Chapter 39: Chapter 39 Amanda’s Sister

Amanda continued to stare at Liam, her lips slightly parted, her mind still processing what she had just heard.

He had killed three of them.

Spared two.

She could hardly believe it.

Not because she thought Liam was incapable of doing something like that—she knew very well what he was capable of—but because of the sheer gravity of what he had just admitted. He had taken lives, ended them without hesitation, and yet, he stood before her looking almost indifferent, as if he had merely swatted away some annoying pests rather than killed actual people.

But after the initial shock, Amanda’s expression shifted from disbelief to confusion, and then, to something much more serious.

Her voice was calm but laced with sharpness as she asked, “If you killed three of them, then why did you let the other two live?”

Liam, who had been waiting for her to freak out, was caught completely off guard.

His eyebrows raised slightly as he blinked at her in confusion.

Out of all the things she could have said, this was what she was most concerned about?

Not the fact that he had killed three people? Not the fact that their bodies were probably rotting somewhere by now?

No.

Instead, she was questioning why he didn’t kill the remaining two.

Liam opened his mouth slightly, but no words came out. He had expected her to react with anger or horror. Maybe she would have scolded him or told him that he had gone too far. But instead, she was analyzing the situation with the cold, logical mindset of someone who knew the world he had just stepped into.

Amanda sighed, leaning back in her chair as she ran a hand through her hair.

“Liam, you don’t understand how evil those people are, do you?”

Liam tilted his head slightly, his expression unreadable. “I wouldn’t even know of their existence if I hadn’t fought them at your house.”

Amanda clicked her tongue in frustration before shaking her head. “Then listen carefully, because this is important.”

She adjusted her posture, sitting up straight as she began explaining.

“They’re not just a group of thugs running around causing trouble for random people. They’re part of an organization—one that specializes in scamming people into taking on debts they can’t possibly repay.”

Liam frowned slightly, his curiosity piqued.

“Scamming them how?”

Amanda’s expression darkened as she continued. “They target vulnerable people—students, single mothers, struggling families—and offer them loans with ridiculous interest rates. And when these people inevitably fail to pay back what they owe, that’s when the real nightmare begins.”

Liam narrowed his eyes. “What do they do to them?”

Amanda exhaled slowly, as if recalling something unpleasant. “They force them to do unimaginable things. Some are made to transport drugs across borders, some are used as mules for illegal arms trafficking, and the worst cases…” she hesitated for a moment before finishing, “they sell them into prostitution.”

Liam’s entire demeanor shifted.

His jaw clenched slightly as his mind processed the full extent of what she was telling him.

He had assumed they were just another group of lowlife criminals—people who caused trouble, picked fights, and did illegal business.

But this was much worse.

Much darker.

And he had let two of them escape.

Liam didn’t speak for a long moment.

He could already feel the gears in his head turning as he started thinking about ways to track them down.

He needed to fix this mistake.

But before he could dwell on that thought any further, something else suddenly crossed his mind.

His eyes flickered toward Amanda as he asked, “What’s your connection to them?”

Amanda’s expression stiffened.

For the first time in this conversation, she looked slightly uncomfortable, as if she hadn’t expected him to ask that question so directly.

She exhaled, closing her eyes briefly before answering.

“My sister owed them money,” she admitted, her voice quieter than before. “And now… I have to pay for her.”

Liam’s frown deepened.

“Why?” he asked, his voice firm. “Why should you have to pay for her debt? It wasn’t yours.”

Amanda opened her eyes again, her gaze heavy with something that Liam couldn’t quite describe.

And then, finally, she said it.

“Because she’s dead.”

Liam froze.

Amanda’s voice remained steady, but there was an underlying pain in her tone as she continued.

“She killed herself… because of them.”

Liam didn’t even know what to say.

He found himself at a complete loss for words. He had seen Amanda angry before, he had seen her frustrated, annoyed, and even on the verge of breaking down. But this? This was something else. This was a burden she had been carrying alone for years, and she hadn’t told a single soul about it.

Eventually, Amanda forced a small, tired smile onto her face”Don’t worry about it, Liam. It’s been three years.”

She said it so casually, like it was something she had already come to terms with.

Like it didn’t matter anymore.

But Liam wasn’t convinced.

Three years or not, that kind of thing didn’t just go away.

Liam let out a slow sigh, rubbing his temple with his fingers as he processed everything. After a few seconds, he turned his gaze back to Amanda and asked, “If your sister is gone, then shouldn’t her loan be nullified? That’s how normal loans work, right?”

Amanda let out a short, bitter laugh as she shook her head. “That’s not how it works with them. When a debtor dies, the debt doesn’t just disappear. It gets passed down to the next of kin.”

Liam frowned. “That doesn’t make any sense. That’s illegal.”

Amanda shrugged. “It doesn’t have to make sense. It’s how they operate. They don’t follow normal banking rules, Liam. And even if it is illegal, what can I do about it? They made it very clear that if I don’t keep paying, I’ll end up just like my sister.”

Liam’s fingers curled into a fist at her words.

“Did you go to the police?” he asked.

Amanda scoffed. “Of course I did. I tried everything. I told them about the threats, I told them how they kept harassing me for the money, but you know what they said?”

Liam’s silence told her to continue.

“They told me that the organization is running a perfectly legal business. They have all the proper paperwork, they have registered offices, and they don’t break any laws that the police can act on.”

Liam narrowed his eyes. “But the police must know what they’re really doing, right? I mean, they know these guys aren’t just giving out loans. They have to know about the drugs, the trafficking—”

Amanda cut him off with a shake of her head. “The police don’t know about the drugs. And as for the human trafficking…” she sighed, her voice growing heavy with frustration. “They never force anyone into it directly. That’s why they’ve never been caught. They wait until their victims have no other option and then make them sign contracts of their own free will. It’s all done legally. That’s how they get away with it.”

Liam was silent again.

These people weren’t just criminals.

They were smart criminals.

Everything they did was calculated, planned out so that no one could ever pin anything on them.

Liam leaned back in his seat, staring up at the ceiling for a moment, before he suddenly asked, “How much was the loan?”

Amanda hesitated for a moment before answering. “Originally, it was $3.5 million.”

Liam’s head snapped toward her, his eyes widening slightly.

“Three point five what?”

Amanda sighed. “Yeah. But I’ve already paid $600,000, so I have about $2.9 million left.”

Liam stared at her, completely dumbfounded.

$3.5 million?

What the hell did her sister do with that much money?

He didn’t want to sound insensitive, but borrowing that kind of money without a solid plan to pay it back was insane. It was financial suicide. No one in their right mind would take out a loan that big unless they were absolutely desperate.

Liam opened his mouth to ask what her sister had needed the money for, but after a second, he decided against it.

It didn’t matter anymore.

Her sister was gone.

Bringing it up wouldn’t change anything.

Instead, he shifted his focus back to Amanda.

“Stop paying them.”

Amanda’s head snapped up in surprise. “What?”

“I said, stop paying them,” Liam repeated, his voice firm.

Amanda stared at him for a few seconds before shaking her head. “Liam, you don’t understand. There’s no way out of this. I have to keep paying them, or—”

“What if I told you that there was a way for you to never pay them again?” Liam cut in, his gaze locked onto hers.

Amanda’s breath caught in her throat.

Her heart skipped a beat.

A way out? Is it possible?

For the first time in three years, she felt something she hadn’t felt in a long, long time.

Hope.

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