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“No questions.” She seizes my arm firmly, stopping me from starting to run in circles in panic. “Just move and calm the heck down.”
Rushing around, I grab a bag and stuff the essentials inside. I feel numb, unsure how I’m even moving when my head is frozen on us losing our home.
Somehow, I manage to change out of my pajamas and into some semblance of clothes. I don’t even know what I’ve put on. I rush upstairs, the bag in my hand, my adrenaline in overdrive.
Memories of my call to my dad surface, how we spoke for a few seconds before he had to get onto another flight. Then he was gone.
Now, I stare at my stepmother, hoping for answers, but she’s charging ahead of me, not saying much.
I squeeze the straps of my duffle bag as I emerge into the hallway. It’s still night, just past midnight, according to the clock. The darkness is broken by the light spilling through the open front door from the strange car parked in the driveway.
Standing in the doorway is an older, thin man in a black suit who towers over my stepmother and me. His hands are clasped, and his gaze finds me.
I’m trembling. “W-Who’s he?”
My stepmother is facing me, blocking him from my view, and a horrible sensation creeps through me.
“Sapphire,” she begins. “I had to make a very difficult decision today. If I hadn’t, we’d all be on the streets, including your father.”
My head spins. “What are you talking about?”
Exhaling loudly, she continues, “The debt… it’s spiraled out of control. We have no more options.” Her expression hardens. “But I struck a deal. A deal with Hawk Kline.”
A chill twists around my spine, and I swallow hard.
Hawk Kline.
The man from the party. Fuck! After last night, he’s the last person I ever want to see again.
“What kind of deal?” I demand, gripping the straps of my bag until my knuckles are white.
She leans in. “He needs an assistant at his mansion, and he’s agreed to have you work for him. In exchange, he’ll clear all our debts. Finally,” she sneers. “Finally, you’ve found your purpose and a way to contribute to this family.”
Anger simmers inside me. What exactly does an assistant help a man like Hawk Kline? Maid, sex slave, both?
“How could you decide this without even asking me?” My attention darts to the man in the doorway and back. “And why now, in the middle of the night? Why the urgency?” Does my father even know about this? If I can buy myself some more time, I can call him on the home phone. Someone like me isn’t permitted to own a cell phone, according to my stepmother.
She roughly snatches my arm, tugging me toward the stranger.
“This is Mr. Cadell. He’s here to take you to your new position.”
“No!” I wrench my arm free, taking a step back. “Tell me what’s really going on. I need to speak with my dad.”
Her face tightens, and she looks ready to implode.
“Your father is under tremendous stress,” she hisses the words through her clenched teeth. “How can you be so selfish? Can you even fathom the relief he’ll feel coming home without the weight of our debts? All you have to do is work with Hawk and live in his mansion for a year.”
“A year?” I choke out the words as panic rises in my chest. “I-I can’t just leave everything behind to work for a man I barely know. A man who intimidates me.”
“The deal is done, Sapphire.” Her arm is suddenly on my arm, fingernails digging into flesh. “You’re going.”
Mr. Cadell steps forward, and there’s softness in his eyes as though he may sympathize with me.
“I’m afraid your stepmother, despite her unrefined delivery, is correct.” He reaches out and takes my bag out of my grasp. “If you don’t accompany me tonight, we will be left with no choice but to claim the house and its contents as our own. You and your family will be required to leave immediately.”
I can barely breathe as my skin crawls with dread. I feel the walls of the house closing in around me, suffocating me.
My stepmother is watching me with wild desperation, hoping I’ll carry all the debt—a situation she largely contributed to since marrying my father.
