TALIA'S SECRET: Sold To Sin

☆True Colors☆

Talia arrived at the gate of Clifford mansion but was stopped by the security guard who wanted to be sure she had an appointment with Clifford.

“Good day, miss. Sorry for the inconvenience but we need to see your ID to check if you have an appointment with Mr Reginald.”

“I just spoke to him on the phone and he asked me to come,” Talia said in a hurry.

“Sorry miss, it's just protocol,” The security guard insisted.

“Fvck this,” she cussed, throwing her ‘no swearing’ rule to the curb. “I'm just going to call him,” She said, reaching for her phone in her bag.

“You don't need to do that. We only need your ID to confirm that you have an appointment with him. Nothing more.”

Talia totally ignored him and called Clifford on her phone. "Hello uncle Clifford,” Talia said when Clifford answered. “I'm at your gate but your security guard has refused to let me in. He is insisting on seeing my ID,” She complained.

“Hand him the phone, Talia.”

“Here, he wants to talk to you,” Talia said, giving the phone to the security guard.

“Hello Mr Reginald. Okay, I will let her in.” the guard hung up and returned Talia’s phone. “ I'm sorry, miss. I didn't mean to upset you. I was just doing my job."

“Sure, whatever. It’s okay.” She zoomed into the compound as they opened the gate. Parking the car and locking it, she held her breath for some seconds before releasing it. “Calm down, Talia. All would be fine,” And then she walked to the door. Before she could knock, the butler opened the door and ushered her into the house.

“Good day, miss,” The butler said.

“Good day to you too.” Talia was a little stunned by how he just smoothly opened the door without her knocking. “I'm supposed to meet Mr Clifford.”

The butler nodded. “He is expecting you. He is in his study waiting.”

“Thank you very much. But please, lead the way. I don't know my way around this huge house.”

“Of course.” He led the way and she followed, taking in the expensive furniture and décor of the house. They arrived at the door of Clifford's study and the butler knocked and announced the arrival of Talia before he left. Talia hesitated a bit before entering the study, taking deep breaths again to remain calm.

“Uncle Clifford,” She called out in a shrill voice as she entered.

Clifford glanced at her, a weird, almost forced smile plastered on his face. “Oh my God, look at you Talia, you have grown a lot. The last time I saw you was at your high school graduation.”

“Yeah, that was like a year ago,” Talia said, taking a seat.

“I heard what happened to my friend, and I'm sorry I wasn't there with you and your brothers. I was out of town when it happened and just came back in today. You know, I was about to call you before you did. How is he? How are you holding up with the Triplets?” Clifford rested his elbow on his desk.

“He’s not doing well, Uncle Clifford. The doctor said he has a two percent chance of coming out of the coma. It would take a miracle, so we are praying he gets out of it,” Talia answered. Talking about her Dad made her chest tighten every time.

“Oh, I see. Poor Frederick. I hope he gets better quickly,” Clifford said. “Meanwhile, you were saying something over the phone about you being in trouble and you needed my help or something like that.”

“Yes, Uncle Cliff.”

“So tell me, what is the issue? If it's anything I can help with, I will definitely make sure I go out of my way to help.”

Talia cleared her throat before she started explaining everything to him. From the bank calling her and informing her about the loan to how they had a week to pay or they lose everything. She told him everything without stopping to catch her breath. She watched Clifford’s expression become surprised.

“Oh my God, I didn't know Frederick made such a risky decision,” He hit his palm on the table in feigned annoyance. “I would have stopped him from taking such a loan. Why didn't he come to me? I would have helped him. I mean, we have been friends for years. I'm disappointed in him. So, how can I help?”

Talia bit her lip a little hesitantly. “I was wondering if you could help by paying off half of the debt. Or better still, call the bank and ask them to give us some time while I look for a job.”

“Oh, Talia,” He reclined into his seat. “You are such a naive girl.”

“I don’t understand you, Uncle. What do you mean?”

“Do you know how much we are looking at here?” Clifford asked.

