Page 1 of Temporary Vows

Chapter 1

Elodie

Your payment is late again. I need my money now.

I stare at Marcus’ text blazing across my phone’s screen, defeat and dread sagging my shoulders. That hollow fear I’ve endured for the last month grips my heart with razor-sharp talons.

My life has officially gone down the toilet.

It’s time to accept it the way a dying man takes his last breath and know there’s no coming back.

No tomorrow.

No future.

No more.

I press my forehead against the cool metal door of my locker, my eyes still glued to the message on the phone.

The break room hums with the low whir of an ancient fridge and the scent of burnt espresso clinging to the air like a bad omen.

I’m supposed to be clocking back in from my break, but I can’t.

Not yet.

I can’t go back on the floor and serve another customer with a fake smile pasted on my face, pretending everything is fine.

Damn it. I shouldn’t even be here. I’m not a waitress. I’m a high school teacher. I have a respectable career with prospects, but I was forced to take this job to pay a loan that isn’t even mine.

So much for being a good friend.

This is where it got me—a life of constant fear.

I’m twenty-five. But the intense worry and stress have made me feel like a hundred lifetimes have passed.

That’s the second message Marcus has sent me today, and it’s barely nine in the morning.

He blew up my phone all day yesterday. Each time, I messaged Clara asking when she was going to pay the arrears.

I haven’t heard from her.

Nothing at all.

But why am I disappointed? I haven’t heard from her in nearly five months.

Goddamn it. She never called when I told her Marcus was sending his goons to follow me around. Why would she call back now?

The last few weeks have seen me sending her screenshots of the call logs showing calls received and missed from Marcus’ office, and his ‘I need my money now’ messages. But the girl I considered my best friend ignored me.

I squeeze the phone, my knuckles turning white. When thisloan thingfirst came about, she promised I’d have no trouble at all. She just needed me to stand guarantor.

That’s it.

Except it wasn’t. I never knew I was signing my life away.

My life, my sanity, my safety.

Now I’m a mess. And I haven’t heard from her in five months.