###Chapter 71: Go Beg Him
"Your mother is talking to you," Raymond Wainwright reminded her.
"He won’t give any money. Don’t you rember what happened last ti with the two million? How they cornered us?" Nina Wainwright looked at Mrs. Wainwright, her eyes red-rimd. "If he were really willing to help, would things have ended up like that? Would you have been beaten? Would I have had to fight them off for so long?"
"Zachary Hawthorne is your husband! You’ve been with him for three years, and your marriage isn’t even public. At first, he knew enough to compensate us with money, but now look at him, completely turning his back on us, hasn’t he?!" Raymond Wainwright put down his phone.
His words started to get to Nina. "In these three years, how much has he given you in total? Do you want to ask him to tally it up? You can be greedy, but not *this* greedy!"
"How am I greedy? Isn’t everything I do for you? I just made so bad investnts, that’s all! No matter how much he gave us, we’re still not much better off!" Raymond Wainwright said, fuming.
Nina fell silent.
To be fair, Raymond Wainwright had always been good to her. Her mother used to love shopping and buying luxury goods but rarely bought anything for her. It was always Raymond who would say, "Get one for her, too."
When she was little, she loved snacks, which Mrs. Wainwright disapproved of, but Raymond would always buy them for her in secret.
Compared to her mother, he doted on her more.
Nina didn’t know when he had slowly transford into this insatiably greedy person, his ambitions growing higher than the sky.
Thinking it over, she concluded it was because Zachary had given him too much money, which had inflated his ego.
"He and I are getting a divorce soon, so he won’t be giving us any more money. Your friend should find another investor," Nina said, her tone calm and steady now. "Dad, I’m trying my best to find a job. I told you, I’ll support you both."
"What kind of job can you possibly find? Starting a company and investing is the only way out... If you won’t borrow the money, I’ll go to his company and beg him myself once I’m better." Having gotten used to the good life, there was no way Raymond Wainwright would go back to how things were before.
Lately, not a single takeout al had cost more than a hundred yuan, and it was making him feel physically ill.
Nina frowned. "Can you please wake up? In just three years, your investnts have lost over fifty million. You’re just not cut out for business. Besides, you’ve already made things so difficult for with him. Can you please stop causing more trouble?"
"I’m going to beg him, not you!" Raymond Wainwright retorted.
Begging her used to work.
But after hearing from her mother that she couldn’t even get two million now, Raymond Wainwright understood: he couldn’t rely on her anymore.
He’d been thinking it over recently. Since Zachary was going to divorce Nina, he had to get one last paynt out of him to make sure he didn’t co out at a loss.
Nina didn’t say anything else. ’I’ll just talk to Zachary later,’ she thought, ’and tell him not to let my father into the company.’
After dark, Nina went out to buy them dinner.
She had just stepped out of the hospital entrance when she got a call from Zachary.
Answering the call, Nina asked calmly, "What is it?"
"I said I was coming ho for dinner. Where are you?" Zachary demanded, his voice tight with barely suppressed anger.
"I’m at the hospital with my dad. You go ahead and eat. I’ll be back later." She planned to head back after midnight; Zachary probably wouldn’t stay ho that long anyway.
Ever since Luna Sterling ca back, he spent most of his nights out with them at clubs.
It seed that as soon as Luna returned, he suddenly developed a host of new hobbies: playing cards at the club, throwing darts, shooting pool...
"Are you avoiding on purpose?" Zachary’s voice held a probing edge.
"Why would I be avoiding you? You eat dinner, get one phone call, and you’re gone. Do I really need to sit at ho waiting for you?" Nina shot back, her voice even.
Zachary sneered, "You didn’t try to stop from leaving."
The mont he said it, he regretted it.
Nina had tried to stop him at first, but he had rejected her pleas ti and ti again.
She had even threatened him with divorce.
"Forget it. If you’re not coming back, then don’t." After saying this, Zachary was about to hang up.
"My dad said he’s going to your company to find you after he’s discharged. You should tell security to turn him away if they see him," Nina instructed, hanging up before he could.
Clutching her phone, Nina stood there for a mont and gave a self-deprecating laugh.
When she had tried to make him stay, he would leave without a backward glance, thinking she was being dramatic.
Now that she had no interest in stopping him, he complained that she didn’t... He had said it all, the good and the bad. What was there for her to say?
Nina bought dinner and waited for Raymond Wainwright to finish eating and rest before she planned to head back.
It was almost ten o’clock by then.
Mrs. Wainwright walked her to the hospital entrance, unable to stop herself from pleading, "Nina, just talk to Zachary. This is the last ti, I promise. It’s just twenty million—"
"Will you ever stop?" Nina snapped, exasperated. "If you’re so capable, go get a loan from the bank yourselves! Stop treating him like an ATM, okay? And if that doesn’t work, get a job!"
Mrs. Wainwright pressed her lips together and sighed. "If you don’t go talk to him, your father will just go to a bridge lender again... You know how he is."
Nina’s face was cold as she looked at her mother. "If he borrows money this ti and they threaten to make him jump off a building, I won’t do a thing. Worst case, the three of us will just jump together!"
"Nina..." Mrs. Wainwright’s eyes were red, and her voice trembled. "Please, just beg him. If your dad can’t get the money, he’ll start going to those loan sharks again. People are really going to get killed."
"And what do you think you’re doing to right now? When do you ever co to for anything but money?!" A sharp, bitter feeling stung Nina’s nose as a wave of indignation washed over her.
’I have to maintain my dignity in front of Zachary, too.’
Just as Nina finished speaking, she caught soone watching them out of the corner of her eye.
She looked over and saw it was Caleb Ford.
Nina averted her gaze and said to Mrs. Wainwright, "I’m heading back now."
Seeing that a stranger was present, Mrs. Wainwright was too embarrassed to say more. She could only turn and head back to Raymond Wainwright’s hospital room.
Caleb Ford stared at Nina’s back until she was completely gone, then imdiately dialed a number.
When the call connected, he said softly, "I just overheard Nina arguing with so woman at the hospital. The woman was telling her to get money from Zach—twenty million, right off the bat."
"Zach will definitely say no... Should I lend a hand?" he asked the person on the phone with a smile.
"You got it. I’ll make sure it’s handled to your satisfaction." After hanging up, Caleb Ford’s lips curved into a smirk, and he too left the hospital.
When Nina got ho, she rembered the look in Caleb Ford’s eyes and felt a flush of humiliation.
Walking to the bedroom door, she pushed it open and couldn’t help but sigh.
The next second, she saw Zachary Hawthorne sitting on the bed, reading a book.
Her heart clenched involuntarily. She asked softly, "You didn’t go out?"
"Were you hoping I would?" Zachary put his book down, his tone laced with displeasure. "Did you get yourself checked out at the hospital?"
"No..." Nina said, walking toward the bathroom.
"Nina, we haven’t done it in a long ti," he said bluntly.
Nina swallowed hard, her body tensing up. "I... I’m not better yet."
"I know," Zachary said as he got out of bed.
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