CEO's Cat Lady [Complete]

Chapter 19

It was six in the morning and Amy really wanted to sleep for a few hours more. However, Beerus was already banging on her door and meowing loudly. She knew that her diva cat would not stop until she got up to feed him. With a sigh, she reluctantly opened her door where the familiar bald skin of her cat greeted her.

"Yeah, I know. Come on, let's get your breakfast, your majesty." She told her cat who followed excitedly at her heels. She wouldn't want to make her feline overlord wait.

She talked to Beerus like he was human. Curiously enough, whenever the cat was not in his usual destructive mode, he responds back as if he understood what she was telling him.

As she watched her cat eat the tuna on his feeding plate, she thought about her plans for the day. It was Saturday, and she had the rest of the day for herself. She figured her brother wouldn't be checking up on her today and she could finally do what she had been putting off for the whole week: getting a prenatal checkup. Now, this wouldn't be too easy. After all, there could be eyes watching her while the media was still interested in her. Luckily, most of them were about her alleged relationship with Trevor, so they mostly watched over at the hospital and not in her home.

The only problem she had now was finding a doctor who could keep her secret. The doctors at their hospital were out of question as they could divulge her secret to her older brother. She didn't know yet how to do that, but she wanted to sleep a bit more so that she could think better. She was walking back to her bedroom when she suddenly felt painful stomach cramps.

"Ahhh…." She clutched her abdomen and crumpled down to the floor. It felt like when she was having menstrual cramps, but much stronger.

She was prepared to wait off until the pain subsided when she felt warm liquid flowing down her thigh and staining the little shorts she wore to bed. Her heart pounded heart against her rib cage. What was happening to her? Was she dying?

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Chris stood outside the gate of Ms. Amy's house. Well, if the address that he got was real. It was located in a nice neighborhood, a decent suburb. It was not like the super exclusive village that he was expecting though. For a Ledesma, Ms. Amy chose a simple place to stay at. If he remembered right, it was actually typical of her. No one in the office suspected that Ms. Amy was a rich heiress since she never acted prissy at all.

Now, what to do next? He figured he came here so early; maybe the person he wanted to talk to was still sleeping. But then again, he chose this time since early mornings seem to be the time when the guards at the gatehouse of the village were less strict. In fact, when he drove his old car in, he didn't see anyone in there. The guards were probably on coffee break. It was just his luck as he was able to get in without being questioned about his intention for looking for the Ledesma heiress.

He was debating if he would stay inside his car and wait for Ms. Amy to wake up or he would get breakfast first and just come back later when it wasn't so early anymore when he saw a tall man approaching him.

"Excuse me. Bro, are you looking for someone?" The guy was suspicious and he couldn't blame him. He probably looked like a creepy thief as he observed Ms. Amy's house outside.

He chose to answer in a formal manner, just enough that he wouldn't seem threatening nor intimidated at all at the taller guy. Chris was taller than the average Filipino guy too at 6," but he must admit that it kind of made him feel conscious to look up at the person who was talking to him.

"Yes, I'm looking for Ms. Amy Ledesma. I was told this is where she resides." Chris showed the man the address that he had.

The taller man just glanced briefly at the piece of paper he was holding. With a crease in his forehead, he asked Chris: "Who are you and what do you need from her? Don't tell me you're from the media, because I sure as hell would be telling you to f**k off."

The harsh reply surprised Chris as the taller man actually had a nice, easygoing aura. But then again, he could have this guy getting the wrong idea, so he explained himself. "I'm from Onyx Publishing, Ms. Amy's former company before it was revealed that she was a Ledesma. I'm here to talk to her about an issue we had when she was still our HR Head."

Chris held up his hands. "Bro, I'm telling you the truth. I mean no harm to Ms. Amy."

The suspicion in the taller man's face did not lessen and he remained watching him with cautious eyes. Meanwhile, Chris did not waver at his intimidating stare and stood his ground. Some part of him was wondering if this man was Ms. Amy's bodyguard and it wouldn't surprise him if it turned out that way. This guy was just too protective of his former boss.

Their standoff was interrupted when the taller man's phone suddenly rang up. He fished it out of his pocket and answered it while still not looking away at Chris.

"Hello? Amy?"

Chris' ears perked up when he heard the taller guy utter his former boss's name. He listened intently to their conversation.

