Chapter 14
Lindsey opened her eyes, pain slamming into the back of her head.
She shifted, trying to get rid of the agony just behind her ear, only to realize she couldn’t.
She struggled one more time, and then awareness hit her.
She opened her eyes, struggling to remain calm, trying to get her bearings, then saw her hands.
She stared at the bonds on her wrists in disbelief, maybe the cloth tie from a robe or something.
She remembered coming to Chelsea’s apartment, and, since the door was slightly ajar, she had gone inside. Chelsea’s apartment was in a state of chaos everywhere. She had remained in the doorway, momentarily confused, trying to figure out just what was going on, when she’d heard a sound.
Turning around to see what it was, she’d been struck from behind. She never saw who hit her. This didn’t make any sense. She didn’t live in a world of danger and abuse. It was just too far-fetched for her to get her mind around.
She stared at her bonds again, shivering as she realized how dire her situation was.
She couldn’t understand why someone had been after Chelsea and had wrecked her apartment.
She hadn’t done anything to anybody. What the hell was going on?
Or was somebody after Lindsey too, or was it all about Chelsea?
Considering it was Chelsea’s apartment, there was an obvious conclusion to be made, unless it was a completely random burglary, and Lindsey had stumbled into the midst of it.
But odds were, this was personal against Chelsea, and, if so, Lindsey had a good idea who was behind it.
“Wow, look at that. Somebody’s awake,” a man spoke in a harsh tone against her ear.
She stiffened but instinctively turned so she could see who was talking to her—a man she did not recognize at all. Her eyes widened, and she stared at him in shock. “Who are you?” she whispered, groaning at the pain in her head.
“What are you doing at Chelsea’s apartment?” he countered.
“I was coming over to have tea with her,” Lindsey explained.
“You should never spend time with her. She’s just trouble, that girl.”
Lindsey blinked several times as she struggled with the conversation because it did not make sense. She was still tied up and potentially in Chelsea’s living room. Yet Lindsey couldn’t see much from where she lay on the carpeted floor. “What do you want with me?”
“I don’t know yet,” he replied, “but it’s presenting all kinds of possibilities.”
A spark of fear struck as his words revealed this was not good news for her. It seemed to her that people made their worst decisions when caught by surprise. “I just came to have a cup of tea,” she repeated. “What happened to her place?”
“Looks like somebody broke in.” That was followed by a mocking laugh.
“Do you know Chelsea?” she asked, as she struggled to sit up, only to give it up and lean back down as her head boomed in pain. She had experienced migraines occasionally throughout her life, and this was building up to being a doozy.
“Don’t know her so much, yet her mother’s a different story.”
She realized this was, indeed, Penny’s boyfriend. She opened her eyes to look at him. “Did you trash her apartment?”
“Nah, I didn’t need to. That wouldn’t do me any good.”
To Lindsey, it wouldn’t do him or anyone else any good because Chelsea didn’t have anything.
Her apartment was mostly empty, and Lindsey could see that better as she sat back up and tried to look around.
“Why would somebody do that to her?” she whispered, leaning back again. “She doesn’t even have anything.”
“I know,” the man said. “It’s sad really, but her mother doesn’t believe her.
Her mother thinks Chelsea’s got bank accounts with piles of money lying around.
So, if there is money lying around,” he noted, “you can bet I want my share.” Lindsey frowned at him in shock, and he laughed. “And you don’t believe me.”
“I don’t think Chelsea has any money,” she stated, “and I don’t know why her mother would think otherwise.”
“It’s called student loans.”
“Yes, but she’s completed her degree and used the money to pay for her schooling,” she explained, staring at him. “It’s all gone. That’s how she paid for her courses.”
He stared at her and asked, “Why the hell would she do that?”
“That’s why she got it in the first place, so she could get the education and training,” she shared, aiming for calm and realizing something was incredibly off about this whole thing.
“Yeah, her mom will never let her have any real training, and she sure as hell won’t ever let her have a job where she didn’t tithe a certain amount of money to her.”
“To her mother?” Lindsey asked in confusion.
“Yeah, to her mother. I mean, it’s how it’s supposed to be.”
