###Chapter 12: Backed into a Corner
Nina Wainwright’s hand trembled, and the water bottle fell to the floor.
She crouched down, picked it up, and asked in a panicked tone, "They’re not causing a scene at the hospital, are they?"
"I’m trying to negotiate with them, but your mother is crying so loudly that it’s disturbing a lot of people. Nothing I say seems to help," Adrian Pemberton said helplessly.
Nina had no choice but to take a car to the hospital.
Winter had clearly arrived, but by the ti Nina ran into the hospital, her forehead was already beaded with sweat.
Raymond Wainwright’s room was packed with people.
There were doctors, nurses, and people dressed like laborers.
Nina squeezed her way in and heard Mrs. Wainwright crying, "Our family really has no money! You can go find Zachary Hawthorne! Zachary Hawthorne is my son-in-law, and he’s rich! Two million is just pocket change to him!"
These words made Nina flush with sha.
She rushed over, pulled Mrs. Wainwright up from the floor, and said furiously, "Mom, what nonsense are you spouting!"
Mrs. Wainwright sobbed, "You don’t care about us at all! You’re trying to drive your father and to our graves!"
’You’re the ones driving ** to my grave.’
’They borrowed money without telling , and now that the debt collectors are at the door, they think it’s my fault for not helping?’
The man in the lead stepped forward and sized Nina up. "You’re Raymond Wainwright’s daughter?"
Nina just nodded.
With a loud THUD, the man in the lead dropped to his knees on the floor, and the others knelt down as well.
"Please, I’m begging your family to pay back the money. When you borrowed it, you said you’d pay it back in a month, but you didn’t. I don’t know anything about this ’bridge loan’ you ntioned. All I know is that this is our hard-earned money...
Now the boss who issued the loan has skipped town, and we can’t even get our principal back!
Miss, I know your family doesn’t have the interest, but can you at least return the principal to us?"
"Yeah, we were tricked into investing our money too... If your family doesn’t pay up, what are people like us supposed to do? We have elders to support and children to feed!"
Adrian Pemberton’s brow furrowed tightly.
The boss behind this bridge loan was smart, getting a bunch of investors who had been duped themselves to co collect the debt.
If this money wasn’t returned, Nina would be the subject of gossip and pointing fingers everywhere she went in the hospital.
"Didn’t they say your husband is rich? Why don’t you call him? We’re not asking for much, just pay back the two million principal, and that’ll be the end of it, right?" the man in the lead continued.
"That’s right, my daughter is about to start college. If your family doesn’t pay us back, she won’t even be able to afford tuition. You’re a young woman too, you know how important it is for a girl to go to college these days to have a good future. Please, have a heart..."
Everyone started talking at once.
Nina, cornered, began to tremble. She wanted to retreat but found there was nowhere to go.
Forget two million; she couldn’t even co up with twenty thousand right now.
Seeing her pale face and the fine beads of sweat on her forehead, Adrian Pemberton couldn’t help but say, "Everyone, her father is in the hospital because of you debt collectors. It’s cost her a lot of money, and she’s struggling just to get by. Why don’t you give her a little more ti?"
"I’m already looking for a job..." Nina said in a low voice.
When one of the n heard this, he imdiately burst into tears.
The crowd gathered by the door and window of the hospital room all turned to look at him.
The man had salt-and-pepper hair, and his dark, swarthy face was etched with wrinkles.
He covered his face and cried, "I had no idea this investnt would turn out like this. My wife is in the hospital too, needing surgery. I’m truly at the end of my rope. I can’t borrow money from anyone. You have a father to save, but doesn’t my wife need saving too?"
His tears moved many in the crowd.
"Isn’t she a deadbeat? Dressed so nicely, all bright and glamorous. She doesn’t look like she’s broke..."
"Didn’t they say her husband is Zachary Hawthorne? That super-rich guy."
The crowd murmured amongst themselves.
"No, he’s not my husband," Nina explained.
Mrs. Wainwright was about to speak, but then she rembered that Nina’s marriage to him was a secret, so she held her tongue.
"She has to find a way to pay them back. Those people are waiting for that money to save lives!" soone said.
"Borrowers are the kings these days. Dressed so well, yet claiming to have no money... I see how it is. She just doesn’t want to pay it back!"
a bystander sneered.
Seeing Nina looking helplessly at the crowd, Adrian Pemberton spoke up again, "Uncles, could you please give her a few days to raise the money?"
The nurses also ca forward and told them, "Blocking the way here won’t solve anything. If you want her to pay you back, you have to give her so ti."
Adrian Pemberton walked up to the lead man and said gently, "Why don’t you leave her your contact information? As soon as she raises the money, she’ll call you right away. If she doesn’t call you within a week, you can co to the hospital and find , how about that?"
The man looked up at Adrian Pemberton, saw his sincere expression, and finally stood up.
After seeing the group off, Adrian Pemberton turned to the pale-faced Nina and said, "This isn’t your fault. You really don’t need to bla yourself."
Nina glanced at Mrs. Wainwright, who was cowering with her head down and saying nothing, then turned and walked out.
Adrian Pemberton followed her out of the room.
Just as Nina was about to thank him, she suddenly saw Zachary Hawthorne standing not far away.
He stood at the door of a hospital room, his arms crossed over his chest.
Beside him, Silas Sinclair was talking to a doctor.
Sensing Nina’s gaze, he glanced at her from a distance, his eyes filled with mockery.
Just as Nina was about to leave, two people walked out of another room, eyeing him and whispering.
"Hey, isn’t that Zachary Hawthorne? From the wealthiest family in the city. Didn’t Nina Wainwright’s mother just say he was her son-in-law? And told the debt collectors to get the money from him."
"That’s him, he’s in the news all the ti, I rember clearly. How could a man like him ever be interested in the daughter of a deadbeat?"
Nina could hear them, and so could Zachary Hawthorne.
The words made her want to crawl into a hole. She quickly turned away.
She said to Adrian Pemberton, "Let’s go. I need to talk to you."
Adrian Pemberton glanced at Zachary Hawthorne, a speculative look in his eyes.
The two of them went to the stairwell, and Nina asked, "That job you ntioned... what kind of work is it?"
"It’s a tutoring job. A mother I know wants her daughter to learn to dance and is looking for a dedicated teacher to train her. I thought you’d be a great fit," Adrian Pemberton said. "Don’t worry about the pay. It’s five hundred an hour, and she needs you for three hours a day."
Nina was tempted but still worried. "Are the requirents high? My academic credentials aren’t great..."
"You just need to perform a piece for the mother. She used to be a dancer herself, but she can no longer perform after injuring her leg in an accident. Her daughter can be a bit of a handful, though, so it might take so ti," Adrian Pemberton said gently.
"That’s no problem. If everything is okay on your end, I can start anyti." Nina had never raised a child, though she once dread of having one with Zachary Hawthorne.
But Zachary Hawthorne either used a condom or made her take the pill every ti. He had never wanted to have a child with her.
Her hope had turned to disappointnt, and now, she no longer thought about it.
Teaching another person’s child could be a way to fulfill her dream of raising one of her own.
"I’ll take you to et her this afternoon." Adrian Pemberton reached out and patted her shoulder. "No matter how difficult the problem, it can be solved step by step. But you need to have a strong heart."
Nina nodded.
Neither of them noticed Zachary Hawthorne watching them from a distance, a cold sneer playing on his lips.
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