"Jensen. I-I'm bleeding. Can you please go inside? I can't stand up." The panic in Ms. Amy's voice could be heard out loud. "I keep the spare keys to my gate and front door under the flower pot in front of the gate. Please hurry!," she added.

Chris sensed the worry that appeared in the face of the man before him. There was something wrong with Ms. Amy; he knew it so he whispered to the man frantically. "Hey, what's wrong? What happened to Ms. Amy?"

The taller man did not respond to his query, but continued to talk to his former boss over the phone. "I'll go there now. Hang on, Amy."

Seeing that Ms. Amy's bodyguard had no desire to tell him what was happening, he just followed him to the gate as he got a hidden key under a pot and inside the gate, towards the locked doorstep. With another key, the tall man also opened it.

When the door opened, the scene was something that Chris was not expecting at all when he decided to go and apologize to Ms. Amy personally. There was the Ledesma heiress, slumped on the floor, with blood pooling underneath her. Chris immediately walked towards her, deep concern feeling his gut. However, he was pushed to the side the much taller guy called Jensen stepped in and rushed towards his former boss.

"Amy, I'll take you to the hospital now! Stay calm!"

The poor woman just nodded as it she was in too much pain to speak up. Chris desperately wanted to help, so he chimed in. "What can I do?"

Jensen picked up Ms. Amy bridal-style first before he answered him. "Lock up the house and take us to the hospital. I can't go back to my garage to get my own car at this rate."

"Alright!" Chris then moved to go out, but he was stopped when Jensen called out again.

"Don't forget to bring Amy's phone. We might need it!"

Chris didn't stop to think about how this Jensen was telling him orders; his mind was preoccupied with helping his former boss. He saw the phone on the floor and picked it up immediately. He then rushed out and locked the door securely. Jensen was already outside the gate and walking to the direction of his car so he rushed after them right away. If being Ms. Amy's ambulance driver was the way to properly apologize to her, then he would gladly do it.

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"Explain it to me now." Trevor's cold voice permeated throughout the car as he drove with Amy's brother sitting beside him on the passenger side.

Last night, when Arthur Ledesma told him over the phone that Amy's prospective suitor was a dangerous man, he asked right away why. However, the Ledesma clan leader refused to divulge him the information over the phone as it was not too secure. Though impatient, Trevor agreed as Arthur had a point.

Arthur was equally cold as he responded. "Jensen Del Rosario is from a long-time rival of the family. I consider it a big shortcoming of mine that he was able to get close to my sister without me detecting it."

"I've heard of that man. He is the owner of the biggest gold and nickel mining corporation in the country, am I right? How would you be rivals with him when both of you are not from the same industry?" Trevor wanted to understand it all.

"True." Arthur looked on ahead as he answered seriously. "But his real interest was the old Ledesma General Hospital, which you know, Amy is managing as it is registered under her name. He had been trying to buy it, going as far as to negotiate with my aunt behind my back."

"What is so special about the hospital?" Trevor looked at Arthur briefly and concentrated again on the road.

There was a brief silence before Arthur responded. "Simple. Gold. Lots and lots of them and they are all buried under the hospital."

If Trevor was a lesser man, he could have been distracted as he was driving. Luckily, they came at a stoplight, which he took advantage as he looked back at his lone passenger on the car. Arthur regarded him silently, and asked him.

"Tell me, Trevor. Have you heard of the tale of the Yamashita's Treasure?"

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"During World War Two, it was said that the Japanese looted gold from the countries they invaded and hid them in various locations here in the Philippines. For the longest time, the story remained a myth. Even I did not believe them… until I found Amy."

Trevor tightened his hand on the wheel as he responded. "How does this involve Amy?"

Arthur sighed. "It's a long story. I'm afraid I'll bore you with the details."

The hotel heir glanced briefly at Amy's brother. "Try me."

"Alright." Arthur finally obliged. "You see, my family hadn't always been rich, unlike your family whose wealth came from the first European settlers and businessmen in the Philippines during the 1900's."

"It does not make a difference." Trevor asserted. "Now, your family's net worth is way bigger than ours."

"True," Arthur agreed. "But the start of my family's wealth wasn't so dignified… Our money was from murder, as I have found out three years ago. My grandfather, the root of it all, was a mere limestone miner in the province. During the 1970's, the rumors of the Yamashita's treasure started to circulate. Enticed by the story, he, together with his two coworkers from the mine, decided to become amateur treasure hunters."

