Gold: Chapter 6

Auralie lifted up her hands. Had she been followed? Did they know about the emerald? Her heart pounded. She glanced around, looking for more potential assailants. Although she knew a fair amount of self-defense from her days in the army, there was little she could do against a weapon that could kill her in an instant.

“If you want to rob me, fine, but my bank account is negative three hundred dollars, my phone is cracked, and I don’t have any cash.”

“We’ve been trying to call you.” The man had a high voice, accent tinged with something unfamiliar. “Several times.”

Shit. The loan.

“I can pay you back, I swear.”

“You just said your account was negative.”

“That’s because I thought you were a robber,” Auralie said coolly. “Well, in the traditional sense.”

The man strode up to her, and Auralie instinctively took a step back. He pushed her up against the wall of the building. Harsh concrete scraped her back. He held the gun up to her neck. “Funny. You know what’s even funnier?”

“Your dumbass, squeaky voice?”

The man punched the side of her head with the gun. “Bitches who think they can run their mouths and get away with it.”

Pain blossomed in her head. Colors danced before her eyes, but she grounded herself. She could deal with pain. Pain was nothing. It would pass. Hatred blazed in Auralie. She hated how afraid she was, how she had to squeeze her knees to stop them from shaking. She also hated how she admired the Kimber Stainless Target 9mm currently pressed against her carotid artery. The steel reflected wide, brown eyes that screamed helpless.

She knew she shouldn’t have taken that loan. But what else was she supposed to do? Rent had been due, and repairing her car had wiped out her savings. She couldn’t get an advance, and couldn’t go anywhere else for a typical loan. Her credit was absolute shit, thanks to all the previous late payments, using her credit card to pay for groceries, and defaulting so much on her other car note that it was repossessed. She didn’t have any other option. It was either get evicted or get a payday loan.

She only went to Joseph Tiburon because she absolutely needed to. And she thought she would be able to repay it by now. She had expected that some extra hours would come in, and they didn’t. Her car insurance also increased, her grandmother’s medicine had to be bought, and a dozen other items that needed to be paid right then.

“I can pay you.”

“You have 24 hours. Or a very nice woman with a blue front porch and a set of windchimes will be paid a visit.”

Auralie’s belly turned to ice. Her grandmother. She felt sick. She could afford to be a dumbass, hell, even if they did kill her, it probably would be fine. No great loss to the world. Her grandmother would grieve, but she would live. But kill her grandmother? No.

“You’ll get it,” Auralie said through clenched teeth.

Tiburon’s henchman released her, but not before snagging her purse. “Call it my fee,” he said.

Auralie almost cried out. The necklace. If he took it now, there was no way that he would tell his boss what he found, and no one would believe Auralie.

The man disappeared into the night, blending into the shadows.

For a moment, Auralie didn’t move. She couldn’t think. Couldn’t hear her own thoughts. Only the whisper of the wind through the trees and bushes. And the soft fluttering of a piece of paper.

She glanced up. A piece of paper was taped to her door. She willed herself toward it and ripped it down.

Dear tenant,

Her eyes raced over the words.

…because you were a day late…frequent missed payments…additional office surcharge of $150…please pay by cashiers check…eviction process will start in 72 hours…

Despair sank deep into her belly. She might as well run away to a different state. She knew that she couldn’t do that because her grandmother needed her, but it was tempting. As she read, deep anger welled up in her. The shitty apartment complex charged her extra just because she was a day late in paying rent, and that put her over what she could pay. Didn’t they realize that?

They did. There was just no compassion. She had pleaded several times. No one cared. No one cared because they could go home to their nice, bougie beds and sleep peacefully knowing that they were just a messenger, that it was just company policy, that Auralie was no more than a difficult tenant they would be more than happy to throw out. Did they think of what would happen to her?

Of course not. Just like no one ever thought of where trash went after they threw it in the garbage can, no one ever thought about what happened to someone after an eviction.

Adrenaline made her lightheaded. She needed to sit down. Even if she managed to pay Tiburon, the complex would kick her out. She thought about her grandmother.

Suddenly, Auralie realized what she needed to do.