Fire Meets Ice

Maya's POV

I swung my fist at Gold Teeth's face as hard as I could.

He caught my wrist mid-punch and squeezed until I screamed. Pain shot up my arm like lightning, but I didn't stop fighting. I kicked him in the shin with my sneaker, then tried to knee him where it would hurt most.

"Feisty little thing, aren't you?" Gold Teeth laughed, dodging my knee. "Boss is gonna love breaking you in."

"Let me go!" I twisted and pulled, trying to break free from his grip. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Your daddy did plenty wrong. Now you get to pay for it."

Behind me, I heard the kitchen door bang open. Heavy footsteps echoed in the alley as the other four men came outside. I was surrounded.

The leader - Dante - walked up slowly, like he had all the time in the world. Rain dripped from his dark hair, but he didn't seem to care about getting wet.

"Finished playing games, Miss Chen?" His voice was calm, like we were discussing the weather instead of my kidnapping.

"This isn't a game!" I yelled. "You can't just take people! This is America! There are laws!"

The big scary one laughed. "Laws are for people who can't afford better options."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Dante stepped closer. Up close, his gray eyes looked like frozen steel. "It means your father borrowed money from people who don't use banks or lawyers. People who make their own rules."

"You're criminals."

"We're businessmen who collect what's owed to us."

"I don't owe you anything!"

"Your father disagrees." Dante pulled out his phone and showed me a photo. It was a handwritten note in Dad's messy writing: "If anything happens to me, Maya pays my debts. She's worth more than money."

My heart stopped. Dad had written that. My own father had signed me away like I was his property.

"That's not legal," I whispered.

"Legal doesn't matter in our world," the charming one said with a fake smile. "Only what's profitable."

I looked around desperately. The alley was narrow and dark, with brick walls on both sides. Five dangerous men blocked every way out. Nobody could see us from the street.

"Please," I begged. "I'll get a loan. I'll work extra jobs. I'll pay you back somehow."

"Two million dollars?" Dante raised an eyebrow. "At minimum wage? It would take you sixty years."

"Then give me sixty years!"

"We're not that patient."

Gold Teeth tightened his grip on my wrist. "Can we get moving? It's raining, and I'm getting soaked."

"In a moment," Dante said. He studied my face like he was memorizing every detail. "I want to give Miss Chen one final chance to cooperate."

"Cooperate with what?"

"Come with us willingly, and we'll treat you well. Fight us, and..." He shrugged. "Let's just say there are easier ways and harder ways to travel."

I thought about Mom lying in her hospital bed, hooked up to machines that beeped and hummed day and night. She'd been so brave, even when the cancer was eating her alive. She never gave up fighting, not until the very end.

If Mom could fight cancer, I could fight these criminals.

"Here's my answer," I said, then spit right in Dante's face.

The alley went completely silent.

Dante wiped the spit away slowly with his sleeve. His expression didn't change, but something cold and dangerous flickered in his eyes.

"I was hoping you'd say that," he said quietly.

Gold Teeth laughed. "Oh, she's got spirit! This is gonna be fun."

"Put her in the car," Dante ordered.

Three of them moved toward me at once. I fought like a wild animal, kicking and scratching and biting anything I could reach. My nails drew blood across someone's cheek. My elbow connected with someone's stomach, making them grunt in pain.

But they were bigger, stronger, and trained for this. Within seconds, the big scary one had my arms pinned behind my back while the silent one grabbed my legs.

"Stop struggling," the silent one said in his quiet, creepy voice. "You'll only hurt yourself."

"Good!" I shouted. "I hope I hurt all of you!"

They carried me toward the black cars like I weighed nothing. I kept fighting, but it was useless. My sneakers scraped against the wet pavement as they dragged me forward.

The charming one opened the back door of the first car. Inside, the seats were black leather and looked more expensive than my entire apartment.

"Welcome to your new life, princess," Gold Teeth said, shoving me inside.

I landed hard on the seat, my shoulder hitting the door handle. Pain shot down my arm, but I ignored it and immediately tried to climb out the other side.

The charming one was already there, blocking my escape. "Tsk, tsk. That's not very polite."

Dante slid into the seat beside me while the big scary one got in on my other side. I was trapped between them, with the charming one across from me and the silent one in the front passenger seat. Gold Teeth must have stayed behind to clean up evidence.

The car smelled like expensive cologne and leather. Outside, I could see the diner where I'd been working just ten minutes ago. Mr. Peterson was probably still sitting at table three, drinking his coffee and pretending nothing had happened.

"Drive," Dante told someone I couldn't see.

The engine purred to life, and we pulled away from the curb. Through the rear window, I watched the diner disappear into the rain and darkness.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

"Somewhere safe," the charming one said with that fake smile. "Don't worry, we'll take good care of you."

"Like you took care of my father?"

Dante's jaw tightened. "Your father made his choices. Now you have to live with the consequences."

"What consequences? What are you going to do to me?"

Nobody answered. The car drove through empty streets, past closed shops and dark houses. Normal people were home with their families, watching TV and eating dinner. They had no idea that girls like me were being kidnapped in the same city where they felt safe.

"I want to call someone," I said. "My boss will wonder why I didn't finish my shift."

"No phone calls," the big scary one rumbled.

"What about my apartment? My rent is due tomorrow."

"Not your problem anymore," Dante said.

"My college classes? My other jobs?"

"Also not your problem."

I felt tears starting to build up behind my eyes, but I refused to cry in front of these men. They wanted me to be scared and helpless. I wouldn't give them the satisfaction.

"You can't just erase someone's entire life," I said.

"We can do whatever we want," the charming one replied. "That's what money and power buy you - the right to rewrite reality."

The car turned into a parking garage underneath a tall building. Everything was concrete and shadow, lit by harsh fluorescent lights that buzzed like angry insects.

We rode an elevator up so high my ears popped. When the doors opened, I saw a hallway with marble floors and gold fixtures. This wasn't just expensive - it was ridiculously expensive.

They walked me to a door at the end of the hall. Dante used a key card to open it, and I stepped inside the most beautiful apartment I'd ever seen.

Floor-to-ceiling windows showed the entire city spread out below us like a carpet of lights. The furniture looked like it belonged in a museum, and there were actual paintings on the walls - not posters or prints, but real art.

"Welcome home," Dante said.

"This isn't my home."

"It is now."

I walked to the windows and looked down. We were so high up that the cars below looked like toys. If I tried to jump, I'd definitely die. But maybe that would be better than whatever these men had planned for me.

"Don't even think about it," the silent one said, like he could read my mind. "The windows don't open."

I turned around to find all four men watching me. In the bright apartment lights, I could see them clearly for the first time.

Dante was even more handsome than I'd thought, but in a cold, scary way. The big scary one had kind eyes that didn't match his frightening size. The charming one looked like a movie star, but something mean lurked behind his smile. And the silent one...

The silent one was the most dangerous of all. He watched everything but said nothing, like a predator waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

"So what happens now?" I asked.

"Now we discuss the terms of your father's debt," Dante said, sitting down in a chair that probably cost more than my car.

"What terms? I told you, I don't have any money."

"Money isn't the only way to pay a debt."

The way he said it made my stomach twist into knots. "What other ways?"

Dante smiled, but it wasn't a nice smile. It was the smile of a shark who'd found a wounded fish.

"That depends," he said, pulling out a thick envelope. "How much do you think you're worth?"