The Hottie Billionaire Series: Romancing A Banking Magnate (The Billionaire Meets The Damsel In Distress) (4 page)

She never thought that her ever
responsible father would turn out to be a drunkard and a gambler,
and worse, a lenient head of the family, by dipping them in
debt just to sustain his vices. She was told that her father would
usually splurge hundreds of thousands of pesos from his gambling
and cockfighting habits, that he lost significant amounts of money
for the last two years.

She thought that they were already
recovering from her mother’s sudden death, but here they were now,
facing another storm in their lives.

Then, they started receiving letters
from the bank. That was when she realized that her father was
already deeply entangled in his bad habits, that he had spent
millions of pesos just to indulge his vices, that he loaned their
farm in the bank just so he could support his gambling and alcohol
addiction.

She was shaken by the realization. She
knew that her father was problematic, that he was dealing with a
dilemma that was hard to fight, but he just couldn’t do this to
them – betray her and Brenda, and put the family’s future in
jeopardy.

She bravely confronted her father one
day, but she couldn’t talk to him properly as he was always drunk.
If he was trying to hide his drinking habits from them before,
lately, he wasn’t anymore. He already would drink in the open, even
if his children were at home.

She knew something was bothering him.
He would show desperation everytime a letter from the bank would
arrive. Of course, he was the only one who knew the severity of
their financial crisis, and it was his own undoing.

For the sake of their family and their
future, she dared to have a heart-to-heart talk with her father.
She was angry that he had been gambling and drinking for the past
two years. She wanted to berate him for the bad person he had
become, but when he started confessing to her, telling her how he
had been miserable after the death of his wife, her anger
melted.

She couldn’t help but pity her father.
That was how she realized the extent of the effects of her mother’s
death to him. He died, too, along with her. He suffered from trauma
and devastating depression, critical factors why he turned to
drinking and gambling.

She felt so sorry for her father’s
misery. She, too, was deeply saddened by the untimely passing of
her mother. She had been crying for months after her death, but she
had realized that life must go on. She wouldn’t forget her mother,
of course. She would forever be dear in her heart, but she had her
own life to live. So she focused her attention to her
studies.

And in her pursuit to please her
mother, wherever she was, she studied diligently. But she was just
so sorry that by doing so, she had unintentionally neglected her
own father. She wasn’t there to help him get through the tragic
loss of her mother. She didn’t help him recover. She didn’t share
his pain, misery, and regrets.

And she felt guilty. Maybe, if she had
been there for her father during the crucial moments of his
struggles, he wouldn’t turn to alcohol and gambling. He would have
someone to be with him, to share his struggles, and someone who
would lift his down spirit. Maybe that way, they wouldn’t have this
kind of financial dilemma right now. Most of all, his father
wouldn’t suffer from a stroke and fight for his life. Oh, if she
could just turn back time!

Her tears streamed profusely, drowning
the glow of hope in her eyes. The fear that she would lose her
father any time was haunting her. She was slowly getting desperate,
but she knew that she had to remain strong. Someone should stand
for her family, and fight for them. And she had to do that. She was
the eldest child. It was her responsibility to take good care of
her family now that her father was on the brink of
death.

She composed herself. She wiped her
tears that were abundantly spilling from her grief-stricken eyes.
She stopped herself from crying. There were important things she
needed to do aside from crying a river of tears.

She had to remain strong. Her father
and her sister were now depending on her. What would happen to them
if she would let devastation wreck her? No, she would never succumb
to devastation. She would never surrender. She would fight for her
family. She would fight for her father. She would do her best to
keep him alive!

“
Pa…” She reached for his
hand. She held his limp hand very gently, with full of love. “Don’t
give up, please…” her hoarse voice sounded begging. “We still need
you here. Don’t leave us yet. Don’t be with Mama yet…” She choked a
sob. The dreadful thought scared her big time.

“
Please… hold on, Pa.
Brenda and I love you so much. You’re the only one we’ve got. I
can’t afford to lose you, you know that. Please... I won’t bear it.
Papa…” Her eyes stung once more, and tears started to well again.
“Please fight for me… for Brenda... We love you so much, Papa… We
care for you… We really do…” She choked another despondent sob. “We
love you, and we need you. Please stay alive… for us…”

How she wanted to touch her father’s
face, but he had an oxygen mask. His head was carefully wrapped in
a bandage. And her heart bled at the sight of him. It was painful
to look at her father when she knew that he was fighting for his
life.

But aside from her father’s medical
condition, they still had another big, pressing problem. There was
their farm, which was facing foreclosure from the bank. Like her
father, the farm was also important to them. That was their source
of livelihood. If it would be sequestered by the bank, where would
they get money if ever? What would be left of them? She couldn’t
even answer the question herself. The farm was something that all
of them couldn’t afford to lose. Without it, they would all be
thrown in a stinky dumpster.

She knew that her strength
would really be tested during these hard times, but she
wouldn’t buckle. That was for sure. She would fight to the very
end, as long as she had her family by her side. She would try to
find ways to provide solutions to their immense problems. But
how?

She sighed desperately. She needed to
think fast, before everything would be too late!

“
I will do everything,
Papa,” she fervently whispered. “I will do everything to fix the
mess that we are now in. Just promise me that you’ll hold on, that
you’ll fight with us. Be strong, and please, hang on to your dear
life. You are my strength, please know that. If you’ll leave us,
too, just like what Mama did, I won’t bear it… We won’t bear
it…”

Her chest constricted. Devastation was
starting to crawl in her heart again, but she instantly threw it
away. She didn’t need that in her life. All she needed was the
strength and the will to fight. This was just another trial that
they would surely recover from. This, too, would pass.

