The Debt 5 (5 page)

“Leaving us so soon?” he asked.

The voice was all too familiar and
dreaded.
 
Raven turned and looked at
Kurt’s smug face.
 

She tried to sound polite.
 
“I guess you must be happy with how it
all turned out.”

Kurt’s smile grew wider.
 
“If you’d accepted my initial offer,
you’d have made a hundred thousand instead of just fifty, and your sex tape
wouldn’t be floating all over the web right now.”

“Fifty’s plenty and it’s more than I need
or even want.”

“It’s definitely more than you deserve,”
Kurt said.

“Just leave me alone—it’s
over.”
 
Raven tried to keep walking
to get away from him, but he grabbed her arm with a vice-like grip.

“Look, you got off easy this time,” Kurt
whispered, his breath hitting her face.
 
It smelled of old coffee and breakfast gone rancid.
 
His smile was gone now.
 
“If you try to weasel your way back into
Jake’s life, mommy seeing your sex tape will seem like fond memories compared
to what’ll happen to you.”

“Take your hand off me before I scream,”
she said through grit teeth.

Kurt’s smile appeared again, and he did
take his hand off her arm.
 
“Disappear from Jake’s life for good this time, Raven.
 
Stop fucking around—you got in way
over your head and you were very lucky to skate by with your fifty thousand
dollar payoff.”

“Kurt,” she said, “you’re kind of
handsome, but your breath stinks like a dead animal.
 
It’s disgusting.
 
Just like everything else about
you.”
 
She made a face.
 
“Please get away from me before I puke
on your expensive shoes.”
  

Kurt’s smile wavered and turned into a
grimace as he stepped back.
 
“Stupid
bitch.”

Somehow, her comments had rankled him,
and that did make her smile.

“Bye, Kurt,” she waved, starting to leave
again.
 
“Good luck getting your
halitosis under control.”

Raven continued towards the exit, but the
concierge stopped her.
 
“Miss
Hartley?” the man asked stiffly.

“Yes, that’s me.”
 
She looked at him uncertainly.

“Mister Novak asked that I make sure you
get to your car when you’re ready to depart.
 
Are you leaving us now?”

“Well…yes, but I don’t have a car.”
 
She shouldered her purse.
 
 

“Perhaps I was unclear.”
 
The concierge referred to his clipboard.
 
“A car has been arranged to take you to
Boston.
 
Mister Novak has covered
all expenses and you’re to have the car and driver as long as is needed.”

“Oh.”
 
Raven’s emotions were swirling around
inside of her now—a mixture of intense grief, longing, frustration and
even some anger.
 
Why did it seem
like he still cared about her, and yet he was sending her away?

She still couldn’t make sense of their
connection.
 

On the one hand, he claimed to be angry
and disgusted by the way she’d withheld parts of her past, and then on the
other he wanted to pay her more than he owed her for the time they’d spent
together.

He claimed that she’d failed to do her
job, but insisted on paying her above and beyond the agreement and was even
sending her back home in an expensive car with a driver.

What did it all mean?

She couldn’t understand anything anymore.

Regardless, Raven allowed herself to be
led outside by the concierge and a couple members of Jake’s security team.
 
They shielded her a little bit from the
paparazzi, but not as well as Jake usually did.

The photographers seemed extra
aggressive, as she walked outside and they started snapping and clicking and
bombarding her with questions.

“Did you really have sex with all those guys
at the party?”

“What do you think about the video of you
that was released? Do you deny that’s you?”

“Have you and Jake Novak split up?”

“Where’s Jake?”

“Raven, Raven!
 
Over here, Raven!
 
People from Southbridge say that you
were a liar and a nymphomaniac, Raven.
 
Is any of it true?”

One of the security guards gave that
particular paparazzo a hard shove and the photographer fell onto his rear,
cursing and threatening lawsuits.

Raven had to smile a little at that.
 
She got inside the black sedan and the driver
turned to look at her.
 
“To Boston,
Miss Hartley?”

“Yes,” she said softly.
 
Once she got back, she’d have him drop
her at her car, which had been sitting parked and probably had more than a few
tickets by now.
 

They started to pull away from the hotel
and a large sense of desolation threatened to overwhelm her.

She was probably never going to see Jake
Novak again, except on television and in the movies.
 
She’d hear his voice on the radio, but
never again would she hear it in person.

His voice, saying dark and sensual things
in her ear, telling her everything he wanted to do to her for her own good.

“Miss Hartley?” the driver said again.

She snapped from her reverie.
 
“Sorry.
 
Yes?”

“I was instructed to give this to
you.”
 
The driver extended one hand
back towards her, and there was a white envelope between his fingers.

Her brow furrowed, but she leaned forward
just the same, and took it from him.
 
“Who instructed you to give it to me?”

“Jake Novak, ma’am.”
 
The driver went back to focusing on
driving the car.

Raven took a deep breath and let it
out.
 
