Chapter 2: Vin

Callie stared in open horror as the gray-eyed man brought a glass of water over from the sink before pouring it all over her uncle’s unconscious form. The coldness jolted him awake with a shriek of pain, undoubtedly from the many sores and open wounds he had sustained.

“Stop! Who are you?! What do you want?” Callie yelled in hopes of distracting the men who invaded their home. Three of them, she counted, including the one who took pepper spray to the face.

The man holding the glass stood up straight and cleared his throat before he wiped his bloodied hands across the front of his shirt. “Pardon me,” he said before making a grand gesture of bowing to her. “Well, I’m Soren, and these are my colleagues.”

It was the way the man called Soren spoke that told Callie something was off about him. There’s a playful tone in his voice every time he speaks as if nothing ever fazes him, treating everything like a joke. His movements are big and satiric, but he showed no sign of weakness.

With big round eyes, a sharp nose, and thin lips, Soren looked like any other boy next door at first glance, but paired with that eccentric attitude and murderous aura, Callie knew she had to be careful.

Soren’s hands flew open before looking at Callie with mock sympathy. “Apologies for the mess. But I think the blood looks lovely against that ghastly wallpaper.”

Callie winced at how casually this violent man could talk about defiling her home. It may not be much, but she spent most of her life here. It meant something to her.

“Why are you here?” Callie asked, barely holding on to her strip of sanity. “What do you thugs want?”

The man had the audacity to look offended. “Excuse me, I’m not a thug. I’m a lawyer, if that helps any,” Soren explained, unable to tone down the sass in his voice. But Callie wasn’t interested, and honestly, she wasn’t impressed. She was scared out of her wits and was frantically trying to figure out how to worm her way out of this situation. “I just tagged along with the boss. Said it was a special case. Then the bastard actually left me to take out the trash.”

‘Boss?’

That meant the man Callie bumped into earlier was indeed Soren’s boss. That would explain why a man as wealthy as him would ever grace these sullied streets. But none of that mattered when she was about to be killed.

Soren stepped away from Jimmy and toward her. “We’re just here to collect a debt this dear old man owes us. Jimmy here—” Soren reached back to grab her uncle by the scruff of his neck. The old man grunts in surprise as he was throwing down to the floor a few feet away from his niece. “Dear old, Jimmy snuck away when he lost all his bets during last night’s game.”

Callie’s forehead scrunched in confusion. “Gambling? With what money?” she couldn’t help but scoff in disbelief as fresh tears welled up in her eyes. “The club isn’t even doing that well. The brothel too… and I’ve been keeping… wait—” She cut herself off and then looked over to her uncle when realization dawns on her. A stray tear escaped Callie’s eye as she stared at her uncle, who wouldn’t meet her eyes.

The tension in the air rose with Callie’s anger.

‘How could he?’ she thought. For the past few months, Callie hadn’t been taking her salary, both as a singer and an escort, from her uncle. Since the club wasn’t doing so well, she wanted to at least help out, even a little. So, she opted to live solely on the tips and gifts she received from her clients. But to think her uncle was spending the money, gambling in the city? Callie couldn’t believe it.

Soren’s confused look quickly dissolves into one of amusement as he registered the betrayal on Callie’s face. “Wait, no way.” Bellowing laughter erupted from his lips before Soren doubles over laughing at Callie’s situation. “Oh shit, you really are scum, aren’t you?” Still snickering, he added, “You had the gall to take the kid’s money and squander it? Maybe you don’t deserve to live after all.”

“No, wait!” Callie yelled when the thug raised his fist, scrambling to her feet. “Please, just give us a few weeks to come up with the sum. Please!” Still reeling in anger, Callie forced herself to think of any other way to convince them. “Is there anything we could do?”

Soren turned his attention to Callie, deep in thought. He looked around the humble apartment with its scratched walls and peeling paint. He hummed, “An extension, huh? Well, my boss isn’t patient. And for twenty-three million—”

“Twenty-three million dollars?” Callie’s eyes bugged out at the amount. How in the hell did her uncle come up with that amount, let alone squander it in one night?

