Chapter One

Amaliah's friend, Sheila Brown was perched on the kitchen counter eating from a bag of chips and chatting with Amaliah when the latter's phone rang. 

“Hello, am I onto Amaliah Rivers?” a gruff voice spoke up on the other end the instant Amaliah picked up the phone.

“Yes, this is Amaliah Rivers speaking. Who is asking?”

She placed her cellphone between her ear and her shoulder and continued to chop carrots for the salad she was making. 

“This is Ted Williams. I'll go straight to the point ma'am. I work for a loan shark, and we deal with loans and investments. Your now-deceased husband, Rafael Rivers took up a loan of $350,000 with an interest of $150,000 to be paid back after five months. All attempts to get across to him have been futile, and after making our findings, we heard that he was buried three months ago. Fortunately, I was able to get your contact information from a source. So I'm calling now to know how and when you intend to make the payment."

The knife clattered to the floor and narrowly escaped contact with her foot. Sheila dropped the bag of chips and raised a brow, sending her friend a questioning look that was ignored. Amaliah hoped she hadn't heard clearly. She cleared her throat and took on a dismissive tone of voice.

“Pardon," she said, shaking her head even if he could not see her, "I think you've got the wrong person. I'm Amaliah Rivers, but I'm not the Amaliah Rivers you're talking about. There has been a mixup somewhere, but it’s alright. I'll hang up now." 

   

"I suggest you don't do that ma'am. You have twin girls who go to the elementary school over on Parkview close. They have brown hair, gray eyes, adorable dimples just like you and they wear matching pendants. I'm sure you wouldn't want anything to happen to them, right?"

She gripped the phone, her heart palpitating wildly. She honestly hoped she was dreaming even as she was aware that it was reality. How did he know her girls? What the hell was going on? 

"Don't you dare touch my girls! I promise I'll kill you if you do. What do you want from me? How do you know all these things about me and my family?”

Ted Williams cackled on the other end. He had succeeded in shaking her up. “What we want is simple. Since it appears that you had no prior knowledge about this loan that was taken by your late husband, we're going to be merciful and give you two months to pay up. If after two months you're unable to pay up, I promise you will be very sorry ma'am. You wouldn’t want to experience what we have in store for debtors.”

"I don't know anything about this!" She breathed into the phone. "You're probably just a crazy liar or a phantom caller. Rafael would never do this to us. If he wanted to take such a huge loan, he would've consulted me first."

"Maybe you don't know your husband as well as you think ma'am. I suggest you make your findings before you conclude that I'm a liar. Rafael Rivers took several smaller loans from us and paid them back accordingly, but he went big on this one and it's quite unfortunate that he passed on.”

"How on earth am I going to pay $500,000 in two months? Any deal you had with Rafael is dead and gone with him. Don't you dare bring my girls into this, they've done nothing wrong."

Ted Williams laughed again. "Right. It's only because Rafael was well known for paying up on time, that's why you were given two extra months. We'll be watching you. Don't try to escape or leave the city or we'll take your girls apart limb by limb and ruin your life. And don't you dare attempt to report to the police either, because there is a signed document between this company and your late husband, Mr Rafael Rivers. Goodbye Ms Rivers. Have a splendid day."

Amaliah dropped the phone and held her head in her hands for several seconds. She was paralyzed with fear and her body trembled with rage.

"What's wrong girlfriend? Who was that? Is something wrong with the girls? Was that from their school?" Sheila asked, visibly disturbed and confused by her best friend's reaction to the phone call.

"There's nothing wrong with them now, Sheila, but there will be." Was Amaliah's response as she moved to the living room which adjoined the kitchen.

"What? I don't understand. Talk to me, Amaliah. I'm here for you." 

Amaliah sat down and held her head in her hands again. Her thoughts were scattered. Sheila crouched in front of her and lifted her chin with her fingers. 

"Okay, listen. I want you to take deep, calming breaths. Breathe in, out," She demonstrated and Amaliah reluctantly followed suit. After doing the breathing exercise for two minutes, Amaliah's trembling had reduced a little.

"Now, talk to me. Who was that on the phone? Why did you look so scared? What did he or she tell you about the girls? You threatened to kill the person if he or she came near the girls. Talk to me, Amaliah."

"Everything has gone horribly wrong, Sheila. Why do these things keep happening?” she sobbed loudly, her shoulders heaving. Sheila simply held her and let her cry, but she pulled away from the embrace and wiped her eyes.

“Okay. The person on the other end of the call was a man. He said his name is Ted Williams. He works for a loan shark that deals with loans and investments. Rafael took a loan of $350,000 with an interest of $150,000 right before he passed on. They have been trying to contact him, but they heard from a source that he has been buried. Long story short, they gave me two months to get the money."

"Or what?" Sheila's voice was a whisper. Her eyes mirrored Amaliah's fear.

"Or they'll kill Madisyn and Micaela. They know everything about us, Sheila, everything," Amaliah started to panic again, pushing her fingers into her hair. "Down to the hair color and eye color of the twins, as well as their matching pendants. How they got that information, I don't know. I'm confused, Sheila. I don't want to believe that Rafael would do something like this."