She examined the plain white
envelope, as if somehow it was going to tell her the secret to what lay
within.
 
She was afraid of what she
might find inside, what it might or might not say.

Eventually, though, she ripped it open
and took out the piece of lined hotel stationary.
 
There was a handwritten letter, apparently
penned by Jake, and his handwriting was precise and neat.
 

Raven,

I told you that I wired fifty thousand
dollars to your account. I know you can’t understand why I did it, but I have
good reason.
 

Although your plan to rehabilitate my
image didn’t work, I very much appreciate the personal risk you took in
attempting to be part of my life at this difficult time, and I recognize that
it came at a high cost to both you and your family.

Thinking about the way my presence has
negatively affected your privacy and the stability that you’d built for
yourself since leaving home years ago, I think the money is the least I could
do to make up for it.

Also, I’m very much aware that my
affiliation with Club Alpha has also been detrimental to your safety and wellbeing.
 
They’ve threatened you, got you fired
from your job, and kicked out of your apartment.

Because of these inconveniences and more,
I took the liberty of renting an apartment for you, in Boston, for one
year.
 
The lease
is paid in full
,
all utilities are covered
.
 

The driver will give you the keys when
you arrive at your destination.
 

Hopefully, both the apartment and the
money will allow you to have the freedom to accompany Skylar through the
difficult time she’ll be facing going through treatment these next few months.
 
Having you by her side as she undergoes
this experience will be very comforting for her.

Please know that she will never have to
worry about money for any of her medical expenses.
 
She will get only the best
treatment—I will make sure of it.

Now that you are no longer burdened by my
presence in your life, I’m very hopeful that the media will turn their ugly
spotlight away from you and leave you in peace.
 

I think you’re much better off this way.

Be well, Raven.
 
And please take good care of yourself.

-Jake

***

It felt like a very long ride back to
Boston after reading Jake’s letter.
 
Raven tried hard to put him out of her mind, to think instead of Skylar
and what she must be going through.

Raven spent some of the time in the car
reading up about her friend’s particular type of cancer and what type of
treatment and prognosis could be expected.
 
The good news was that it tended to be a very slow growing cancer, and
so the likelihood of it having spread was low.

However, from what she was reading, the
combination of chemotherapy and radiation that they were likely to pursue would
be a fairly grueling, even hellish process for Skylar.
 

In the end, the prognosis was good that
she’d be cancer free at the end of it all, and that was what Raven tried to
keep in mind.
 
Whatever discomfort
Skylar was going to go through, she would be better at the end of it all.

Eventually, this whole period of Skylar’s
life would seem like nothing but a bad dream.

Is
that what this will feel like for me
?
Skylar thought, as they crossed into Boston via the Mass Turnpike.
 
Nothing but a bad dream with faded memories to look back on?

The driver expertly maneuvered the sedan
through the winding city streets of Boston until finally stopping in front of
two very tall buildings, double-parking because there were never any free spots
in Boston.

He turned his head and looked at
Raven.
 
“This is your stop, ma’am.”

She craned her head up.
 
“Where are we?”

“The Ritz Carlton Towers, Miss
Hartley.”
 
He produced a set of keys
and handed them to her.
 
“You’re in
apartment 907.”

Raven took the keys, thanking him, and
then also put the envelope which contained Jake’s letter in her purse.
 
“Are you allowed a tip?”

He shook his head firmly no.
 
“Mr. Novak has taken care of everything,
ma’am.
 
There’s no need, but I do
appreciate the offer.”

“Okay, then.”
 
She took a deep breath and let it out,
before exiting the car and walking across the entryway to the towers.

It took her a moment to find the right
entrance, as the residents apparently used a different lobby than the hotel
guests.

However, once she found her lobby, she
started to make her way to the elevator.
 
But the attendant at the front desk stopped her and requested her reason
for entering, so she told him she had newly rented an apartment and showed him
her key.

He welcomed her with a wide smile and
told her that if she needed anything at all, just to call down for assistance.

Raven couldn’t believe that Jake had
really rented her an apartment in this building.
 
It must’ve cost a small fortune.
 
This was, after all, a prime location in
the heart of Boston.

She knew that Jake Novak was extremely
wealthy, but he didn’t owe her any of this.
 
Why had he done it?

Why
does it seem like he still cares and is still thinking about my needs?

She had little time to ponder the
question on the brief elevator ride to the ninth floor.
 
Then the doors opened and she made her
way to 907, opening it, butterflies dancing in her stomach as she wondered what
awaited her on the other side.

She gasped as the door opened on an
absolutely stunning room.
 
This was
pure luxury, and the thought of staying here for any length of time seemed
absolutely ridiculous.

There were enormous windows the entire
length of two of the walls, and each displayed a stunningly different view of
the city.
 
Raven crossed and
immediately stared out at Boston Harbor, where she could see boats passing to
and fro in the distance, and people and cars winding their way along the
various roads that intertwined below.