Soren’s smug expression didn’t waver one bit at Callie’s surprise. The collector stepped away from Jimmy’s beaten form and looked around the tiny apartment. “As I was saying, my boss, isn’t patient nor is he the negotiating type. Plus, there’s nothing here to take as collateral—”

“Take her!”

“What?” Callie shrieked at her uncle’s words. She was about to mutter a string of profanities, but Soren all but growled at the room.

“How many fucking times are you going to interrupt me?” It wasn’t just Callie who froze at his anger, but even the two other thugs he came with immediately shut up. The room’s temperature dropped, and a sudden darkness crossed Soren’s eyes, he was done messing around. “You.” He pointed at Jimmy, taking a few steps closer to him. “Speak.”

Jimmy picked his face up from the floor to open his mouth, with blood still running down his deformed nose. “She’s worth more than all the women in my brothel combined!”

Callie stared at her uncle, hearing but unable to process what was coming out of his mouth.  She couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, she couldn’t even feel her own heartbeat racing against her chest.

Her uncle wanted these men to take her? That couldn’t be right. She was his only living relative, surely, he wouldn’t…

But he did. He sold her out. All the blood drained from Callie’s face at the realization.

“Oh?” came Soren’s voice, cutting through the haze in Callie’s mind. When she raised her head to meet Soren’s gaze, she was reminded of a predator, waiting… taunting his prey before moving in for the kill. But there’s a glint of suspicion in his eyes, or was it pity? No one could tell, for it was gone just as soon as it appeared.

“Y-yes yes. She, uh, has high-profile clients. Y-Your boss would profit from her even.”

Soren huffed out his disappointment, but it was clear he was also interested in the trade. “Huh, making your poor—what are you, his niece?” Callie could only nod when Soren addressed her. “Making your poor niece pay off your debt? Piece of shit.”

Callie watched numbly as Soren kicked her already beaten uncle, but this time, she felt no remorse or guilt. She didn’t even feel pity. How could anyone expect her to when he sold her off to save his own life? So, she watched unflinchingly as her uncle screamed in pain.

Callie looked at the dreadful faces of the men who stormed into her home and stole her freedom. They weren’t men, they were monsters who took advantage of those beneath them. She felt sick to her stomach at these men who stood around talking about her future as if she wasn’t there.

Soren’s voice yanked Callie out of her thoughts. “How old are you, kid?”

“Does it matter, boss? Look at her, she’s fucking ho—” That earned him a loud whack. One so strong that even Callie flinched at how loud the slap was.

Callie tried to open her mouth, but no sound came. She was petrified. 

Soren stared at her, patiently waiting for her answer. After a few tries, Callie managed to find her voice again. “I-I’m not a k-kid. I’m twenty-four.”

“A child,” Soren countered, then circles her, letting his eyes wander up and down her body. “But not too shabby. Pretty. Very pretty.”

Callie didn’t move. She couldn’t for she was trying to wrap her head around her fate. Soren, on the other hand, wasn’t waiting. In one swift motion, he grabbed Callie and motioned for his men to move out.

“We’re taking the kid,” he announced. Then, to Callie, he spoke low into her ear. “Are you sure you don’t want me to beat him up?”

“I'll go with you, but please don’t hurt him. He’s my only family.” Callie turned her head to take a final glance at her uncle when Soren scoffed in disgust.

“You sure about that?” he added before heading toward the door with Callie in tow. Callie understood his reaction, Jimmy did sell her out. And the expression of relief and joy on his uncle’s face after Soren agreed to their deal, Callie wouldn’t ever forget it.

“Boss isn’t gonna like this, Ren,” one thug said. But Soren couldn’t be bothered. There was a smile across his lips that would haunt Callie’s dreams, and it told her that this man called Soren was more dangerous than he was letting on.

“Vin will decide what he does and doesn’t like,” Soren replied. “But I have a feeling he’ll like her.”

Callie’s heart stopped. That couldn’t be right. There was no way they were taking her to the most wanted man on the planet, right?

“Wait, what did you say?” she interjected at the risk of being hurt.

“What?”

“Did you say, Vin?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Vin, as in Vincent Baros?”

“Yeah.”

And that was it. Callie’s fate was set.

“I’m fucked.”