Chapter 3 THE LINK

(THE PRESENT)

CAILY GALILEO

"Two hundred thousand dollars." The words left my lips as I rested my head in my hands, my shoulders hunched.

"Two hundred thousand dollars." I muttered the words over and over again like I was going crazy and I indeed was going crazy.

With such debt, how would I not go crazy?

Picture having the kindest aunt ever, the type of aunt who would pull you close and accept you into her life the moment you lose your parent. That was my Aunt Mandy. She would do anything for me and she had done a lot but however in the world she had slipped into the worst depression and this kind of debt while I was away for my last year of college was baffling.

My Aunt was never the type to do drugs. She barely drank, even but she had met that bastard named Carlos.

"Yes, Carlos!" I shot up from my seat and all eyes immediately turned to me.

"Are you okay, Caily?" Trisha asked from her desk. She was my friend and coworker.

"I... I am fine. I am sorry." I whispered to the others and embarrassedly lowered myself back to my seat. I looked at my screen and only felt my head ache badly.

I had barely been able to work all day. Having my aunt call and tell me about such debt on a work morning was enough to destabilise me and ruin the image of the picture perfect life I thought I would ever have.

How in the world was I ever going to get such amount of money and save my aunt from being killed by the loan sharks?

And even after the repaying the lone, I would need a lot more money to take my Aunt away from Carlos and perhaps put her in rehab. How would I ever get the money for all that?

I sighed softly. Only a few seconds had passed before Trisha walked up to my desk.

"Caily." she called my name gently, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Are you okay?" She sounded concerned.

"Yes, I am fine. Totally." I masked up with a smile but she didn't seem convinced. Her eyes were squinted at me for the next few seconds before she eased up, smoothening the frown from her face with a small smile.

"Alright then. Can I have your hair tie?" She requested.

"Sure." I reached for a yellow hair tie on my table and handed it to her but Trisha frowned a bit.

"I like the blue one you have on your hair right now, can you give me that one instead?" She asked and I pursed my lips for a second before agreeing.

"Fine."

A hair tie was the very least of my concern anyways. I reached my hand to my hair and pulled off the blue hair tie, letting my hair down.

"Thank you, you're such a darling." she took the hair tie with a smile.

I watched her leave to her seat and I picked the yellow hair tie she had refused. For a reason I had no idea about, Trisha was always interested in my hair ties. She took at least two hair ties from me every week and she never took a new one, she always took the one I was wearing at that moment or the one I had worn already.

Sometimes I felt uncomfortable about it but I couldn't say no to her request. It was just a hair tie anyways.

I tied my hair up with the yellow hair tie and returned my gaze to my screen. There was no way I was going to be able to work at all today.

I glanced at the time on my phone. It was just a few minutes before work would close for the day and I honestly couldn't wait for this terrible day to be over.

"Caily" A shrill voice came from behind me and I gritted my teeth, knowing exactly who that was.

"Caily" Black, shiny heels stopped beside me.

"Mind if I trouble you a little bit with entering the data to be submitted tomorrow? I really need to go see my man tomorrow, he called me and told me he's sick. It would be bad if I don't go over and take care of him, so please?" It was Annie. She always had something else to do outside work and ended up having to beg others to help her out with her work. Her favourite person to ask for help? Me.

"I am sorry but I have a lot to..." I tried to refuse.

"Caily, you never have a lot to do." she cut me off softly.

"You always finish your work on time and have a lot of free time."

"But not this time, I am... I haven't worked at all day." I pointed to the small pile of documents on my desk but she didn't look. Instead, she grabbed my hands, an anxious look in her eyes.

"Please Caily, the poor guy is sick and I need to help him. You aren't going to let his condition worsen, are you?" Her eyes searched mine for my answer.

'Tell her you can't. Tell her you can't' a voice said in my head. I had to learn how to say no.

"Alright, I will do it." were the words that left my lips instead.

"I knew it. You are such a darling." she kissed me on the cheek and hurried off to her desk, her heels clicking noisily with every step she took.

I sighed and palmed my face. On a normal day, this would not be an issue for me at all but today was nothing close to a normal day.

A few minutes later, everyone was leaving already but I stayed back. I had to do my work for the day before leaving as I wouldn't be able to handle doing it tomorrow since I had to enter the data for Annie.

I picked the first document on my desk, flipped it open and...

'I am in debt, Caily. I will be killed.' those words from Aunt Mandy haunted me.

"Caily, you are not fine." Trisha's voice was conclusive as she pulled a chair to my side and sat down.

She held my hands and made me turn to face her but I kept my head lowered, my gaze on the tiled floor.

"Caily, you don't have much friends and perhaps we are not very close yet but you know you can tell me what's hurting you. Who knows? I could be of help." her voice was gentle and almost soothing.

"My... My problem is too huge." I said, trying to put an end to the conversation. Trisha could not help me with this.

"You always help everyone here, you should be helped too. I don't know if the others are so blind not to see that you are in need of help but I am willing to help."

"No, this is too much. You don't understand, Trisha..."

"Just tell me what it is about." she coaxed, hands gently massaging mine.

"Fine. I am in debt. My aunt is in debt and she has loan sharks after her. Two hundred thousand! However in the world am I supposed to get that amount of money?" I pulled my hands out of hers and palmed my face again.

"Hey Caily, it's fine. It will be fine." A comforting hand to my shoulder. Small pats.

That was all she or anyone could offer to me. And as good as that was, it couldn't solve this problem of mine.

"I have a solution for you, Caily."

My hands dropped from my face, brows arching as I looked at her.

"What solution?" I asked, picking my words slowly. What solution could there be to getting two hundred thousand in three weeks?

"There's this site you can make money from." She started and my face immediately fell.

"Oh please, Trish. A dollar or two isn't what's going to help me pay that amount of money in three weeks."

"Let me land, Caily Galileo." She grumbled with a small pout of annoyance at my interception.

I pressed my lips into a thin line and let her continue speaking but I didn't have much interest anymore.

"This site is a private site but I can share you the link. You are not allowed to share it to others though. On this site, you can meet with elite men who..."

"I have a boyfriend, Trish. I am not going to cheat on him for money and even with those elite men, I am not going to make quarter that amount."

"Oh please, Caily. Can your boyfriend help you out in this situation? And also you don't even have to meet with these men so it's not really cheating. You can find a man on the site willing to pay you good bucks for just chatting with him. You will get more from just phone sex. No one touches you, you touch no one. Just speak to them and watch the money flow in and if you want to take it up a notch, you talk to them about it."

I sat motionless for the next few seconds, taking in Trisha's words. It really wasn't cheating, right? And I was doing this for Aunt Mandy, not for myself. I would never consider doing it if I wasn't in this dire situation.

"Your Aunt needs your help and I think this is the easiest way you can make money, Caily." Trisha pushed, a little too eagerly.

"How much can I make per session?" I whispered the words like they were illicit words.

"Five thousand? Ten thousand?" She shrugged her shoulders lightly and my eyes widened, a gasp leaving me.

"That much?"

"The men on this site are fucking wealthy. It's nothing to them. So, are you in or are you going to search for other ways to get two hundred thousand in three weeks?" She asked.

My eyes were definitely reflecting my fear, my hesitation and my doubt about all this. I shut my eyes, lips pressed thin.

Behind my closed eyes, I could see Aunt Mandy and her caring smile, the beads of sweats on her forehead as she worked hard for me. She deserved all the help I could ever give to her. She was the only family I had left and I had to help her the best I could.

"I am in." I opened my eyes and looked Trisha dead in the eyes.

"Send me the link."

"Good decision." A small smirk lifted her lips.