Mr. Allessandro Vanellin.”