“Yes. Five million dollars,” Talia responded. “And I know five million dollars is almost nothing to you, Uncle Cliff. Your wristwatch is worth more than that.”

“And how would you know that?” Clifford fiddled with the wristwatch.

“That's a Patek Philippe ref 1518 watch which isn't even worth your other watches. So five million shouldn't be your problem,” Talia was bold as she spoke.

“I see you know your watches,” Clifford smiled. “And you’re right, five million dollars isn't my problem. But I'm a businessman, which means before I invest, I need to be sure I'm making profits. And in this case, I’m not. You are only an eighteen year old with a father lying down lifeless in the hospital. We’re not even certain he is going to come out of it.”

“But . . . you just said that if my dad came to you for the loan, you would have helped,” Talia said.

“Yes, I said that because your father and I would have come to an understanding on how I was going to get my money back. But how are you going to pay me back?”

“I’d get a job while he is in the hospital and pay in installments," She was desperate and ready to start working anywhere immediately.

Clifford scoffed. “Work? As what? A sales girl or a bar girl? Your salary would be a joke. Okay,” he placed his elbows on his desk again. “Let's say I give you the money and you get yourself a job, and then you start paying off your debt to me. Have you thought about how you are going to buy food, pay for your electricity bill, water bill etcetera? Would you do all that with the same work?” Clifford asked.

He was right. Talia thought. How didn’t she ever think of that?

“Well, I can . . . get more than one job.”

Clifford laughed. It started out as a small giggle and turned into a hysterical laughter.

“Okay,” Talia said, already feeling defeated. The way the others made her feel. “if you can't help by paying off half of the loan, how about you call the bank and talk to them? They will surely listen to you. You are a prominent businessman in America and well respected too.”

“Yes. I do agree I'm all that you listed out there, but that doesn't mean I control the bank, young lady. Just because I'm Clifford Reginald doesn't mean I can have whatever I want at the snap of my fingers or by a phone call,” Clifford stated.

Talia swallowed, her throat felt like heavy lumps had grown on it. “So . . . you are saying you can't help?” Tears were threatening to rush out of her eyes.

Clifford got up and went to sit on the edge of the desk, close to her. “Talia, I'm a businessman. You have to give me a reason why I should lend you that money.”

“Well, for one . . . you are my father's best friend, and the Godfather to my brothers and I. Isn't that enough reason?” Talia asked

“No, Talia. It isn’t. I don't mix family with business. If I had done that, then I wouldn't have been able to accumulate all these riches,” He said.

“Okay, Uncle. I understand, but,” She got off the seat and dropped to her knees. “ What can I bargain with? What should I do?" The tears had already started pouring down.

“You’re nineteen right?” He studied her.

“Yes. I will be twenty in few weeks. I can multitask, work numerous jobs. I don’t get tired easily so please . . . please tell me what I can do,” Her eyes and heart hurt so much.

“Have you slept with a man before? You know, had s*x? Are you a virgin?”

Talia’s teary eyes widened. Her hurting heart raced. This question was inappropriate in every sense of the word.

“Uncle Cliff, what does my virginity have to do with you helping me?”

“Just answer the question, Talia,” He said.

As much as she didn’t want to, she answered. “Yes, I'm a virgin.”

Clifford smirked, watching her with burning lust. Talia noticed that look, but she shook it off. Uncle Clifford isn’t that kind of man, she told herself . “What? What is it?” Talia asked.

“ I know a way you can pay off all your debt and still take care of yourself and the triplets. Even better than the way your father took care of you.”

Talia watched him expectantly. “What . . .what way?”

“Be my woman.”

Her face dropped. “What . . .?”

Clifford joined her on his knees, holding up her chin and wiping off her tears. “You shouldn't be crying, Talia. It breaks me to see you like this. Be my woman and I promise you, everything you have ever wanted or needed will be yours,” He stared deeply into her eyes.

Talia slowly moved his hands off her chin and stood up. “This is a joke. Uncle Cliff, tell me that this is a joke.”

