Chapter 40 Chapter 0040
•AMARI•
"Stop slamming the door!" My mother shouted as soon as I walked inside the house. "If Kaven wakes up, you will put him back to sleep!"
I rolled my eyes and headed upstairs to my room. My mother didn't even ask who it was because she knew I always came home whenever I missed paying rent in my apartment.
My mother and I lived together after my father died when I was six. He left my mother a fully paid and furnished apartment in town. But a few years after that, her new man moved in.
So, I got myself an apartment.
And they had my little brother five months ago, whom I had seen once or twice, but during that time, I didn't spend two minutes with him.
I was happy when Rafael came into my life a few years ago. He set me free and paid the rent on the apartment I was renting while working in his club.
But after one stupid mistake, he cut me off, and I was left with nothing. There was no one else to take care of me, and when I failed to pay the rent for two months before the landlord issued an eviction notice.
Narra stole my place and took everything that belonged to me.
I exhaled as I sat on the edge of the bed and scrolled through my contact list. I wanted to get out of there and move back to my apartment.
The moment I tried to call Polly, Jason called. I took a moment before I answered his call.
"Where are you?"
"What do you want?" I groaned, lying down on the bed.
"We are not done yet, Amari," he answered. "You should come to my club and look very sexy. I don't want Damon to think I don't have taste."
My stomach tightened as I sat up. The last time Jason had invited me into his club negotiations, I ended up being forced to please one of his friends, and they weren't nice.
My body was sore for days from the torture and rough intimacy. The guy forced me into uncomfortable positions and whipped me when I got it wrong.
When he was done with me, he left me on the floor with a stack of cash as if I were a prostitute. I felt dirty for days and hated Jason even more.
But I didn't have a choice.
If I didn't do what he wanted, he'd get me arrested, and I couldn't imagine a life behind bars. It was better enduring the things he put me through than being punished by cellmates.
"Tonight?" I asked, almost out of breath.
"Is there a problem, Amari?" He asked, daring me to say no, so he'd play the blackmailing card. "If you refuse, you know I can—"
"Ugh, please," I groaned, rolling my eyes. "You don't have to threaten me every time I refuse to do whatever you want. But if you give me away to your friends again, you might as well call the police on me."
He paused for a moment before he spoke again.
"Fine," he sighed. "We have a deal."
I couldn't believe it. This was Jason, and he had never let someone negotiate with him.
He hated me more than anything and had tried everything to humiliate me and made me do things that broke me apart from Rafael.
If only I could tell Rafael about Jason's threats, he'd probably kill him and free me from him. And I'd never put up with him again.
"What time is the meeting?"
"I will call you when my chauffeur is outside your house," he answered. "Get ready and don't keep him waiting."
The call ended, and I stood up, pacing, contemplating whether I should call Rafael and tell him everything about Jason.
He'd probably be sorry and try to get him off my back. He'd never let him bother me again, and I'd be free to be with him without the entire thing hanging over us like a dark cloud.
"Fuck, Rafael would ask me why I waited this long to tell him the truth," I muttered under my breath.
But who was I fooling? It didn't help keeping the truth from him when he knew me as much as I knew him.
I was about to stab someone in his club when we first met. I was just a regular waitress then, and invincible. But on that day, I caught his attention.
We were cut from the same cloth.
I was about to call him when my phone rang. My heart jumped before I saw Poppy's name on the screen.
"Poppy?"
"I know where Narra's mother is," she answered. "And I've found something else as well."
"What is it?" My chest tightened. "Is Rafael okay?"
"Narra's sister is alive," she scoffed. "If Rafael finds out, he will kill her. This is your chance, Amari. Rafael would finally be yours."