All Chapters of DEBT OF DESIRE : Chapter 1 - Chapter 4

Chapter One: The Debt's Shadow The late afternoon sun slants through the cracked window of the Lee family Kitchen, painting golden streaks across the chipped linoleum counter. I’m scrubbing at work so hard my knuckles ache, sweat beading on my forehead despite the October chill creeping through the walls. My apron, stained with soy sauce and grease, clings to me like a second skin. At least it was empty here for a while as I had the opportunity to clean around. The restaurant, my parents’ dream, a tiny Southeast Asian haven in Brooklyn’s quiet corner where it smelled of lemongrass and despair. The lunch rush was a pathetic trio of customers, and now it’s just me, the hum of a dying fridge, and the weight of a debt that’s choking us.My phone buzzes on the counter, flashing Mom. I ignore it, my jaw clenching. I know what she’ll say: another plea to keep this place alive, another reminder of the fifty-thousand-dollar loan from Thorne Industries that’s drowning us. Five years ago, we to

The hospital smells like antiseptic and fear, a sterile assault that burns my nose as I sit in the waiting room, my hands twisting in my lap. The lights buzz overhead, too bright, making the clock’s ticking feel louder than normal in my skull. It’s 8:47 a.m., hours since Dad’s heart attack turned our world upside down. Mom’s beside me, her eyes red-rimmed, clutching a tissue like it’s a lifeline. Her dark hair, usually neat, is a mess, and her whispered prayers in our island’s dialect fill the silence. I want to comfort her, but my own heart’s pounding, stuck on Dad’s ashen face, his hand gripping mine as the paramedics wheeled him away.“Scarlett,” Mom says, her voice hoarse. “He’ll be okay. He has to be.”I nod, but my throat’s too tight to speak. The image of Dad slumped in his recliner, gasping, won’t leave me. Lee Family Kitchen, their dream, our anchor, it’s killing him. The fifty-thousand-dollar debt to Blackwood Industries, the interest piling up, the foreclosure looming it’s