Chapter 9 - The Debt Revealed
The morning sun broke through the storm clouds, turning the surface of Lake Michigan into blinding silver.
I woke up on the massive sectional sofa, covered by a heavy down duvet. The smell of frying bacon and fresh coffee drifted from the open kitchen. For a second, I forgot where I was—until the ache in my bare feet and the emerald dress draped over an armchair brought the horror of the night rushing back.
I wrapped the duvet around my shoulders and padded into the kitchen.
Adrian was at the island, wearing a simple gray crewneck sweater and jeans—the most casual I had ever seen him. He was typing rapidly on a laptop, a coffee mug steaming beside him.
“Leo is awake,” he said without looking up.
I stopped dead in my tracks. “What?”
Adrian closed the laptop and turned his swivel chair toward me. “I had my private physician transferred to your brother’s ward at six this morning. The bone marrow specialist he needed—the one the insurance company denied three weeks ago? He landed at O’Hare twenty minutes ago.”
Tears sprang to my eyes so fast they blurred my vision. My breath caught in a sharp sob. “Adrian... why? Why are you doing this?”
“Because I looked into your files, Maya,” he said, his voice flat, devoid of its usual arrogance. “Not the ones the agency gave me. The real ones.”
He slid a manila folder across the marble counter.
I walked over with trembling hands and opened it. Inside were copies of loan agreements, promissory notes, and photographs of a dark-windowed storefront in West Chicago.
The loan shark.
“Fourteen months ago, your brother took out forty thousand dollars to pay for your mother’s hospice care,” Adrian said, watching me closely. “He couldn't pay it back. The interest doubled. Then tripled. The men who threatened to break his legs if you didn't pay five hundred dollars a week?”
Adrian stood up, closing the distance between us until he was standing a breath away.
“They report to Victor Marcone.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. “What?”
“The agency that sent you to my house wasn't a coincidence, Maya,” Adrian said, his jaw tightening into iron. “Marcone bought your debt from the street lenders. He waited until you were desperate enough to take any high-paying placement. He engineered your application to Voss Holdings.”
The room began to spin. “I... I was supposed to be a plant? But I didn't know! I swear to God, Adrian, I didn't know anything! I just needed the money for Leo’s—”
“I know,” Adrian interrupted, his hands coming up to cradle my face, warm and firm, grounding me instantly. “If you were working for him, you wouldn't have knocked that glass out of my hand last night. You wouldn't have thrown a bronze statue to save my life in the greenhouse.”
His dark eyes were fiercely protective.
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“Marcone tried to use an innocent girl to destroy me,” Adrian whispered, his voice vibrating with lethal intent. “And now, I am going to tear down everything he owns to make sure you and your brother are never touched again.”
***