My Husband’s Debt Ended Up Being Paid by Me

That morning, Nora had a knot in her stomach that nothing would loosen. She had spent two weeks dreading this day, and now that it had finally arrived, her body felt as heavy as lead. She looked at the kitchen clock. Mid-morning already. She knew they would be coming for her within the hour, at most.

She couldn’t think about anything except the men who had lent her husband the money he owed. Twelve thousand dollars. An amount she couldn’t even say without her voice shaking.

Mateo must have been out of his mind the night he borrowed that kind of money, she thought.

He had always had a gambling problem, but he had never spent that much before crossing paths with those loan sharks, the ones who called themselves “The Hawks.” A group that worked the neighborhoods in the north of the city, far from where they lived, in an area no sensible person went into at night. There you could get robbed, or worse, if you were caught alone. Nora didn’t understand how Mateo had ended up mixed up with people like that.

Her husband liked to stop by the downtown casinos, but he never played much. Every Friday night he set himself a twenty-dollar limit, and he rarely broke it. That was the habit, and for years it had worked.

One night, about a month ago, Mateo was at the blackjack table when a very striking blonde came up to him and started flirting. She bought him a drink, he kept playing, and suddenly luck turned his way. His twenty dollars became a thousand in less than an hour. The woman, who was named Lena, disappeared for a while and came back with her boyfriend.

The guy, called Bruno, was a mountain of a man, broad as a door and taller than anyone else in the place. Lena had told him how well Mateo was doing, and Bruno came over curious, smiling, patting him on the shoulder like they were old friends. He bought him a couple of drinks. Mateo, emboldened by the alcohol and the winning streak, felt important.

Not long after, Bruno started putting down his own money on the table so Mateo could play for him. They won a few hands. Bruno kept laying down bills, more and more, trusting in someone else’s luck. Until luck turned and Mateo lost everything in one shot.

That was when the night went bad. Bruno demanded that Mateo pay back the money he’d lost, claiming it had been his fault for playing badly. They argued. And when Mateo tried to get into the car to drive home, Bruno and two of his friends were waiting for him in the parking lot.

They threatened him, took his wallet, and searched it for cash. They forced him to drive to the nearest ATM and withdraw everything he could. Fifteen hundred dollars, and they still wanted more. Before letting him go, Bruno used his phone to photograph Mateo’s ID, his address, and a photo of Nora that he kept in his wallet.

The next day, while Mateo was at work, Bruno and two of his men showed up at the house.

Nora was terrified when she let them in. She had no idea what they wanted. The conversation was short. Bruno only wanted his money, he said, and he made it very clear that he was going to get it one way or another.

She offered them her jewelry, but he wasn’t interested. He went to her purse and took out the hundred dollars she had been keeping for emergencies. Bruno took it without taking his eyes off her.

—Turn around —he ordered—. Slowly.

Nora obeyed, trembling, while he looked her over from head to toe. She was an attractive woman and she knew it: long blonde hair, a narrow waist, a well-kept figure despite the years. She must have been about thirty-four, Bruno guessed, and he held her gaze until she had to lower hers.

It was perfectly clear what the man was thinking, and that turned her stomach. She was wearing tight jeans and a dark T-shirt, nothing provocative, but she still felt naked under those eyes. After what felt like hours to her, Bruno finally spoke.

—Look —he said—, we’ll forget your husband’s whole debt if you agree to one condition.

Nora looked at the huge man standing in the middle of her living room and, with a broken voice, asked:

—What condition?

—I want you to spend a weekend with us, at our club. After that, your husband won’t owe me anything. Are we clear?

She opened her mouth but no words came out. Her hands were shaking. She thought of her children, of the house, of the bottomless hole Mateo had dragged them into. She thought of those men coming back at night. Finally, in a thin voice, she answered:

—All right. I’ll do whatever you want. And after this, my husband won’t owe you anything.

—Nothing —Bruno confirmed, and the two men behind him laughed under their breath.

