Chapter 4

I knew the loan wasn't going to end here.

But I had plenty of scores of my own to settle with the two brothers.

The next morning, the bank's customer service line called back.

"Miss Henson, what exactly is this loan for?"

I looked around at the familiar layout of the apartment, and something clicked.

"We're planning to redo the place."

"Understood. I'll note that on your file. Just a reminder, this loan cannot be used for investments, stock trading, or wealth management products."

Around noon, Abraham showed up alone, carrying a takeout bag of the lobster rolls from Marino's I always loved.

"Sophia, it's time you and I had a real talk."

I stood in the doorway and didn't let him in.

"There's nothing to talk about. Didn't you say yesterday that we were through?"

"Sophia, you know the position I'm in."

His face was all bitterness, and he explained to me like he actually meant it.

"My brother was here yesterday. I had no choice but to say that."

"My whole life, my brother's been the one my parents doted on. The moment anything doesn't go his way, I'm the first one they yell at."

I'd heard all of this many times before.

I'd even met his parents.

The two of them seemed so warm and kind, but the words out of their mouths were exactly as sharp and mean as Abraham described.

"If I can't get that five hundred thousand back, I can't go home, and they might even take it all the way to the company."

"Can't you take pity on me and just transfer the five hundred thousand to my brother?"

I shook my head firmly and asked him in a cold voice.

"There's one thing I've wondered about this whole time."

"Abraham, you're you, and your brother is your brother. Why do you trust him so completely?"

As far as I knew, the house his family lived in had been bought outright by Abraham.

As my guarantor, if I couldn't repay the money when the time came, the bank could seize that house.

"You don't even know if your brother's project is real. If he loses the money, aren't you throwing away a whole house?"

"He's my brother. How could he hurt me?"

Hearing that, I knew he was beyond saving.

I shoved him hard out the door and slammed it shut behind him.

Abraham pounded on it from the other side.

"Sophia, open this door!"

I slid slowly down the door until I was sitting on the floor.

"There's another thing I came about today. You said the company went bankrupt because of us. What did you mean by that?"

He actually had the nerve to bring that up.

Back then, my father had told me everything, clearly, in his office.

"The company's bankrupt. We're in the red, and your mother and I have nowhere left to turn."

"And the reason for all of it is that fine older brother of your boyfriend's."

"A slip-up he carefully arranged leaked all of our trading data, and our rivals found the fatal gap they needed."

My father wasn't angry with me then. His voice was strangely calm.

At the time I thought the whole thing could pass, but only later did I understand that inside he'd already given up.

In the last words he ever said to me:

"It took me twenty years to get where I am, and it took you a few months to let the wolf in."

"Sophia, from now on, look closely at the people around you, and learn to be strong."

After a long silence, Abraham spoke through the door.

"If you're talking about the operational slip-up, my brother didn't do it."

"I know I've got no proof saying this, but think about it. My brother doesn't understand the first thing about finance!"

"If my brother and I really wanted to ruin you, why would we have bought you this apartment?"

I sat on the floor until it went dark, waiting until Abraham's voice finally faded from the other side of the door.

When the streetlights came on, I made a call.

"Can you meet me at the food stalls? It's nothing serious."

Once the other person agreed, I put on a little makeup and went out.