Never Truly Over Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Thinking it might be Cameron, Quinn answered the call without hesitation. "Hello."

"Quinn, it's Dad." A raspy, familiar voice sounded from the other end.

Quinn's heart clenched at the word "Dad," a mixture of emotions washing over her. It had been over a year since she had moved to Xenvale for work, and this was the first time James had called.

"What do you want?" she asked, her voice trembling despite her efforts to stay calm.

James began, "Quinn, honey, how are you? I heard you found a great job—"

Suddenly, a gruff voice cut him off. "Enough chit-chat! Give me the phone. Hello, you must be James's daughter, right? Listen up, girl. Your old man owes us half a million dollars. If you're smart, you'll bring the cash. Otherwise, he might not live to see tomorrow."

Quinn's fleeting joy at hearing from her father vanished instantly, replaced by a crushing sense of despair. After all these years, nothing had changed. She had been naive to think James might actually care about her well-being.

"You have the wrong number. I'm not his daughter. I don't have a father like that!" Quinn spat, her body trembling with rage.

The man on the other end exploded with rage. "What? James, you lying piece of shit! How dare you lie to me! You must have a death wish!"

Soon, the sound of a scuffle and James's groans filled the line. Then, James could be heard pleading, "Stop! Please, don't hit me! Let me talk to her!"

After a moment, James's voice returned, trembling and weak. "Quinn, please don't abandon me. They'll kill me if you don't help me!"

"Help you? Where were you when Simon was sick and almost died? You didn't even show up. And now, just because you're in trouble, you think you can come crawling back to us? Life doesn't work that way!" Quinn's voice shook with anger, and tears streamed down her face as she poured out her resentment.

James begged, his voice cracking, "Quinn, sweetie, I'm sorry for everything. I know I messed up. I swear, this is the last time! Just this once, please. You don't want me to die, do you?"

Quinn's resolve weakened. Despite everything, she could not bring herself to let her father die. "I don't have that kind of money. Where am I supposed to get half a million dollars?"

"You'll figure something out; you always do. You found the money for Simon's kidney transplant, didn't you? I know you can do it. Please, I'm counting on you—" James was cut off again as the other man grabbed the phone.

"Listen up, little girl. Half a million, two days. If you don't deliver, start planning for his funeral."

The line went dead, leaving Quinn shocked and her mind buzzing. Half a million dollars was a large sum, and she wondered desperately how she was going to get that much money in such a short time.

Meanwhile, in Yatran, Cameron sat behind his desk at Imperial Group's headquarters, sifting through the paperwork accumulated during his absence. Later, Harry entered the office, placing a folder in front of him.

"Mr. Sutton, the project team has completed the Moon Island proposal. It's ready for your review."

Changes Made:

• Corrected punctuation (commas, apostrophes, hyphens, quotation marks).
• Improved sentence structure for clarity and flow.
• Corrected inconsistencies in capitalization.
• Removed unnecessary word repetition ("Chapter 22" was likely a mistake).
• Addressed grammatical errors.

The narrative is now much smoother and easier to read.