“Aren’t mothers supposed to look after their children?” Lindsey stared at him, not exactly sure what was going on. “Did you give your parents money?”
“No, of course not, but then I’m not as stupid as Chelsea is.”
Lindsey closed her eyes at that, knowing this was a conversation she couldn’t win, and it sure as hell wouldn’t help Chelsea. “Is Chelsea here?” she asked.
“No, I wish she were, but apparently she got wind of what was going on and took off.”
Lindsey hesitated, then looked at him and asked, “What is going on?”
“That’s a really good question. I wasn’t expecting you at the door. I thought it was her, and now I don’t know what to do with you.”
“Just let me go,” she said. “That would be the nicest.”
“It might be the nicest for you, but you will tell somebody what happened,” he noted, “and, right about now, I don’t think her mother will take that very kindly.”
Lindsey shook her head, frowning at him, not at all sure what the hell she was supposed to do in this scenario.
But realizing just how much Chelsea did need to get away from this family situation, Lindsey was once again reminded of the great childhood she had had.
This was an example of what some people had to put up with.
“What did her mother think Chelsea would do with the money?” she asked.
“Her mother does realize it’s a loan, not cash, right?
A lot of it gets paid directly to the university. ”
He stared at her in surprise.
Lindsey continued. “Because it’s earmarked for school fees. They often arrange to pay the university tuition directly via online transfers from the lender to the university.”
He stared off into the distance, frowning. “I didn’t know that,” he muttered.
“That’s one way the lender ensures the money goes where it’s supposed to.”
“As in, she’s not allowed to spend it on anything else?”
“She might have been given a certain amount for books, or maybe her part-time job was to pay for that most likely,” Lindsey shared. “Chelsea had to work to pay for anything else.”
“Good God, how the hell is she supposed to live on that?”
He spoke with such disgust that Lindsey wasn’t sure what she was supposed to say to that. “Most students take part-time jobs at the university to buy food and snacks and even textbooks.”
He frowned, then stared off in the distance. “That’s really too bad. I was hoping for a whole lot more.”
“Why?” she asked curiously.
“So, I could leave,” he said simply. “It’s definitely time to get out of here.”
She stared at him and asked, “Why can’t you just leave?”
“I don’t have any money, do I?” he stated, with an unpleasant glare in her direction.
She frowned back, not knowing what to say to that either, since her world consisted of people who paid their own way, not people who stole from others to get what they wanted.
He snorted. “It’s really not your world, is it? I don’t like to work and have no intention of starting, so keep your judgment to yourself.”
“I heard that in your voice,” she pointed out. “I just don’t understand why you would try to take student loan proceeds from a young woman when it’s obvious she doesn’t have anything.”
“It wasn’t obvious that she didn’t have anything up until now,” he declared. “According to her mother, there was close to $50,000, if not twice that.”
“Even if Chelsea was approved for a student loan with a large dollar figure,” Lindsey explained, “Chelsea would never have received it in some lump payment and never in cash directly to her. It would have been paid to the university online for each semester, with the bulk of it for tuition,” she stated.
“There’s a reason they don’t hand out cash money. ”
“Yeah, and what is that reason?”
“Abuse,” she said simply. “That’s a fair bit of money, and it will cover her tuition and fees, but the lenders never give you enough to sit on easy street. She is working, you know?”
“But apparently not very much.”
Lindsey shook her head. “She’s probably working a lot of hours but won’t be getting paid very much. And she did that for the full four years or so, along with attending classes and passing tests.”
He stared. “What kind of a system is that?”
“One that will put her in good standing when she’s done, but, in the meantime, she’s got to put in the time to get there.”
“In other words, if Penny can get her to pay her when she’s working a full-time job, then Penny will be fine. Yet you’re saying I’m not likely to get any portion of this student loan?”
“I’m saying there won’t be any of the student loan for you to get. Chelsea can’t give it to you because she doesn’t have it, and she would never have been given cash in any amount. That’s just not how it works.”
“That’s not what her mother says,” he snapped, turning to glare at her.
She looked at him and sighed. “Either her mother doesn’t understand the student loan system or has a reason for telling you something different.”
An odd look came over his face, as he muttered, “There is that too.”