1

EVIE

“Omg, Evie, where have you been? And—” She grabbed my arm, turning it around quicker than I could react. I quickly pulled my hand back and pulled the sleeves of my hoodie down to cover it.

Her expression was angry. “Where the fuck have you been? And what happened?”

“Nothing,” I shook my head. “Did the boss notice?” I asked instead.

She stared at me as if I was some crazy lady but still shook her head hesitantly. Patricia was my coworker and possibly the only friend I’d known since high school. She’s stuck with me, defended me from bullies, and helped me with food and shelter during the stormy days.

Stormy days like the past two days.

“I thought you were saving up to move out,” she whispered as we changed into our work fit in the dressing room. “What happened? We were supposed to go apartment hunting later today.”

I shrugged tiredly. “I guess it didn’t work out again.”

“Why?”

“Why?” I repeated to myself. Right, because my oh-so-perfect cousin sister thought that the money I carefully put aside in a piggy bank was the same one she happened to lose at college three states away, and it magically appeared in my bedroom.

“Evie,” she came and stood in front of me. “What exactly happened?”

Sighing deeply, I finally opened up to her. “I returned from work two nights ago to find Camille home. She was showing off some new jewelry to her friends on a video call. Ryan was there.”

“That shameless bastard,” Patricia cursed angrily. “I’ll never forgive him for hurting you the way he did.”

I chuckled bitterly. “I don’t care about him anymore, Trish. Anyway, I didn’t bother paying any attention to it, but when I got into my bedroom, I saw my piggy bank broken on the floor. It was empty. I just knew it was her, although I couldn’t prove it. I confronted her, and Mom and Dad went ballistic on me for calling their angel a thief. Camille sobbed, and even Ryan defended her, saying I was jealous of their relationship.”

She scoffed so heavily I thought her nose would fall off. “As if!” she snapped. “Please, can you complete the story without mentioning his name again?”

“Sure,” I laughed. “Anyway, after that, Camille came to my room under the guise of making peace, only to show me the receipt of her purchase — being the exact amount I’d saved up — thanking me for getting her new jewelry. And when I tried to push her out, she screamed and rolled until she fell down the stairs.”

“Fucking dramatic bitch!”

I nodded. “So, I was beaten and locked up without my medication, and that’s how I got all the wounds.”

She pulled me in for a hug. “Evie, I’m so sorry you had to go through all of that. Damn, you did not deserve it. You can still stay at my place; my parents don’t mind.”

I shook my head. “Don’t worry, I can deal with it. Camille is graduating in two weeks. Once she’s back, I can finally leave them. Plus, the last time I squatted with a friend, Kate and Derek nearly tore down their house, and I was homeless for the following week. I don’t want to bring any problems for your parents. They’re too nice and don’t deserve this madness.”

She shook her head sadly. “All I know, Evie, is that one day, they’ll regret everything they’re doing.”

I smiled sadly, nodding in agreement, even though I didn’t believe that. How could they regret it? They were richer than me, I was indebted to them, and I had nothing to my name. I don’t even know anything about my parents or if I had siblings or anything.

The fire accident from thirteen years ago that left me in a coma for six months claimed the lives of my family, according to Kate. She graciously took me in and provided for me until I graduated high school.

So despite the wickedness, I am indebted to them. Patricia and I went ahead to start work for the day, and I tried my best not to let my private life affect my work life. The people loved me; hence, I always got tips. And since the manager wasn’t around, I was allowed to keep my tips. Of course, this didn’t make every one of my coworkers happy because they were all jealous of me. All, except for Trish.

When the day was over, Trish and I headed back home. As we neared my house, her expression turned angry.

“Trish, heh, you gotta wipe that deadly glare off your face,” I joked. “We’re not trying to go to jail. I’m fine. See you at work tomorrow.”

I walked to the front door and heard muffled sounds coming from inside. Waiting a bit, I decided to listen quietly.

“You were supposed to pay up today! It’s not our business if your daughter has an extension!” a man’s voice said. His tone was authoritative and powerful.

I heard Derek whimper in response and smirked. I couldn’t miss whatever show was going on in there.

“If you can’t pay up, boss has ordered that we bring your daughter to serve him for three years. That’s going to be the punishment.”

“No!” Kate screamed. “Not our daughter, please! She’s all we’ve got!”

I smirked as I pushed the door open and stepped in. “Hi, Derek. Hi, Kate,” I smiled at them. I could see how Kate’s gaze turned deadly for a second before she suddenly smirked.

Instantly, my mood changed, seeing her smirk. That smirk was never for something good. “What is going on here?” I asked slowly.

The man who I presumed had been speaking before turned to me. “Are you Miss Fulham?”

“Uh, n—”

“Please, sir, leave her out of this. She’s innocent!” Kate pleaded suddenly, falling to the floor and grabbing the man’s ankle.

The man grabbed my upper arm immediately, pulling his dark shades down a little just to glare at me. “Answer me!” he breathed down on me.

“I... What is going on? I’m confused. I’m not their daughter...”

He turned quickly to Kate and saw her winking at me. Smirking, he turned back to me. “Your parents borrowed a huge amount of money from my boss to send you to school. Five million dollars, on the premise that they would pay back five years later which happened to expire two weeks ago. Tonight, my boss demands that if they don’t have it, we come with you.”

“But I’m not the one—” I argued. The man’s grip tightened on my upper arm, and Kate continued pleading, acting as if I was truly their child.

I winced in pain but didn’t cry out. The man turned to them. “When you’re ready with the money, you can come for your daughter. Otherwise, she will serve my boss for three whole years of her life, in whatever way he deems fit.”

My blood ran cold because I could already sense from his tone that I might become a sex slave to an unknown man.

As they dragged me forward, I fought back, screaming. “Tell them the truth! I’m not your daughter! No!”

Instead, the man whacked me hard in the head, and my body went still. My vision blurred, and darkness enveloped me.