He got up too, attempting to go closer to her, but she stepped farther away from him. “Talia, I would give you the world. Everything, I mean, everything in this world,” He had moved closer to her again.

Talia spat on him, making sure to get saliva and mucus on his silly face.

“You should be ashamed of yourself! How could you ask such from me, Uncle Cliff? I never thought you to be that kind of man. I can't believe you are stooping low to this level. You are a disgusting human who doesn't deserve to be on this earth!” Her throat was getting hoarse from all the yelling and crying.

Clifford chuckled as He wiped the saliva and mucus off his face. “Well, that's my offer child. You either take it or leave my study,” His voice was unbelievably calm and Talia was so mad.

“Wow,” she scoffed. “Look how calm you are, after trying to lure your best friend’s teenage daughter into your disgusting bed under the guise of helping her. You’re an animal. A beast!”

“Look girl, I'm a very busy man, so stop wasting my time. Are you in or not?”

“Fvck you,” Talia threw all caution to the wind, flaunting her two middle fingers in his face. “I hope you burn in hell!” she turned on her heels and stormed out of his Study.

As she left ,Clifford picked up his phone to make a call. “Hi, this is Reginald, Clifford Reginald,” He said.

“Good day, Mr Reginald. How may we be of help?” The person asked.

“I'm interested in the Dempsey's property and I was wondering if I can purchase it as quickly as possible.”

“I'm sorry sir, but that property isn't on the market until a week's time.”

“What if I'm willing to give fifteen million dollars for it. Would you still ask me to come back in a week?” Clifford asked.

“Sir, that's . . . three times more than the value we are going for.”

“So are you selling or not?”

“Of course sir, right away. I will just get the papers ready.”

“Good, I will send my personal assistant over to get the papers. It was nice doing business with you,” He said and ended the call.

He stared at his door cold heartedly. “Talia, you don't know what's in for you. No one dares to insult me the way you did and go scot-free.”

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Talia was driving back home, still shocked and mostly disgusted by what Clifford said to her. She couldn't believe such a person was a friend to her father.

“Such a vile being,” she blurted out. “Ughhh, I hate men!” she slammed her hand on the steering. “I just have to put my faith in attorney Dwayne and hope he will be able to find a way out of this.”

She decided to drive around before going back home, to clear her head and get some fresh air. When she later arrived home, she saw a strange van in front of their lawn.

She parked her car and came down. Once she got to the entrance of their home, she saw several strange men placing tags on their property.

“What's going on here? Who are you guys? What are you people doing?” She asked, but none of the men responded.

“Am I a statue? You are on my freaking property. Someone answer me for goodness sake!” She yelled.

Jamal came down stairs crying. “Talia, Talia.” He called.

“Jamal, what's going on? Who are they? And why are you crying?” She asked.

“They said they are from the bank. I don't know what's going on, T.” He wailed.

She wiped his tears. “Go stay with your brothers, Jam. I promise I'm going to sort this out, don't worry about anything. I got this,” She assured him.

The moment Jamal turned his back, she whipped out her phone and called the bank to know what was going on.

“Hello,” The banker said.

“Hi, Talia Dempsey here. We spoke on the phone this morning about my father's loan situation and you said we had a week to pay off the loan.”

“Yes I did,”

“Then what's going on? Why are there men at my home putting on tags on our property and asking us to vacate the premises?” Talia asked fuming.

“Hold on, that doesn't seem right,” The banker said, going through her laptop . “Oh I'm sorry, Miss Talia. It seems your house was bought by an unknown person an hour ago. That is why those men are at your home at the moment.”

Unknown person? “But . . . but I thought we had a week?”

“I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do about it. This was a deal made by the higher ups, my hands are tied miss Talia.”

“Okay, who is the buyer? Maybe I can go talk to them and see if they change their mind,” Talia said, a tiny flame of hope rising in her heart.

“I'm sorry, we aren't allowed to disclose our clients information. Once again, I'm sorry Miss Talia,” the banker said and ended the call.

The world became a blur and Talia fell to the floor. The end was near. The suffering had started, and there was nothing she could do about it.