Chapter 3 Do You Have My Money Or Not?

"Let me go, let me go, please!" I cried loudly as they bundled me into a van. "I swear I didn't do anything! I don't know anything, I'm innocent!" I screamed, but they ignored my pleas. "If you don't shut your mouth, I'm going to duct tape your lips, and trust me, sweetheart, it's going to hurt you a lot," one of them threatened. I swallowed my sobs and quieted down. "Good girl." "I'm sorry, I won't make any more noise. Can you please tell me why you kidnapped me?" "You owe our boss a great deal of money." Excuse me? I couldn't believe my ears. I knew damn well that I hadn't taken a loan from anyone in the longest time. I let out a hysterical laugh. "That's not true! I don't owe anyone any money. I have enough money for myself." The men chuckled darkly. The leader—a tall man with a jagged scar down his jaw—pulled a folded contract from his pocket. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed it at me. "That's what they all say. 'I didn't borrow any money.'" He mocked. I grabbed the contract and quickly glanced through it. My name and signature were boldly written on a document requesting five million dollars. A contract I did not remember signing. "This must be wrong! This is a lie! It's a scam!" I cried. "Bitch, I will hit you hard if you deny it again. The evidence is glaring," he spat. "I'm sorry, but I'm telling the truth. I have no idea who signed this. I'm not the one!" "Oh, you want me to pull out the big guns then? You refuse to tell the truth?" He pulled out his cell phone and opened a video. It was a recording of me eating while signing some papers. My heart sank. I recognized that video, and I now knew how my signature got on those papers. "Oh God, oh God, oh God." I began to hyperventilate. My chest was constricting, and I couldn't breathe. Jake did this to me. Jake ruined my life. If I made it out of this alive, I was going to kill him. "My ex-boyfriend made me sign it! I didn't know it was for a loan. He told me I was standing as a guarantor for him to buy a new car! Oh God, I had no idea!" I couldn't hold back the fat drops of tears that rushed down my cheeks. The men laughed cruelly. "Tell that to someone who cares. You owe five million bucks, and that's all that matters." I got on my knees inside the moving van. "Please, you have to believe me! You just have to! Yes, I signed the papers, but I didn't know what they were for. Please!" The leader of the group seemed to take a bit of pity on me. His face softened, and he sighed. "If what you're saying is true, then I'm really sorry about what's going to happen to you. The big boss is not a forgiving man. He's cruel and cold and only cares about his money. He will not be kind to you. If you think we're bad, he's ten times worse." I wanted to drop dead immediately. I didn't think I had it in me to meet their boss. Dread seeped into my bones. I curled into myself for the rest of the ride, tears silently dripping down my face. I must have passed out because the next thing I knew— A harsh kick jolted me awake. "We’re here." I blinked blearily, my vision blurry from dried tears. Rough hands dragged me out of the van and onto the cold pavement. A mansion loomed before me. Massive. Cold. Elegant. It screamed power and danger. I didn’t resist as they shoved me forward, but I took everything in—the layout, the doors, the windows—any possible way to escape. I wasn't going down without a fight. "You'll wait here while the boss comes down to decide your fate," one of them said. We stood at the bottom of the stairs, waiting. The first thing I noticed about him was his height—he was freaking tall. A long scar stretched across his left eyebrow, going down to his cheek. He was handsome but in a way that promised destruction. His piercing midnight-blue eyes landed on me. "I'm busy, what is so important that I had to be disturbed. Who is this?" he growled, glaring at his men. "Boss, she's the one that owes you five million dollars." There was a beat of silence. The boss ran his eyes over my body and smirked. "Her?" He sounded like he couldn't believe his ears. "I'm not the one! My ex-boyfriend is the one who borrowed the money! He tricked me into signing the papers! He's the one you want!" I screamed. "Silence!" he roared. "I don't care if you were tricked. Do you have my money or not?" I looked down at my feet. "I don't, but if you give me some time, I can pay it back slowly." A long pause. Then—he chuckled. A dark, sinister sound. "So you don’t have my money?" I stayed silent. His smirk deepened. "That’s fine." He took one slow step forward. "Then you’ll marry me."