###Chapter 25: No Different From Being Forsaken
If she didn’t agree, Zachary Hawthorne wouldn’t help her, even though the sum was a drop in the bucket for him.
But Nina Wainwright also understood that he had no obligation to pay the money.
It was just that if the debt wasn’t repaid, those people would surely find other ways to pressure her.
After hearing her out, Adrian Pemberton couldn’t help but sigh. "I really thought he’d help you this once. If it’s no good, just use my money to pay it off. It’s getting hard to explain things at the hospital, too."
"Unless it’s the absolute last resort, I won’t use your money. Adrian, it’s not that I don’t want to, but I want to protect you, too." Nina Wainwright’s tone was incredibly sincere. She saw Adrian Pemberton as a brother and certainly didn’t want him to get fired from the hospital over her problems.
She had always been well aware of Zachary Hawthorne’s methods.
When Adrian Pemberton heard this, a small smile touched his lips. "I get it. So, what will you do now?"
"My main focus is still on finding a job." After Silas Sinclair’s advice, Nina now knew how to handle things.
She urged Adrian Pemberton to get his wound treated, then entered the hospital room.
The moment she closed the door, Mrs. Wainwright rushed forward and slapped her hard across the face. "Zachary Hawthorne was here! Why didn’t you make him pay the money back for you?! Do you want your father and me to live or not?!"
The slap left Nina’s mind reeling, and for a moment, she couldn’t react.
"You’re such an ungrateful daughter! Your husband is so rich, yet you won’t lift a finger to help your dad! Have you no conscience, making me live in fear every day?!" Mrs. Wainwright continued to rail at her.
Nina thought of Diana Aldridge.
She had given so much to her family, only to be utterly abandoned by them when she got pregnant.
’Some people bring about disastrous consequences through their own insatiable greed, yet they blame others for not giving them enough money or for not supporting them properly...’
Her eyes red, Nina stared at her mother. "Every time they come to collect the debt, who’s the one outside dealing with them? What can you do besides hide?!"
A wave of indignation washed over her. She had been so desperate out there, yet her own mother had shown no intention of coming out to help.
Struck speechless by the outburst, Mrs. Wainwright could only stare at her.
Nina pressed on, "What have you done? You couldn’t come up with the one hundred thousand for the surgery fee, and you expect me to pay for your meals here. You’ve been with Dad all these years, Zachary invested tens of millions in the family, yet you don’t have a single cent. What right do you have to scold me?!"
"But he’s your father, and Zachary is our son-in-law..."
"Not for long! I’m going to divorce him. This two million, we have to pay it back ourselves. If there’s no other way, we’ll sell the house!" Nina said furiously.
Nina never knew she had such a hostile side to her.
Her chaotic life had made it impossible to maintain her former composure.
"You can’t sell the house! If you sell the house, where will we live!" Mrs. Wainwright cried.
"Dad still hasn’t woken up, the hospital needs money, the debt collectors want money! Other than selling the house, tell me, what other option is there? Don’t even think about Zachary giving us money. The person Zachary hates most is our family, latched onto him and sucking him dry like vampires. He invested tens of millions, and Dad lost it all! Why did he insist on starting a company? Why did he have to take out a bridge loan?!" Nina demanded, her voice spiraling out of control.
"You’ll listen to me now, whether you want to or not. It’s because you and Dad wouldn’t listen to me that we’ve fallen this far! Now we have to grovel for a measly two million and beg him over the phone for a hundred-thousand-dollar surgery fee!" With that, she turned and left.
She ran out of the hospital in one go, gasping for breath.
She never dreamed that after being mocked by Zachary and while under the pressure of the debt, her own mother would greet her with a slap.
She squatted by the entrance for a while. Just as she got up, her vision suddenly went black...
As she fell, she vaguely heard someone call her name.
When she next awoke, Nina Wainwright found herself in Avelon Residence.
The familiar bedroom left her disoriented for a moment, as if she had returned to a time before her marriage to Zachary Hawthorne had devolved into constant arguments, a time when she didn’t yet know of Luna Sterling’s place in his heart.
"Awake?" Zachary Hawthorne’s voice suddenly sounded from the bedside.
Nina jumped, turning her head to see the man’s indifferent face. The sight jolted her from her daze and memories.
The past three years had been nothing but an illusion... A bitter sorrow welled up inside Nina.
’She had been lost in a three-year dream, and now it was time to wake up for good.’
"Get up and have something to eat," Zachary Hawthorne said, reaching over to lift a clay pot from a small electric burner.
Nina struggled to sit up, her voice a little hoarse. "What happened to me?"
"You just starved yourself until you passed out," Zachary Hawthorne said, his voice laced with mockery.
Nina’s face instantly flushed with embarrassment.
She got out of bed and sat down at the table.
The congee in the pot was still hot, and it smelled fragrant.
She saw that the sky outside hadn’t darkened yet, so she picked up her spoon and asked Zachary Hawthorne, "You didn’t go to the office?"
"What’s with all the questions?" Zachary Hawthorne leaned back in his chair, his brow tightly furrowed.
Nina didn’t say another word, simply lowering her gaze and slowly eating her congee.
"Who hit your face?" Zachary suddenly asked when she was halfway through her meal.
Nina reached up and touched her cheek. It was still tender. "I bumped into it," she said in a low voice. "No one hit me."
Zachary Hawthorne scoffed but didn’t press the matter.
After finishing the congee, Nina finally felt a little better. "Thank you. I need to go to the hospital now."
"Is the wound on your abdomen not healed yet?" Zachary said, grabbing her.
Caught off guard, Nina landed right in his lap.
His thigh was firm and warm beneath her.
Nina’s cheeks flushed, and she struggled to get up. "It’s much better today. Let me go!"
Zachary frowned and pushed her shirt up. "Don’t move!"
With her shirt bunched up to her chest, she felt her heart swell with shame. "I’m really okay."
Zachary’s fingers pressed against the scabbed-over wound. He looked up, a wicked glint in his eyes. "You’re right, it does seem fine. No wonder you’ve been running all over the place."
Her face bright red, Nina tugged at her shirt, trying to cover her exposed skin. "I have to get back to the hospital."
"In such a hurry to get to the hospital? Is it because your childhood sweetheart got hit, and you’re worried about him?" he asked with a sneer.
Nina then realized he had no idea that Raymond Wainwright was in the hospital. ’Then again,’ she thought, ’he dislikes my father and mother. He couldn’t care less if they live or die.’
"Why do you care? Aren’t you only at the hospital for someone else, too!" Nina shoved him and scrambled off his lap.
"Nina, do I have to lose my temper for you to remember your place?" Zachary asked coldly.
Nina spun around to face him. "What did I do to provoke you now? You’re the one who made baseless accusations first!"
Her temper flared even faster than his.
Displeasure flickered in Zachary’s eyes. He stared at her for a long moment before reining in his temper. "I haven’t had dinner yet. After I’m done, you can go wherever you want."
’There’s really something wrong with him,’ Nina thought. ’Does he need someone to keep him company just to eat a meal?’
But considering he had just helped her out, she decided to stay.*****