Debt Of Ashes

SOLD OUT

He didn’t touch her.

That was the part that scared her most.

Alessandro sat in the chair he’d dragged to the bed. Three feet away.Close enough to see the cuff bite her wrist. Far enough that she couldn’t kick him.

The locked door at his back. The spilled water drying on silk. Luca gone.

“Drink the next glass,” he said. “You’re dehydrated.”

“No.”

Alessandro didn’t argue. He set the full glass on the nightstand again. Out of reach. A reminder.

Eliana tested the chain. Steel. Bolted to the frame. “I’m not payment, Signor De Luca.”

His eyes didn’t blink. “My name is Alessandro.”

“I’m not calling you anything.”

A beat. Then something almost like approval crossed his face. Gone in a second.

“Good,” he said. “You should hate me. It’s safer.”

She pushed up on her elbows. The cuff pulled. “Then let me go. I don’t owe you.”

“You owe Vincenzo.” He leaned back. “Vincenzo owes me €4 million. With interest.”

“That’s not my debt.”

“It is.” He reached into his jacket. Not for a gun. For a phone. He set it face-up on the bed, out of her reach. “Yesterday. 5:50 PM.”

He pressed play.

Vincenzo’s voice filled the room. Sweaty. Desperate. The same voice from her office.

_“Alessandro you're right I can't get the morning so I thought maybe you could take her as Payment for the debt like you said earlier.”

A pause. Static.

“My foster daughter Eliana. She’s 26. No record. No ties. Take her. Consider the debt paid. She’s yours.”_

The recording stopped.

Eliana’s blood went cold. Not because he played it. Because he didn’t look away while he did.

“That’s a lie,” she said. Her voice was too quiet. “He wouldn’t sell me out as debt” she was trying to convince herself he wouldn't after all she's family.

“He did.” Alessandro’s voice didn’t rise. “It seems like he doesn't thinks of you as family, he sold you out".

Pain hit her chest like a fist. Vincenzo only thought of her as an object because she was never family in the first place , he adopted her to show off on the media, he probably kept her all these years to sell her out later on.

The realization made her chest hurt at least she had tried to believe that he would change his mind and wouldn't sell her off as a payment.

She smiled at her naivety

Seeing her smile he picked up the phone. Swiped. Held it up.

An email. From Vincenzo. Timestamped 6:00 PM. Subject: _Transfer of Liability_.

Alessandro,

As discussed, I relinquish all claim and custody of Eliana Romano to you, effective immediately, in lieu of €4,000,000. She is your responsibility now. Do with her what you will. The debt is cleared on my end.

Her signature wasn’t on it. She didn’t need to be.

Alessandro put the phone down.

“So give me back to him.”

“No.” One word. Final. “He doesn’t want you back. He sold you. And I don’t return damaged goods.”

“I’m not—”

“You are to him.” Alessandro’s eyes went flat. “I don’t traffic. I don’t sell. But I do collect. And you’re the only asset left.”

The room tilted. Silk under her. Steel on her wrist. A voice on a phone that made her family.

“I won’t be payment,” she said. She said it to the ceiling. To God. To anyone. “I won’t.”

Alessandro stood. The chair scraped. He walked to the door. Hand on the handle. No lock on this side for her.

“Then don’t be,” he said, without turning. “Be something else. Because payment or prisoner, you’re not leaving this room until the €4 million is accounted for.”

He opened the door. Luca was there. Waiting.

“Food,” Alessandro said. “Water. And a doctor. She has a bruise on her wrist.”

Luca flinched. “Yes, Boss.”

Alessandro paused. Looked back at her over his shoulder.

“You told me you wouldn’t be payment, Eliana. Fine.”

“Then tell me what you are willing to be instead.”

He left. The door locked.

She was alone with silk, steel, and a question she had no answer for.