Alpha Jace’s Salvation

Collateral

The chimes of keys outside the front door caught my attention, making me halt my steps. It was late at night, and my mom and dad were not in the house.

I longed desperately, not having yet little appetite to see my dad that night.

“Daddy!” My heart sank just as my hope vanished.

I wish I could stop using such sweet terms when referring to my biological father. Why? In simple words, he doesn't deserve it.

But I found myself saying that same word when he slammed the front door of our tiny apartment loudly, rushing to his room.

“Why the rush, Dad?”

I asked him. I had many more questions for him, like where he had been for the past few days. Why didn't he come home? Why did he look like he had been through hell and back? But I put together only one question that seemed right at that moment.

“You can't tell them I'm in here, Ari. Tell them anything but that—”

My dad managed to answer, panting and finding what I assumed to be a hiding spot in the middle of his room.

“What are you talking about? Is someone after you?”

I questioned him not because I was confused but because I wanted him to confirm what I already knew. He had always been like this, even before my mother's disappearance. Plus, it was late at night.

“I'm sure I lost them, but just in case they show up, tell them you don't know anything about me.”

My dad responded, inhaling harsh breaths. His black orbs pleaded with me silently, asking me to make a promise to him.

Do you see why I wished he wasn't my dad?

A birth father is a protector, and he won't bring danger home to his family; instead, he would take threats far away from them. Isn't my dad supposed to find a hiding spot somewhere where his two teenage daughters won't be at the receiving end of the aftermath of his actions?

“But dad-”

My protest was cut short by screeching car tires and heavy footsteps. I shivered in fear when a thunderous knocking sound reached my ears. I didn't know what to do, and at that moment, I missed my mother more than ever because if she had been around, she would have shielded my sister and me from what was about to happen.

“Come out, Thom, or else we will come in.”

A deep, baritone voice called out to my dad, sending another wave of fear through my tiny body. My seventeen years old mind was ready to shut down and hide away from the dangerous men outside our house.

But I didn't allow it. I had to protect not only myself but my sister too. I forced myself to think of what my mom would do in such a situation, and only one thing came to mind.

“Protect Kara.”

Call it sister instinct, but I rushed out of my dad's room for my fifteen years old sister's room. I opened her door without knocking and found out she had her headphones on. She probably didn't hear the commotion outside, and I decided to leave her out of it.

“Where are your manners, Ari? Knock before you barge into my private space!”

Kara exclaimed, shouting at me. I hoped the men outside didn't hear my annoying sister's outburst. I breathed heavily, locked Kara's door with a key, and hid it somewhere unsafe but out of sight.

“Should we go for your daughter instead? I don't mind messing her up more than just a little.”

Another deep voice declared fiercely. I made a slow and reluctant move to unlock the door, but before I could touch the knob, it was kicked open. I staggered away from it as four hefty men squeezed themselves into our small sitting room.

“W-who are y-you?” I tried to swallow my fear and address the intruders confidently, but my voice came out squeaky instead of the intended.

The hefty men stared down at me like I was a piece of meat or perhaps trash because I felt dirty under their inspection. The bigger man finally asked me where my father was, and I didn't waste time denying the pathetic man.

Yeah. My father is pathetic. If he weren't, he wouldn't have left his seventeen years old daughter to face these dangerous men alone.

“Are you lying to us, ginger?”

The shortest man out of the group asked me venomously, referring to my hair color. I thought I shouldn't lie to them, but I quickly asked myself what difference it would make if I told them the truth. I shook my head, telling them I was telling the truth.

“Then why am I seeing him in the huge family portrait on the wall behind you!”

Another man who seemed to be the boss yelled angrily, and I jerked away from his wrath, but his hands smacked my face harshly, and I was shoved out of their way. The pain in my cheek made me regret my decision to lie to them instead of turning my father in. I cried as I also wondered what my dad had done this time.

“Oh, Mom!” I sobbed quietly, watching the bigger and the shortest men enter my father's room like they knew he was there beforehand.

