The Debt
978 Words
Jane
I stayed a few steps behind Caleb, trying to keep my breathing steady as we moved through the mansion. The power was still out, leaving only the faint light from his phone to guide us.
I couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened.
The gunshots.
The men downstairs.
The stranger who had called my name.
And Caleb.
There was something different about him when those men appeared.
He hadn’t panicked.
He hadn’t hesitated.
He had simply given orders, and everyone had obeyed.
Boss.
The word kept replaying in my mind.
Who exactly was Caleb Wick?
We entered a room at the end of the hallway.
Caleb opened the door and allowed me to step inside before following me.
A small emergency lamp sat on the table, casting a weak glow across the room.
“Sit.”
I sat on the edge of the couch.
Caleb remained standing.
His eyes moved over me.
“Are you hurt?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
He nodded once.
Silence settled between us.
I looked down at my hands.
There were still faint marks around my wrists.
I quickly pulled my sleeves over them.
Caleb noticed.
His jaw tightened.
But he said nothing.
Neither did I.
There were too many things I wanted to ask.
Too many things I didn’t understand.
Finally, I looked up.
“You said you’ve known me for a very long time.”
His eyes met mine.
“Yes.”
“How?”
He didn’t answer.
“You knew my name before I told you.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He walked toward the table and leaned against it.
“I knew your father.”
My heart skipped.
“My father?”
He nodded.
I stared at him.
My father had been gone for so many years that hearing someone speak about him so casually felt strange.
“How did you know him?”
“Years ago.”
“What did he do?”
Caleb’s expression remained unreadable.
“He helped me.”
I frowned.
“Helped you how?”
“That isn’t important.”
“It is to me.”
He looked away.
I studied his face.
For the first time, I noticed something calm and unusual beneath his usual coldness.
Whatever my father had done for him, it had mattered.
“How did you even find out who I was?”
He was silent for a moment.
“My men investigated you.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Because we didn’t know who you were when we found you.”
That made sense.
At least that part did.
“You were unconscious. You had no identification with you. We needed to know where you came from.”
“And then?”
“We found your name.”
“Jane August.”
He said my name quietly.
I nodded.
“And you knew my father?”
“Yes.”
“What was his name?”
He looked at me.
“Daniel August.”
My heart tightened.
Hearing my father’s name from his lips felt strangely intimate.
“How well did you know him?”
Caleb’s gaze dropped for a moment.
“Well enough.”
I almost laughed.
“Well enough isn’t an answer.”
“It is the only one you’re getting tonight.”
I frowned.
He was impossible.
“You’ve been avoiding every question I’ve asked.”
“Because some answers will put you in more danger than you already are.”
“I think I’m already in enough danger.”
His eyes hardened.
“You have no idea.”
The room fell silent.
I looked at him carefully.
“Did my father know what you do?”
Caleb didn’t respond.
That silence was answer enough.
“What exactly do you do, Caleb?”
His eyes narrowed slightly.
“You don’t need to know.”
“Everyone here listens to you.”
He said nothing.
“They call you Boss.”
Still nothing.
“You have armed men.”
His expression didn’t change.
“And people broke into your house looking for me.”
He finally pushed himself away from the table.
“Stop asking questions you aren’t prepared to hear the answers to.”
His voice wasn’t loud.
It didn’t need to be.
There was something about the way he said it that made me stop.
He walked toward the door.
“Wait.”
He stopped.
“You said my father helped you.”
Caleb’s hand remained on the door handle.
For several seconds, he didn’t move.
Then he slowly turned around.
His gray eyes met mine.
“Yes.”
My breath caught.
“How?”
He stared at me for a long moment
“He gave me something I could never repay.”
“What?”
“My life.”
I stared at him.
“And that’s why you saved me?”
His eyes returned to mine.
“I didn’t save you because you were Jane August.”
He paused.
“I saved you because you were an innocent woman who had been caught in something she had nothing to do with.”
My chest tightened.
“But when I found out who you were…”
He stopped.
“What?”
His expression became distant.
“I remembered the debt.”
I swallowed.
“What debt?”
He opened the door.
“The one I owe your father.”
Then he walked out.
I remained on the couch, staring at the empty doorway.
A debt.
My father had saved Caleb Wick’s life.
But what kind of man had my father saved?
And what kind of man had my father been to have someone like Caleb owe him everything?
For the first time, I realized something that frightened me more than the men who had taken me.
Maybe being rescued by Caleb Wick hadn’t been an accident after all.
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