Jo looked at the rough jottings she made on her jotter as she bit her pen violently.
She now had $20,000, which was more than enough to get her a place obviously and even handle her school issues.
Hopefully
"I should probably move out of the city" she told herself as she sat in the dark, small, busy cafe where people barely came in.
It seemed perfect for her to hold that amount of cash anyways.
She wondered if she should still go to her mother's place, and she didn't even see the need anymore.
Especially since she had money now, the only reason she thought of escaping in the first place anyways was because of her creepy landlord.
And she wondered if she should pay her rent.
It was just $300
And she also wondered if she should invest the money. She had heard of some of the nepo babies in school talking about how their boyfriends, parents or even they did some investments to double-up their money. But the last thing she wanted was to be involved in some shady scheme
She knew she would barely get a very decent place with less than $10,000, and as crazy as it sounded, the house she was living in at the moment was disgusting but still affordable in it's own way
And she wasn't sure if she should go back to getting a job
A job .....
She sighed and picked up her phone and rang her mother, her breath seized slightly as she hesitated.
The last thing she wanted to do was tell her mother, she knew the woman would want to take it all and spend it with her drunk boyfriend. The money was clearly not enough to get back on her feet
She wasn't sure if she should actually consider getting accidents as a business.
"Mom ...." She spoke softly into the phone
"Jo, I'm busy, I have a date with Steve in the next 10 minutes"
Was that even a way to say hi?
And who was Steve?
"Mom, I'm planning on coming over for a few days, my rent is expired, I just lost my job and there's no way to pay for it. Can I stay over till I'm able to arrange the money?"
"If this is another one of your schemes to collect money from me, I promise you, you are not seeing a dime from my hand young lady. I just spent $15,000 on Steve's new car and we plan on getting it really soon"
Jo couldn't believe her ears. Here she was struggling with money, and her mom was there spending it on some man ...
"It's just temporary....."
"You couldn't beg your landlord for more time?"
"He refused"
"Hmmmm ..." Her mom thought for a second "You know this house is for Joel. Instead of coming to me every time for something why don't you try asking your father?"
"I haven't spoken to dad in months."
"Well I haven't spoken to him in 15 years"
"Baby where are you??? I'm waiting!!"
Jo could hear the background noise of a man shouting
"I'm coming baby" her mom shouted back "yeah sure whatever, you can stay over till you get back on your feet". And she immediately ended the conversation
And that was it ....
Jo disappointedly put the phone down.
What was it she hadn't gotten used to already?
Was it the way she was always ignored?
Or unwanted?
If only she knew what it was like to be wanted .....
.......
Leo walked through the corridor and burst into the large living room filled with high-end, custom furnishings, rich tactile textures, bespoke statement lighting, and deliberate negative space that prioritizes curated quality over clutter.
He looked over at his right and noticed his father sited on a chair opposite where he was facing.
That was something the man never did
Sit in the living room
"I'm here" he said, sounding totally nonchalant. "And I'm not sure why you are here"
Raphael put down the phone he was holding and looked up at his son "You ran someone over with your car"
"It was an accident-"
"I do not tolerate accidents"
Leo didn't even try to budge. He looked at the man. Steady, calm, collected and with a tiny egoistic smirk on his face
"I know it's bad once this old man sits here" he thought to himself. His father barely came out.
"Because of you I lost $20,000 yesterday" he continued, then poured himself a glass from the wine sitting on the table in front of him "You know what that could have done for me?"
"Nothing" Leo rolled his eyes without directly making it obvious "How?" He asked
"I had to pay your little girlfriend a visit"
Leo raised his eyebrows "Joannah?"
Raphael's smirk got wider and he walked up to approach his son "I had to personally make the visit to make sure this does not affect the position I'm working for." He placed his hand on Leo's shoulder "I will let this slide for the sake of a mistake. Hopefully she would never disturb us for this. THIS SHOULD NOT REPEAT ITSELF" And then he walked off. Leaving Leo more confused than angry.
Immediately Leo took out his device and rang the hospital
"She left this morning" The doctor said "Without informing anyone, we came to her room and saw she was gone. We tried contacting her but her number didn't seem to go through"
"Did anyone see her leaving?"
"No. The cameras did capture her leaving though. That was around 6am"
Leo ran his fingers across his hair frustratedly. He just met her, and he couldn't spend enough time to know her properly. "Were you able to collect any information of hers?"
"We have her address if that helps" the doctor replied.
"Send it" he said and immediately ended the call, then looked at his phone screen, expecting the message anytime soon.
He really liked her, the first time he saw her. From the moment she passed out in front of his car and he picked her up in his arms.
Her dark brown caramel skin and her long lashes and orange hair captivated him almost immediately
It would be a shame if he didn't do anything about his love at first sight.