Shadows Of Debt

(3rd person P.O.V)

On Sunday afternoon at 11:30 am, Lilly was cooking lunch and her daughter Alison was helping her prepare lunch and arranging the table. Alison’s father, Jared, was reading the newspaper and enjoying sunbathing on the lawn when a few black cars came and stopped beside his house. Jared panicked and ran inside his house.

“Lilly,” Jared called his wife in panic while closing the door, hoping that it would buy some time for him and his family to get to safety.

“Jared, what happens? Why are you running inside the house like this?” Lilly asks, looking worried.

“Mathew and his men are coming here. Quickly, go and hide somewhere in the house with Alison,” Jared said in a hurry and peeked outside the house through the hole in the door. Lilly grabs Alison’s hand and runs towards her bedroom, then hides inside the closet.

“Mom, what’s wrong? Why are we hiding inside the closet?” Alison asks her mother. Before Lilly could answer her, they heard someone break the door and signaled her daughter to stay quiet.

“Do you really think that this lousy door can stop us from entering your house, Jared?” Mathew said while breaking the door and walking inside the house with his men.

“N...N-no, sir,” Jared shuttered while shaking in fear and backing away from him.

“Where is my money? You said you would return my money in a week. It has been two weeks now,” Mathew said while grabbing an apple from the fruit basket and biting on it.

“I...I lost it,” Jared shuttered in fear.

“What do you mean you lost it?” Mathew shouted and glared at him.

“I have invested it in a scheme; a few days later, I found out that it was a scandal,” Jared said to him while looking down at the floor.

“What?” Mathew shouts at him.

“Fine, then we will take your family under our possession until you return my money to me,” Mathew said while smirking at him.

“By the way, boss, I have heard he has a beautiful daughter. I wonder how much money we would get if we sold her at a higher price,” one of Mathew’s men said while smirking at Jared.

“Is that so? Wonderful” Matthew clapped his hand in excitement and smirked at him.

“Then you don’t have to worry about returning my money? I will take your daughter,” Mathew said in delight and started walking towards his room.

“No...Please, leave my family out of this. They have nothing to do with it. If you want to sell someone, sell me,” Jared pleaded while grabbing his leg.

“And what made you think someone buys garbage like you?” Mathew asks him while making a disgusted face, and his men start laughing at his comment.

“Please give me a month or two, and I promise to return your money to you, please,” Jared begged while still grabbing his leg.

“I am giving you one month if you don’t return my money by then, I will take your wife and daughter under my possession and sell them to the higher bidder, got it?” Mathew asks Jared while grabbing his hair roughly and making him face him, and Jared nods his head at him.

“Good,” Mathew said and pushed Jared away from him and walked away from there. Jared closed the door after them and slumped down on the floor with a sigh of relief. After some time, he gets up and opens the door to ensure they are gone. When he is sure that no one is there, he closes the door and walks towards their bedroom.

“They are gone now. You guys can come out from the closet,” Jared said while entering the bedroom.

“How can you do that, Jared? Didn’t I tell you not to take money from them and invest in that scheme? When will you ever learn to listen to me? What would have happened if they really had taken us under their possession? How will we ever pay their debt in such a short time,” Lilly said and broke down in tears.

“Can someone explain what is going on here? Who were those people, and why were they asking for money from us?” Alison asks, getting frustrated with all this drama.

“A few years ago, when your father’s business ...” Lilly started to tell her, but Jared shouted at her to stop her from spilling the beans.

“She needed to know this, Jared, to be prepared for the worst case,” Lilly shouted at him, to shut him up.

“A few years ago, your father had taken a loan from Mathew’s father, who had come here to ask for money, your father had taken from them,” Lilly said to her.

“What did you do with the money?” Alison asks her father, and her father looks down in shame.

“Invested it in a fraud scheme and now had lost it,” Lilly said while gritting her teeth in anger.

“How many loans did you taken from them?” Alison asks him while massaging her temple.

“2....2500000$,” Jared shuttered.

“What? But I thought it was only 1500000$, don’t tell me that you had asked for another loan?” Lilly asks with wide eyes, and Jared looks down in shame.

“What are we going to do now? I don’t even have enough jewelry to sell and the money now?” Lilly saw while holding her head in her hands.

“How much money do you think we could afford by selling your remaining Jewelry?” Alison asks her mother.

“50000$,” Lilly said to her.

“Good, don’t worry, Mom, we will think of something to arrange the remaining amount,” Alison said while keeping a hand on her shoulder.

“Alison, you don’t need to worry about this, I and your mo-” Jared started to say, but Alison stopped him with a glare.

“It’s better if you stay out of it, Dad. Because of you, we are in this situation, anyway, I was getting late for school. Don’t worry, mom. We will manage somehow, okay? So please stop crying and put yourself together, okay?” Alison asks, and Lilly nods at her. She walked towards her room, packed her bag, and walked to her school.