Chapter 1 - The Blood Money Contract
"Vesper, don't," Ronin pleaded, his hand coming down firmly on my shoulder. His knuckles were raw from years of turning wrenches, his eyes wide with a combination of fear and protective fury. "You sign that paper, and he owns you. He'll own Yunia. You can't outrun twenty percent weekly interest on twenty-one grand. That's over eighty thousand dollars in a month!"
I looked down at the paper sliding through the metal slot beneath the bulletproof glass. The ink on the loan agreement was fresh, dark, and lethal.
"My daughter is dying in Room 417, Ronin," I said, my voice barely a whisper, though it rang like iron in the quiet, dim pawnshop. "If I don't give the hospital that deposit by noon tomorrow, they release the donor organ to the next person on the regional registry. I don't have twenty-four hours to figure out a better option. I have right now."
Kale leaned back in his leather executive chair, watching us like a hawk from behind the reinforced glass. The silver Rolex on his wrist caught the harsh neon glow of a buzzing beer sign hanging near the door.
"Your brother has good instincts, Vesper," Kale said, his voice smooth as oil over gravel. "I am not a bank. I don't send polite letters when you default. I send men who don't care about your daughter's medical bills. But... seeing as you're Allaric's blood, I'll throw in a little grace period. Seven days before the first interest payment hits. After that, four thousand two hundred every seven days until the principal is cleared."
"Why did you say you knew my father?" I demanded, my pen hovering an inch above the signature line. "My father is a retired luxury car dealer. He lives in a gated estate. You run a high-interest loan shark operation in a salvage yard."
Kale chuckled, a dry, rattling sound. "Allaric wasn't always a country-club gentleman, sweetheart. Thirty years ago, before he bought into Oak Creek Estates, he needed startup capital for his first dealership. He didn't get it from a bank either. He got it right here in this room. He paid off his debt, wiped his hands of us, and started acting like royalty."
Kale’s eyes narrowed slightly, a cruel glint flashing in his iris. "He owes me a favor. A very old favor. But since he won't answer my calls anymore, I'm happy to do business with his desperate daughter instead."
My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird. The truth was unraveling before my eyes: my father’s precious, pristine reputation was built on the exact same dirty foundation I was standing on right now. He had used loan sharks to build his empire, yet he sat on his patio sipping bourbon and judging me for needing help to save my child's life.
"Sign it, or leave," Kale said, tapping his manicured index finger against his glass window. "The money is sitting right here in a duffel bag. Twenty-one thousand in hundred-dollar bills. Added to your brother's four thousand, you walk out of here with your deposit."
I didn't hesitate another second. I slammed the pen down and scribbled my signature across the line: Vesper Carter.
Five minutes later, Ronin and I stepped out into the freezing Ohio night air. The heavy duffel bag was slung over my shoulder, resting against my spine like a block of lead.
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"We have seven days," Ronin said, slamming the door of his beat-up work van. The engine sputtered, groaned, and finally roared to life with a cloud of dark exhaust. "Four thousand two hundred dollars in seven days. How the hell are we going to make that kind of cash, Vesper? Aerial surveying doesn't pay that fast."
"I don't know," I said, staring at the neon sign of the pawnshop reflecting in the wet pavement. "But my daughter is getting her kidney tomorrow. That's all that matters."
