Chapter 1
Madison Bryant sat at the slanted design desk and clutched her phone to her ear. Her fingers hurt from how hard she squeezed the phone as she tried to understand what her landlord, Gloria, said.
“What do you mean it says insufficient funds?” she whispered. She hoped none of her fellow interns had heard what she said. Her eyes darted around the room. No one was looked except for her friend Sabrina whose face was a question. Madison shook her head and angled her chair towards a corner in the large open space.
“I tried it several times and it wouldn’t go through. Maybe you hit your limit?”
Madison’s landlady was so sweet, but she didn’t take any mess and no matter that she was the granny to several grandkids, she wouldn’t think twice to enforce her renters’ rules. She didn’t bend them for anyone.
“It’s set up to come straight from my account and I’m sure this is just amisunderstanding. I’ll call the bank and have them fix it.” This didn’t make sense.
“That’s what I figured,” Gloria said in a kind voice. “You’ve never been late before and haven’t caused me any trouble. As long as you get it fixed today, I won’t charge you the two-hundred-dollar late fee.”
“Great. Thanks.” She hung up and looked around the room again. She got a few strange looks, but she tried not to pay them too much attention. She couldn’t leave to call the bank now as the head of HR at the fashion house would come around to tell who was in the top four and would move to the final round.
Madison knew she did good work. She was consistent and placed in the top three for all the projects she had completed so far and was sure one of those spots was hers. But if she left now, they would give it to another. They had let interns go for smaller infractions. Anastazia’s House of Fashion looked for the best of the best and those who wanted it the most, and she did. Lucky for her, today was the last day of the internship and the workday was close to the end.
She pushed the bank app on her phone to check the balance and would have fallen down if she had not been already seated. Her account had been drained. This had to be a glitch. She had painstakingly saved enough money to cover her with an extra cushion and now it was all gone.
Madison chanced another look around the open concept room and then dashed to the bathroom in the hallway. The bank would be closed when she got out and she needed to call now if she was to get this sorted. She hoped it wouldn’t take long, but she’d sooner have her fellow interns think she was stuck on the potty, then to have to pay the two-hundred-dollar late fee if she had to wait until tomorrow.
She pulled up the notifications on her phone. She kept it on do not disturb when she was at work. It was clear, someone had accessed her account.
Madison waited to be connected to a live person. “Hello, this is Madison Bryant. I’m calling because I believe there was a mistake made to my account as I didn’t withdraw nor authorize anyone else to remove funds from my account.”
“I see, let me collect some quick information to verify the account and then I should be able to help you,” the bank associate said.
“Ok, great.” Madison’s shoulders drooped as she gave them the needed information. They would get things sorted, and the money would go back to her account and if she was lucky, she would be able to avoid the two-hundred-dollar late fee.
“Ok, I found your account right here. And it looks like you have a joint account, and it was this person that removed the funds.”
“Shared with who? Oh, my dad. But he would never take out money. He only put things in.” He hadn’t put much in since his stroke when he could no longer work. Her dad had set up the account for her so that he could give her money that her mother wouldn’t have access to. Her mother wasn’t even to know.
“It looks like it wasn’t your dad. There’s a note in your file. Someone came in with a Power of Attorney for your dad and it looked like it was verified by the bank manager and the money was taken. It looks like it was for an Elaine Bryant. Do you know them?”
“That’s my mom.”
“Oh well, then there you have it, the POA gave her access to the account and she used it,” the bank associate said.
Madison ended the call with a nasty taste in her mouth and a stomach that was twisted and turned like it was up for an award against a hurricane.
The call had left her ripped apart at the seams. Her mother had gotten around the setup her dad had in place and used his stroke to get access to Madison’s money. She could just imagine her mom’s face when she got the money. How had she even found out?
How was she to come up with the now fourteen hundred dollars she would need, because there was no way she would be able to drop it off today.
She knew one way to make the money, but she didn’t have any stripping gigs lined up. She had taken a break to focus on her internship and hadn’t needed extra money since she had her savings to cover her.
None of the places she worked would take on a last-minute extra. They had their schedule set weeks in advance. She could get in if she subbed for someone, but if they were on the schedule they were sure to have gotten someone to cover their shift by now.
Madison pushed out of the bathroom, her head low, and stumbled back to her design station. There was no way anyone would switch with her since she didn’t have any gigs scheduled. Even though today was the last day of the internship, she had worked hard. With early starts and late finishes she looked forward to a week off.
Her butt had just hit the seat when the head of HR, Kristy Washington, came by. Everyone looked like eager prairie dogs, all at attention on the edge of their seat, and Madison was no exception.
“We are so lucky to have you all here at Anastazia Stewart’s House of Fashion. As you know there are twelve of you, but only four will go to the last round. You all did excellent work, but there were four who stood out and will move to the next round.” She looked around the room and took a deep sigh. “No need to drag it out.” She took a manila folder from under her arm and opened it up.
If possible, Madison slid even farther to the edge of her seat. At this point, she was in a chair sit without the chair. Her body tingled at the chance that they called her name, but it was dampened by the heavy weight on her shoulders. What could she do to cover her rent?
“The top four are Madison Bryant, Kara Ward, Sebastian Mason, and Sabrina Anderson. These are in order in case you are interested. We will pick the top candidate at the fashion show, after the designs have had a chance to walk the runway.” She closed the file. “As you can guess this is a big occasion and opportunity to further your career. You have three months to come up with and execute your designs to be worn at the show. Each of you will be assigned a model and be able to take measurements. Congratulations.”