She kissed her father's hand lovingly.
“I’ll go in the meantime, but I’ll be back the soonest. I just have
to do something very important. This is for us, Papa. For us.” She
held his hand again, and after a brief moment, she stood up. “See
you later, Pa.” She tenderly kissed her father goodbye, and walked
to the door, leaving him in the ICU.

She was walking in the hallway of the
hospital when she called Brenda. She instructed her to go to the
hospital after she was done packing some of the things that they
would need in the hospital. She told her sister that she had to
attend to their father because she had to leave to do something
very important.

She would go to her godfather,
Christopher Maraullo, to ask for help. Maybe he could lend her some
money that she could use to pay off their debt to the bank. That
was her initial plan. She would resort to plan B, if plan A fails.
And then plan C, and so on, and so forth. She would gladly use all
the letters in the alphabet if she needed to.

She was also thinking about postponing
her studies, and to find work instead. She needed a source of
income, especially during these troubled times. And she couldn’t
think of anything else, but find a decent job.

She needed to think of other
alternatives, too, that she could exploit. She had some rich
friends, but she knew that she couldn’t really borrow big amounts
from them, though she could try.

Ah… she really had to exhaust her
options. The bigger amount of money she could raise, the
better.

As far as she knew, his father’s debt
already amounted to a staggering five million pesos. She had no
effing idea how to raise such big amount of money, especially now
that her father had depleted the balance in their primary bank
account.

But she wasn’t losing hope. Maybe
somewhere, somehow, a solution was waiting for her. She just had to
find it. But right now, she could only turn to God.

Lord, please… give me
miracles!
 she murmured and
sighed.

Yes, that was what she really needed.
Miracles! A lot of them!

Chapter 4

“
I am so sorry, hija, but
this is just what
I can lend
you. 
You know, business is not really
doing well at this point. Pardon my limited help.” Christopher
Maraulo, her godfather, was apologetic when he signed the
check.

But she could only sigh in relief. At
least, he was lending her some amount. And that was more than
enough.

“
Thank you, ninong!” She
was emotional when she accepted the check he handed her. Her eyes
shone with gratitude. “This is already a big help…” She looked at
the check with a written amount amounting to six hundred fifty
thousand pesos. It already meant a lot to her. Six hundred fifty
thousand pesos. It was way better than receiving
nothing.

She brought the check to her chest as
she closed her eyes, trying to contain her emotions. Her eyes were
stung with tears when she looked at her godfather. “Thank you very
much, Ninong Chris. Don’t worry, I’ll pay you the second I have the
money-”

“
Please don’t think about
paying at this moment, Kat,” he interrupted. “You have a lot of
more important things to worry about than that. I won’t get back
the money sooner. You can take your time. I understand.”

Her eyes watered more. She was deeply
touched by her godfather’s concern. She was right. She could run to
him. He would never let her down.

“
I am so sorry about what
had happened to Ronaldo. I wish him a fast recovery. Regina and I
will go to the hospital for a visit one of these days.”

“
Thank you, really, Ninong
Christopher.” She couldn’t thank him enough. With teary eyes, she
hugged him. Gratitude was overflowing in her chest.

He was her only godparent. And she was
lucky to have him. Christopher Maraullo was one of the most
generous people she had ever met. In fact, every year, during her
birthdays and Christmases, she would always receive a gift from him
and his family.

“
You’re already like my
biological child, Katrina,” he answered her hug and comforted her.
“Your Ninang Regina and I will always be here for you, should you
need help.”

A sob escaped from her mouth. The
tears that she was trying to hold back slipped from her eyes. She
cried as she hugged him tight.

In the midst of the tribulation that
her family was facing right now, she was just so thankful that
there were people like her godfather who was there to lend them a
hand. And that was more than enough to nurture the tiny spring of
hope in her heart.

She should not feel helpless. She must
not feel hopeless. Whatever problems they were facing right now,
they could get past through it. They definitely would.

She went to her apartment after
talking to her godfather. Then, she called her friends in ADDU Law
School and told them about her ordeal. They didn’t disappoint her,
much to her relief. She was able to borrow a total of two hundred
fifty thousand pesos from her friends. Now, she was able to raise
nine hundred thousand pesos.

She checked her bank account. She had
half a million pesos as a remaining balance. But of course, she
couldn’t use the full amount to pay for her father’s debt because
they still had to pay for his hospital bills. She knew that they
would spend a considerable amount of money for her father’s
hospitalization, especially after his brain operation.

Brenda had money of her own, and she
would check if she could ask some amount from her sister. She had
to check their family’s several bank accounts, too. She was just
hoping that her father didn’t zero out the balance in their four,
family bank accounts.

She also had to sell their cars. Her
father’s Pajero, her Honda City and Brenda’s Mitsubishi Lancer. She
wasn’t sure if her sister would agree to her plan
though.

Five million pesos. She needed to
raise five million pesos in order to save their farm from
forfeiture. But what she had in her hands was not enough to cover
even half of the huge debt.

Don’t lose hope,
girl… 
she told
herself. 
You’re one brilliant woman,
and you can come up with a solution to any problem. Just stay
focused! And think hard!

Positive thinking…
positive thinking…
she was repeating that
in her mind like a passionate mantra. And it helped her a lot. It
gave her assurance that she really could find ways to fix her
family’s dilemma.