"And they actually found the treasure?" There was skepticism in the normally placid voice of Trevor.

"Amazingly, they did. What they found was the fifth biggest collection of the treasure. The biggest one, if you remember, was found by Rogelio Roxas in 1971, valued at 22 billion dollars. And now, they found another treasure buried at another hospital in Baguio City.," Arthur added.

"The facts are becoming clearer, but I still don't get how all these involve Amy.," said Trevor.

"Like what I've said, we didn't know about Amy until my father died confessing about her existence. When my aunt and I listened to the family lawyer about the details of my father's will, we learned that he left the old hospital to a sister I never knew my entire life. I guess he was compensating for his negligence by giving my sister his greatest wealth. His last request was to find Amy, which I did. When I found her, she was already living alone and a newly-hired employee of Onyx Publishing House."

"Sounds like her."

"Indeed," agreed Arthur. "But she's a Ledesma and no Ledesma should be a mere employee, so I immediately trained her so that she could manage the hospital that was bequeathed to her. Everything was going smooth, until she surprised me when she told me one dinner that she didn't want to manage it at all. At that time, I was puzzled, but her reasoning that she wanted to gain some training first convinced me reluctantly."

"So that was how the Ledesma heiress ended up masquerading as an HR officer of a publishing company? I've always wondered, but your sister never told me why," Trevor stated.

"We Ledesmas are very private individuals." Arthur explained. "It was around that time when I was contemplating to force Amy to manage the hospital when an old man and his son approached me. They held a part of the will of my father, only to be read by me, and there I found out that beneath the old hospital that Amy inherited were bars of gold. It turned out that the old man was one of the treasure hunters that found the gold along with my grandfather, and a trustee of the Ledesma group. But most disturbing was the warning of a retribution that could be carried out against our clan."

"Hmmm… I guess that's where Jensen del Rosario comes in.," intoned Trevor.

"Yes, because Jensen del Rosario is the grandson of the third treasure hunter whom my grandfather, the late Alfonso Ledesma and his fellow treasure hunter who is now a trusted adviser of mine, killed. And for decades, his family had vowed to get back on our clan because of my grandfather's crime."

Trevor's voice was flat when he asked Arthur, "Why did your grandfather and his friend kill Jensen Del Rosario's grandfather?"

"Because Del Rosario's grandfather was a spy from the government. Like what happened in Rogelio Roxas' case, once the Marcos government found that someone found gold bars, they immediately ceased them by force and took it as theirs. During the treasure hunting rush, the government placed spies in hunters' groups so that everything found will be theirs."

"And in the end, your grandfather and his fellow treasure hunter kept the find to themselves? And from those gold bars, you built the Ledesma empire that it is today?"

Arthur inclined his head as he responded. "You get the picture."

Trevor scoffed. "Del Rosario's goal is childish. Revenge for a crime more than forty years ago? He's quite rich now. What would he need the gold bars for?"

"Jensen Del Rosario seems to believe that their family had been robbed off of treasure he rightfully believes was his. And now, with his mining company, he had been buying properties that were most likely locations of the other collections of the treasure. He is utterly obsessed with everything that had to do with the treasure, but not more so than the hospital itself, the site where his grandfather was killed."

Trevor was unimpressed and said: "You should have moved all the gold bars in a safe vault and not left them still buried under."

It was Arthur's turn to snort. "Easier than done, Mr. Schwarz. Forty years ago, they could not risk moving huge buckets of gold without being noticed, and so my grandfather and the other treasure hunter had to leave the deeper buried deposits behind. Even after that, there was always the threat of government seizure as Marcos ruled for another decade. That was actually why they put up a hospital right above it, so that no one would ever know that beneath it were bars of gold."

"Del Rosario's attempts to buy the hospital were thwarted. He even teamed up with my oblivious aunt to buy the seemingly old and worthless hospital, and now, he resorted to his last option: targeting Amy who is the rightful heiress of the property," Arthur added.

Trevor's hold on the steering wheel tightened. "I can only imagine what Del Rosario's plans are, especially now that he has befriended Amy. We need to get Amy away from him as fast as possible."

The hotel heir then drove away, with Amy's apartment as the destination in his mind.