*Financial Mess*

Chapter 7

Vanessa's POV:

The memory of my last conversation with Claire echoed in my mind as I waited for her to return from work. I desperately needed help to deal with the financial mess I was in. The burden of my mother's medication expenses and the threat looming over the stupid car were pushing me to a breaking point. I knew Claire was the only person who could possibly help me out of this mess, but I had to be careful not to push her too hard.

I waited for her to come back from work before going to see her.

Finally, Claire burst into the room, in a rush to get changed, preparing to head out. "Babe, you're here. I'm going out, we'll see later," she hurriedly said without sparing me a glance, clearly preoccupied.

"Don't leave, I need your help, Claire,"

Her expression shifted slightly, and she asked with a hint of annoyance, "What do you want?"

I took a deep breath, summoning all the courage I had left. "Borrow me some money."

She looked at me skeptically, "Huh, for what?"

I hesitated for a moment, then decided to be upfront. "Give me $3000. I promise to pay back with interest."

She shook her head and declined. "I don't have that kind of money with me, babe. I just sent some money home now and I'm left with so little." She complained, but I knew Claire, even if she said she had no money, she'd always keep some for emergencies, Now's that time.

"Claire, just help me out this once, I promise, I'll pay you back, in addition to the old debt."

"When do you want to pay back? Remember you're a broke-ass girl. You got fired from your job because you reacted too quickly, I warned you, Vanessa." Claire reminded.

I defended my actions, frustrated by the memory. "How do you not expect me to react when he made a mockery of me."

"That's why you're an adult, you could just laugh it out. But you decided to slap him. Who slaps a billionaire?"

"I had no idea who he was...!"

"You're lucky you didn't go to jail for it." She put some liner on her eyes, and powdered her face with more foundation before turning from the mirror to look at me, "And also, have you thought about paying for the damage you caused?"

"I don't want to pay. I'm going to smack him hard this time if he comes closer."

"You're not so dumb to not realize that this is no joking matter right? You'll get in bigger trouble for this, you know. Are you not surprised by how he found out your address? And even about Victor? People here barely know he served time in jail. You should perhaps apologize and see if he'd listen."

"I won't go so low," I disagreed shrugging off at the thought of telling him sorry when I wasn't at fault. He was. He was the one who embarrassed me at my job, almost ran me over, and splashed water on me without caring. I heard rich people were so busy, why'd he have time to pester me?

"You see, this is your problem." She walked to where I was seated by the edge of the bed and flicked my head with her finger and it stung badly.

"Ouch!"

"You always take your stupid principles and put them in front of you that's why you're always causing trouble for yourself."

"Ouch..." I muttered.

"I get at least $600-$1000 as a lingerie waitress at the club per night, it's good pay. Judging from your past actions, you'd only cause me more trouble if I asked you to join me part-time, just until you find yourself a suitable job."

"That's why I'm asking you for a loan. I'll find a job quickly and repay you. I don't want to work as a stripper. I'm not as beautiful as you are." I held my face with my palm, sighing hard, "I wish my life wasn't this tough." I complained.

"You're not the only one, I have a lot of bills to meet so I make sure to get tips from those rude and arrogant customers at all costs. You should learn to swallow your pride too, Vanessa Williams." She called me by my full name. I watched her expression, and seeing she looked relaxed I decided to ask her for the money again, I've managed to endure so much lecture for a day, I should at least get the money!

"So, will you give me the money? Please..." I asked nicely, widening my set of teeth which made her burst into laughter. "Girls do not smile this way, have some shame." I chuckled too and after a while of silence, she spoke, "Ok. But I can only give you $700. My rent is due, I need to pay up too."

"Yay!" I clapped excitedly, bouncing on the bed.

"And I will only give you after a makeover. You're not allowed to wipe it off until tomorrow, agreed?"

"Why the punishment? Makeup is such a hassle. I'll wash your clothes in return, please?" I bargained but she disagreed.

"No need, I just sent them to the laundry last week. Come over here," I shook my head but she forced me to sit in front of her dresser. "If you keep on like this Vanessa, unkempt, I wonder who's going to marry you? Do you know that men these days have great taste in women? Especially those with good fashion sense."

I sighed, feeling defeated. "I'll learn that later. Right now, I just need to get my family out of this situation."

"And you think you can do that by looking like a hobo?"

I reluctantly moved to sit in front of her dresser. She began to work on my appearance while lecturing me about my unkempt state. As she combed my hair, she scolded, "When was the last time you brushed your hair straight?"

"I thought you were in a hurry?" I remarked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'll leave after I'm done fixing your hair. You look like a mess."

********

"Ok, babe, I'm leaving, please lock the door properly before going," Claire said. She dropped $700 on the dressing table, picked up her bag and phone, and left the house, leaving me all alone.

In a moment my mind flashed back to what he said back in his car about making sure Victor doesn't get a job, how did he know about Victor? Claire was right, the people around here had no idea that Victor spent the last three years in prison, and he'd just been released three months ago after they found the real culprit of the crime.