He told her Lena would call her later that same week to give her a list of things to buy and tell her how she was supposed to dress the day they picked her up. As he was leaving, he stopped at the door and turned back.

—You have children, don’t you?

—Yes. Two. A boy and a girl —Nora replied.

Bruno came back over and stood just a hand’s breadth from her. He looked her straight in the eye.

—Are you on the pill?

—Yes —she answered, her throat dry.

—Give it to me.

Nora ran to the dining room, took the box out of her purse, and brought it to him. It was new; none of it was missing.

—I start taking it again tomorrow —she offered, almost pleading.

Bruno slipped the box into his jacket pocket after reading the name of the doctor who had prescribed it.

—You’re not taking these pills anymore. Understand?

—Yes —Nora replied, her eyes full of tears.

—I know this doctor. If I find out you called him to get another box, I’m coming back for my money. Do exactly what I tell you and don’t tell your husband anything about the pills. Understand?

—Yes —she repeated, on the verge of tears.

Bruno turned and walked out the door without saying anything else.

***

Lena called her a couple of days later. With a kind voice, almost friendly, as if she were talking about a girls’ outing, she dictated the list. High-heeled shoes with straps around the ankles. A short black skirt. A dark blouse. And other items that made Nora’s face burn just from writing them down. She closed the notebook and sat for a while in the kitchen, staring at the wall, thinking of nothing.

Three weeks passed. On Friday they would come for her. Her children would spend the weekend at a friend’s house; they wouldn’t see their mother leave dressed in a way they wouldn’t recognize. That morning, Nora started getting ready.

Mateo paced around the living room, head down, not daring to look at her. In the bedroom, she tugged the black skirt into place around her narrow waist. She had to sit on the bed to put on the heels; it took her a couple of minutes to fasten the thin straps around her ankles. Her hands weren’t working properly.

In the bathroom she painted her lips red, as they had instructed, and put on a dab of perfume. When she looked at herself in the full-length mirror, she could hardly recognize herself. She looked much younger than thirty-four. She looked like a single woman ready to go out looking for the night, not a mother about to pay a debt with her body.

She almost forgot. She took off her wedding ring, left it in the jewelry box, and closed the lid carefully, as if she were putting away something she would not be using again for a long time.

She gave herself one last look, switched off the light, and walked to the living room, where Mateo was still pacing nervously. He looked up, gave his wife a long look, and let out a sigh that meant nothing.

Nora picked up her bag from the table and sat on the sofa to wait. Mateo settled beside her and rested his hand on her knee.

—Honey... I’m so sorry you have to do this.

She pulled his hand away without looking at him.

—Mateo. Shut up and leave me alone, please.

She was furious. Furious because he had allowed it, because if he hadn’t gone into the casino that night, neither that one nor any other, they wouldn’t be in this hole. He had already sworn to her he would never gamble again. Whether he kept that promise remained to be seen.

Outside, they heard a car door slam, and a little later there were knocks at the front door. Nora got up and opened it. A woman was smiling on the porch.

—I’m Lena. You must be Nora.

She gave the faintest smile and let her in. Lena looked at Mateo, still slumped on the sofa, and then turned back to Nora.

—Ready?

Nora nodded and took her bag, looking at her husband one last time. Lena put a hand on the bag.

—Are you bringing your phone?

—Yes. I want to take it with me.

—All right —Lena said, looking at Mateo with a crooked smile—. You can take it.

Then she turned to him, never losing the smile.

—Stay close to the phone. Your wife is going to call you pretty often, to tell you in full detail what she’s doing and what they’re doing to her. That way you’ll suffer better.

As soon as the door closed, Mateo stood up and walked to the window. He watched his wife get into the car beside Lena and kept looking until the vehicle disappeared at the end of the street.

He would wait for the calls with his stomach in knots. He knew that when she came back, they would have to bring her, because she’d hardly be able to make it home on her own. What would happen during those hours, neither of them said out loud. But both of them imagined it, each in their own way, as the car drove north through the city.