Sheila was deep in thought. She took her friend's hands and squeezed gently, as a way of letting her know she was there as support.

"Amaliah, we'll figure something out. First off, did you know there were loan sharks in HavenHill Central?"

"I was thinking the same thing, Sheila. I've never heard of a loan shark here. Why would Rafael entangle himself with this kind of a thing? The man on the phone said this loan is not the first one Rafael had taken from them, except that he always paid back on time." She got up and started to pace.

"I've never heard of them either, but we both know the crime rate here is low. Especially on this side of town. They might be located on the other side of town.”

"All I need is a solution to this problem Sheila. They threatened to kill my girls! I'll die if anything ever happens to my girls. He said we're being watched, and I've been ordered not to go to the police. I don't think the police will support us anyway, because Rafael did take the loan, and I was informed that there is a signed document that states that he did take the loan."

“I still think you might have a good chance in court, seeing as you had no prior knowledge. Amaliah, since Rafael’s death three months ago, the only things you've been getting are bills, bills, and more bills. Now a $500,000 debt? Do you think he was involved in something shady?”

"Something like?”

“I don’t know, maybe drugs. What if he was doing drugs?” Sheila asked tentatively.

“That’s 100% impossible, Sheila, and you know it. Rafael would never get himself involved in anything like that. I'll deal with why and how Rafael took the loan later. Where on earth will I get 500 grand?" 

"Well, I think there's only one solution here," Sheila spoke up after several minutes of silence. "You have to get a well-paying job. You can pool together the salaries for two months and give them something. At least they'll know you intend on paying and will probably give you more time."

Amaliah let out a bitter cackle. "I might as well hand Madisyn and Micaela over to them then because I don't think you realize how much debt we're talking about here. It's half a million dollars, Sheila! Half a million dollars!! I've never seen or had that kind of money in my life.”

"I know what the situation looks like, but you have to calm down. If you don't get a job, the only other thing you can do is get a loan from the bank, and since you don't have a job, I don't see how they'll give you a loan. Aside from that, you'll simply be robbing Peter to pay Paul if you take another loan. You get me?"

Amaliah merely sighed.

"Listen, girlfriend, take today to process everything. I know it’s not looking or sounding good, but there’s a solution for almost every problem. I'll come over tomorrow after the girls are in school and we'll look up job vacancies and apply for a couple of them. How hard can it be?" 

"The most I can get working for anyone is $4,000 per month and $8,000 for two months. Do you think they'll spare me when I present them with $8,000? What will the twins and I survive on if I give them everything I work for? It’ll take years to finish paying up, and at the end, I’ll be left high and dry.” Amaliah looked up at Sheila with a sigh.

"You can get better than $4,000 per month, I believe in you. Listen, I have to go now, baby girl. I'll call you before I come tomorrow." Sheila kissed her friend goodbye and saw herself out.

Amaliah raised her knees to her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs. She rocked herself while she cried. How had her life turned out so bad in less than two years? They had not been filthy rich, but at least she and Rafael had been happy with their little family and a small circle of friends. 

She looked around the small brownstone she had lived in for the past six years. She and Rafael had bought it three weeks before they got married, and had moved in to ‘break in’ the couch and the bed. It was a pretty three-bedroom house and through the years, Amaliah had done the interior decor herself, often repainting now and then. Presently, it was done in mustard and charcoal gray colors, alongside simple, inexpensive wallpaper. 

The exterior was painted with a dark brown color, and it had a sizable yard for the twins and their dog, Pedro, could play. They also had a fat, orange tabby cat called Fat Louie, even if Pedro and Fat Louie were not the best housemates. They had tried their best to build a happy home, a haven for their girls and she liked to think they had succeeded for the most part until tragedy struck three months ago.  

She recalled Ted Williams’ words and wondered if Rafael had been living a different life from the one she knew about. The thought scorched her like a live firebrand and she immediately regretted thinking about it. She vaguely remembered bits of their conversations when he had told her about his several failed attempts to start up his own company.

She berated herself for doubting his sincerity. Rafael had always been very good to her and the twins. Even when he didn’t have a stable job for more than two years, they lacked nothing. He always found one thing or another to do to provide for them.

She had lost her job before his death, and they had been living on her savings, gifts from friends and her parents' support for the past three months. 

She knew Sheila was right; she had to survive, she had to stay afloat at all costs. She was all her girls had, and they were her life, her only reason for living. She knew she had to get a job, no matter what it paid. It was the only chance she had in this entirely foreign situation she had suddenly been thrown into. 

There was nowhere she could run to, no one could save her, there was nothing she could do aside from facing the problem head-on. She could only hope it did not consume her, and that the time given to her would be enough to make a difference to whoever Ted Williams was working for before he hurt her babies.

She felt like she was teetering on the edge of a deep, dark abyss and she could fall in at any time. She had never felt so hopeless in her entire life.