Remembering the time Victor was dragged out of the house by the police brought tears to my eyes, I tried to wipe them away but I wasn't the best at hiding my tears. I wanted to break down, there was no one here, they wouldn't laugh at me, and I was alone and could cry all I wanted.

°°°Flashback°°°

Author's POV:

Vanessa walked into the room and met her brother hurriedly packing his things to fit into a small traveling bag and for a moment she was confused, where was he going in such a hurry?

Her brows knitted themselves into a frown, "Victor?" She called the first time but he didn't respond as he gave his undivided attention to the task in front of him.

Seeing he didn't answer, she walked to where he was and touched his shoulder, "Victor, are you going somewhere?" She inquired.

"Uhmm- yes." He said and forced all the clothes inside before locking the bag. "I'll be out of town for a few days, if anyone comes to look for me, tell them you haven't seen me in months." He said, and by the tone of his voice, she could detect something was wrong. Victor leaned closer and placed a light kiss on his younger sister's forehead. "I'll call you and Mom later, I have to leave now." He said, but Vanessa held his hand, "This doesn't sound good," she said looking into his eyes to search for an answer but she only saw his fear and anxiety, did he do something wrong?

"Did you do something wrong?" She asked, her voice almost breaking down as she sensed something must have gone wrong and the thought of how it would affect their sick mother made her almost shed hot tears.

"I told you I'll explain later," he said but she didn't let him go. The moment he looked into her eyes, she shook her head slowly and he knew he couldn't leave without telling her the whole story.

"Please," she begged Victor.

"Vanessa, I have to go out of town till things die down. The boss is dead, and a whole lot of us have been targeted as the suspect." He explained.

Victor did a small job on a construction site with his friends and recently after finding out that they had been cheated by the manager, they had a heated feud with the man. A few days ago, after their work at the construction site, they found the manager dead and in a pool of blood, having no idea who pushed him, they decided to hide the body to avoid trouble for themselves because they knew nobody would believe them. Later on, the other boys at the site began to sell the materials and he was offered a chunk from it which he didn't want to accept, seeing how his mother's condition had worsened over time, he had no other option than to accept the money.

The body was later found and the police summed it up. The dead body and the missing building materials and it didn't take much time to realize that the boys had something to do with it.

The first person they caught confessed that they had sold the materials but they didn't kill the manager, but he did give a list of the others who took from the money, including Victor, and the police concluded that they killed the manager. Victor heard from his source that most of his friends had been arrested and it didn't take him time to realize that he was next and he had to leave.

Hearing the whole story, Vanessa fell back to the bed and for a minute she felt numb and shut, Her thoughts began racing, What did he do??? He had put himself in huge trouble. Seeing his sister silent, Victor tried to clear his name so she wouldn't misunderstand his person.

"Don't be like that Vanny, I swear I didn't do it. I would never kill a man." He said with a broken voice, almost on the verge of crying. The way his sister turned to look at him broke his heart. Like he was a murderer she wanted to escape from.

"You don't believe me?" He asked.

"I swear, I didn't do it, please Vanessa." He begged but she was speechless. He held her shoulder and shook her to gain her attention.

"Please help me Vanny, I need to hide until the whole issue dies down. If you act like this, you're breaking my heart."

"Victor, what did you do???" She cried softly. She tried to digest the story before wiping her tears.

"Oh God, we should get you out of here before anyone finds out. Leave now." She said, acting like she'd turn ok. She knew she had to be strong to protect her whole family, now wasn't the time to show how weak she felt.

"I promise, I'll sort out everything. I just need to get away from the police first." Victor said. He hurried to the door, followed by Vanessa, who lay on the only sofa they had in the living room which had turned to become her bed. She was asleep but woke up by the faint sounds from their feet. Surprised to see Victor with his bags she asked, "Where are you both going?" She said, looking from her son to her daughter.

"Mother, Victor is going out on a trip, he wants to look for a better job to support the family." She said, forcing a fake smile on her face. They couldn't tell their mother anything because they knew she wouldn't be able to handle it.

"Yes-ah..." Victor nodded quickly, he went to where she lay and perked her cheek, "I'll be back in a while Then he turned to Vanessa who nodded simply before making his way to the door, he'd only just opened the door when he met the police in front of him, about to knock at the same time, he felt his world crashed into pieces as they didn't wait a minute before cuffing his hand since they had a good description of him.

"Mother!!!" Victor yelled which had both his mother and sister's attention. Vanessa rushed to the door while their mother was unable to move because her legs were swollen. She struggled to get down from the chair which ended in her falling helplessly from the chair and hurting her knee. Vanessa was so confused, her mother and her brother had fallen into trouble at the same time. On one hand, Victor was dragged out of the house by the police and he struggled to free himself from them to check on his mother, he was concerned about her, and on the other hand, was her mother who had fainted from the immense pain she felt.

She screamed in pain as she cried for help in the lonely house, no one would come to her aid.

°°°Flashback ends°°°

Vanessa POV:

I wiped my eyes once more before leaving Claire's house. I made sure to lock the door properly and left the keys in the usual spot that only we both knew of.