Debt

twenty one

selyse harrison

I was fully asleep under the weight of Jack until my phone rang. I thought to ignore it because it had to be the middle of the night. But whoever was calling was persistent and continued to call. So I forced my arm out from under the sheets to see who was calling. It was an unknown number. If it wasn't for their persistence, I would've declined and blocked the number.

"Hello?" My voice was barely there.

"Selyse? It's me." I was half asleep and convinced this must've been a dream. "Selyse, sweetheart," my mother repeated when I didn't answer. This definitely wasn't a dream.

"Hold on," I muttered as Jack adjusted his grip around my neck. I kissed along his chest, desperately not wanting to leave his arms because I knew the cold I would endure once I did.

After squeezing myself out of bed, I grabbed a hoodie from my closet then left the bedroom.

"Okay um, hi," I sat on the steps going downstairs. "I haven't heard from you guys in over a month. Are you okay?" The radio silence has been agonizing.

"Yeah it just hasn't been safe. Someone must've gotten light of your father's fake death because we've been followed. My credit cards are no longer working and we don't know what to do, Selyse. We're in the Dominican Republic." Dominican Republic? What happened to South Africa? I ran my hand down my face because I knew the question my mother was about to ask. But I hoped she would prove me wrong because if she asked, I could never deny her. "We...we need money."

I bit my lip. Before I might've been half asleep, but I was fully awake now. "Mom, I-"

"I know. And I'm so sorry for asking. You know I wouldn't do it unless I had to. I didn't know who else to call." I could hear the fear in her voice and I hated it.

There's no way I could ask Jack for money. Not if it had anything to do with my father who still owes Jack money. But it didn't take me long to remember the money I still had hidden in my closet. I had absolutely no plans for it and knew I would eventually have to figure out how I could get it back to Jack. But if my parents needed money, I literally had it sitting around.

"Okay I'll do it now. There should be someplace open," I stood to my feet and went to my closet. Grabbing a random tote, I threw all my money in the bag, leaving the passport on the floor. "Send me your address and I'll try my best," I hung up the phone when I got downstairs.

Sending money in the mail is probably the worst thing I could do. And it was likely illegal. But using money transfer services wasn't enough because they have limits. So I went into the pantry and grabbed an open box of cereal. I removed the plastic bag holding the cereal then filled the box with the cash. The six bundles only filled half the box. I poured cereal in to make the money more discrete and used tape to seal the top. No one would know there's money in here. And as far as anyone is concerned, I'm sending my mother corn flakes.

Going into the drawer, I examined all the car keys Jack had. Jack has never let me drive his car. I've never asked and never had to drive while here in LA because Kent and Davies drive me everywhere. But today was Christmas Eve, so they weren't here.

I picked up the keys for his Urus because it seemed like easiest car to drive amongst the collection he had. Leaving the penthouse alone felt odd. The last time I did this was because I was angry with Jack. I hoped that he would remain asleep for the next hour. If he was asleep by the time I got home, it meant he didn't need to know I left without security or that I gave my parents money I stole from him.

Driving Jack's car felt odd. It was a SUV but it definitely felt more like a sports car. My head was too flustered to think straight. I was following directions to the nearest post office that was open. It was just after 8am and this one was the only one open right now. After parking his car, I entered the post office which looked deserted. The person behind the counter was a young gentleman too caught up in his phone to notice me.