Chapter 3 - The Deal with the Devil
The turning point happened one rainy afternoon when Vanessa and Evan thought I was asleep. My wheelchair was parked near the air vent that connected our apartments. I heard them talking, their voices laced with resentment.
"She's draining our wedding budget, Evan," Vanessa had complained. "And her physical therapy bills are ridiculous. If she wasn't around, her life insurance and the disability payout would go straight to me as her next of kin. We could finally afford the Maldives for our honeymoon."
"She's a cripple, V," Evan had replied coldly. "Accidents happen to cripples all the time. Stairs are dangerous."
My blood ran ice-cold. They weren't just parasites; they were predators. The sister I had sacrificed my legs for was actively plotting my death with her shallow, greedy fiancé. I didn't cry. I didn't confront them. Instead, I wheeled myself to my laptop and began my own investigation.
I looked into Evan Hartwell. He portrayed himself as a wealthy entrepreneur, but his background was a house of cards. He was drowning in hidden credit card debt and had zero assets to his name. He was marrying Vanessa because he thought she had money—money that was actually mine.
The next day, I made a phone call. Not to the police, but to Victor Sloane.
Sloane visited me in the park near the apartment. He was a terrifyingly calm man in a tailored suit, feeding pigeons while his bodyguards stood by. When I told him what my sister had done with his money, and what she was planning to do to me, his expression darkened. Sloane was a criminal, but he operated on a strict, ruthless code of honor. He despised frauds, and he respected people who paid their debts. I had paid him twenty thousand in cash and had never missed an interest payment since my legs were shattered.
"What do you want, Maya?" he asked, tossing the last of his breadcrumbs.
"I want to buy Vanessa's debt from you," I said. "All of it. The principal, the interest, and the fraud penalties. I will legally become her creditor. But I need your lawyers to draft the assignment papers in a way that transfers the guarantor liability to Evan Hartwell."
Sloane smiled, a dangerous glint in his eye. "You have no money left to buy a debt of that size."
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"I have my financial expertise," I countered. "I know how to clean your legitimate business ledgers, and I know how to make this debt legally binding in federal court. Give me the debt. When I collect it from Evan, I will pay you back with a twenty percent premium. And... I need a favor."
Sloane listened to my plan. By the time our meeting was over, the devil and I had shaken hands.
