Page 84 of Vicious
I pause at the door and, after a steadying breath, check the peephole.
It isn’t Chase or any of his asshole friends, but I’m not reassured by what I see. There are three men, all of them mean looking. The one closest to the door has a pair of sunglasses pushed up on his head, even though it’s past sundown.
After a few seconds, the guy knocks on the door again. Then I see him reach for his phone and text something.
Baba’s phone buzzes behind me.
“Baba,” I say, keeping my voice quiet as I step away from the door. “Did you tell someone where we were?”
Baba gives me a guilty look. “May… Look, I had to. They were threatening to trash the house if I didn’t pay up.”
“They… Baba…” I can’t even understand what he’s telling me. “Didn’t you just get a lot of money from someone? Five grand?”
He frowns at me. “How do you know that?” he asks defensively. “And anyway, I used that money to pay back some of what I owed.”
The knocking gets more insistent. “Yo, Simon! Open up before I get my friends to kick down the door!”
I run a hand through my hair, trying to think. There’s no other way out of this room. We’re trapped in here, and while I could hope the ruckus would be enough to get someone to call the police, I highly doubt they would. This isn’t the type of place where people get alarmed by threats.
If anything, they’re probably ready to bitch at us to open the door so people will stop yelling and disturbing them.
“Call the police,” I say urgently. “Baba, we don’t even have any money for these people to take.”
“Just a few hours ago you said not to call the police,” Baba grumbles, getting up and starting to head for the door. “And they aren’t going to help here. Look, we give them what we have?—”
“We don’t have anything!” I hiss at him, grabbing his arm to try to keep him from going any closer.
Fuck!
Chase had been right about Baba gambling the money away, and like an idiot, I’d gotten angry at him over the truth. I’d run right back into the same situation that had gotten me taken and sold to begin with, and this time I might not be as lucky.
A loud thump hits the door, and somewhat predictably, it starts to give under the person’s weight. A few more like that, and the door will be down. Not only will they be pissed about the money, but they’ll be angry they had to force their way in as well.
There’s no time to think. There’s no time to regret.
Panic rising within me, I dart for Baba’s phone. I can call 911, or I can call Chase. I don’t have time to do both.
For some reason I don’t even understand, I find Chase’s number in my father’s contact list and press the call button.
Chase answers almost immediately. “Simon? Where are you?”
I don’t get a chance to answer him though, because Baba opens the door.
The man with the sunglasses saunters in, and he seems surprised to see me. “Simon, you didn’t tell me you had a girlfriend.”
“I’m his daughter, you pervert,” I snap. “I called the police. You should leave before they show up.”
Why didn’t I just call the fucking police to begin with? What would Chase really be able to do?
Chase is quiet on the other end. I hope that doesn’t mean he’s hung up already.
“Daughter?” Sunglasses guy looks at me. “You don’t look anything like him.” He shakes his head. “Honestly, I don’t give a fuck. Simon owes me ten grand, and I’ve been waiting over a month for payment.”
My heart drops into my stomach. Ten grand. When he’d said he’d used the five grand Chase had given him to pay debts, what had those been? How many other people does he owe money to?
And why the fuck did he call them here, knowing we don’t even have one grand between us?
“We need a little more time,” I say quickly. I just need to stall, though I don’t know why I’m stalling. No help is going to come. Even if I had gotten to tell Chase where we are, there’s no way he could get here in time to stop these men from delivering a beating to Baba—and me—or worse.