I heard my dad protesting against the men in his room. They found him. Finally, I prayed to any god ready to listen that Kara wouldn't make a sound for as long as these people remained in our house. My dad was dragged out of his room and was thrown at the feet of the boss, who had taken a seat on the couch my mom bought when she somehow sustained a wound on her back.

“I will pay you back soon, Brady!”

My father cried out, casting his eyes down as he avoided direct eye contact with the boss he had just called Brady.

“I'm not here for your silly talks. I'm here for my money or what you use as collateral, but before I take it, I'll have to deal with you. How dare you try to run with my money?” Brady barked at my dad, who was shaking at his feet. Brady gave a sign to his men, and the three of them bounced on my Dad, beating him mercilessly.

I couldn't help, nor did I want to help him. I averted my eyes from the scene and cowered into the corner I had been watching from as my father's screams of agony made me wonder whether he cheated the men in a game of gambling or he borrowed money from them and squandered it on gambling.

It was either of the two. I was certain. That was why my father was an addicted gambler without considering his family.

“You c-can take it. Please forgive me!” My dad begged, but that didn't stop Brady's men from hitting him.

I tried to think of what the collateral might be. Our house? Probably. It was the only thing we had left anyway, so it made sense if it was the house.

“Ariana! Help me.”

What! Was he kidding himself or me?

How can I help him against three men if he can't help himself? I turned a deaf ear to my dad's cry for help, but soon enough, Brady ordered his men to stop bashing my dad, and that was when I opened my eyes again.

Brady asked my dad how he intended to pay him back the loan he took from him, which confirmed my suspicion. If my dad took a loan from Brady, what did he do with the money?

Our lives had always been like this; threatened by loan sharks, his fellow gamblers, and poverty. Not that we were at the lowest, but we would have been doing better if my dad hadn't refused to drop his gambling habit.

My dad told Brady that he hadn't gotten the money yet, but Brady wasn't accepting his excuses, and he was furious about the situation.

“Do you think five hundred thousand dollars is a penny? I want my money back this instant!” Brady yelled.

I gasped loudly when I heard the amount of money my dad borrowed from him. I forgot I was supposed to be scared and silent as a different emotion filled my senses.

Anger.

“You borrowed that much? For what, Dad!”

I pushed myself off the ground, yelling at my dad and asking him where he kept the money or what he spent it on. Tears of frustration dripped down my cheeks because I hoped he didn't gamble it all away.

“Ariana, I thought the game had a high certainty rate, and trust me, sweetie, Daddy did it for you. So you can go to the best college in the world and be the–”

“Don't try to persuade me, Dad! How could you? You did it for me? When have you ever done anything for anyone except yourself!”

I screamed at the top of my lungs in anger and disappointment. My dad stared at me like he wasn't sure if I was the same girl that had always waited for him to return home when I was little, like I wasn't the same sweet girl that used to adore him and believed everything he told me.

“You used the last thing we have as collateral for what? Your selfish deeds! Are they going to send us out into the street? Like dogs?”

I demanded an answer, but no one replied, not even the loan sharks. There is something they aren't telling me, something huge!

“Oh, poor girl. Your father didn't use the house as collateral, and I wouldn't have loaned him the money if he did because this house is worthless.”

Brady responded smugly, staring at my body like he was accessing it. I was not too fond of how he looked at me, but I was relieved our home was safe. I sighed and swallowed my anger.

Thank goodness. I didn't care about whatever he used as collateral as long as it wasn't the house. Little did I know my relief was about to be cut short by Brady's following words.

“He used you as collateral.”

I collapsed as my body suddenly felt so heavy for my legs to carry. Did I hear that correctly? That can't be possible.

“What did you say?” I asked fluently, but I was breaking down internally.

“You and your body belong to me if your father fails to refund my money this instant.”

Brady's response was emotionless. I mean, he shouldn't be cool after what he just declared. My hazel eyes shifted to my dad's, seeking answers, but I received none.

“I'm sorry, Ari. You have to go with them.”

I envy you if you have a great father because mine sold me off to God knows where.