What We Owe

Chapter Two

An hour later, I was laying on Scarlet's bed and watching as she held up the tenth dress of the night in the mirror. She looked it over, humming to the playlist she had put on. With a scowl at the way she saw herself in the mirror, she threw the dress into the pile that was now forming of all her other rejects.

I pulled out my phone and checked to see if I had any messages. I had one from Dex and another from Scarlet I hadn't open yet. I swiped at the screen.

Come on up bitch! Scarlet's text read. I smiled reading it.

56890456, your commission is there. See you in a bit. Dex's message read.

I switched to the app the false checking account I had set up was on. I typed in the confirmation number and twenty thousand dollars stared back at me. This amount of money is exactly what I needed. I had over eighty thousand in cash stashed back in my apartment. I could run. I can start over. I squeezed the phone to my chest.

I didn't want to abandon the only life I ever had, but I was quickly running out of options as I felt the impending deadline of Dex's patience nearing.

I looked at Scarlet, who was now slipping on a silver dress that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. She pulled her long brown hair back into a pony tail and examined herself in the mirror.

"What do you think?" She asked, shifting her gaze to me.

I propped myself up on my elbows and looked. "I think you are trying to give poor Devin a heart attack when he sees you show up in public wearing that." She chuckled and satisfied with my answer, slipped into the bathroom to do her make up.

"Will you please wear the red Valentino dress? I am so sick of looking like a hooker next to you every time we go out. Plus, I heard through the grape vine that you're about to be Mrs. Hayes." She sing-songed the last part.

I threw myself back and groaned, pulling my arms over my eyes. Scarlet was a grifter too. Where as I was on the temptress side of the spectrum, she was a mother hen to the high priced escorts we had on our payroll. She had been an escort for the past few years, making enough money to afford her dream apartment and designer- everything you can think of- to fill up her closet with. She joined our operation a little over three years ago, keeping what she did, and us, a secret from her real family.

I, on the other hand, didn't really care for the expensive clothes or luxury apartments.  I took the bus everywhere and lived in the old studio apartment I grew up in with my father before we started the business. Dex hated that I lived there. It was in one of the worst parts of town and had absolutely no security of any kind. When my father bought a brownstone on the north side of Chicago, I begged him to keep the apartment. I told him it would always remind us of where we came from. To say I was shocked that he agreed to my six year old puppy dog eyes was an understatement. The neighborhood had only gotten worst the past few years.

I felt the bed shift as scarlet sat next to me and pulled my arms back.

"I'm kidding... but he isn't going to give up on you, you know that right? He is a love struck crime boss who doesn't hear no... well, like ever." She ended with a sigh. I looked over to her. I could see one of my least favorite things in her expression.. pity.

I sat up. "Scar, I have to get out of here. I don't want to be Mrs. anything, especially a Hayes." She stood and walked back into the bathroom applying her eighth layer of mascara.

"You cannot leave me C. I will kill you." It was a huge no-no to leave the family business, especially being the daughter of the man who started it, but I trusted Scarlet to keep my secret. She understood me in that aspect.