Chapter ONE
What do you mean by "my dad took out a loan before he died"? Hannah Whitaker asked the cute banker guy in front of her. 'Miss Whitaker, I'm so sorry we had to do this today'. The banker said 'your dad was just buried but it's the policy of the bank. Iunderstandnderstand'.
It's almost laughable that she still considers him cute considering the roller coaster of emotions she has going on. Her father died on her without showing any signs of dying any time soon, given he was in his seventies but he didn't look a day over thirty. But he died and left her alone when he had been her only living relative, having lost her mum to cancer sixteen years ago when she was just twelve. The thoughts of her mother brought hot tears to her eyes, but she had to be strong. She was 28 and had no boyfriend, and from what the banker is saying would have no work too and no money. At least her friend, Audrey, was married.
Audrey squeezed a handkerchief into her hands and pulled her into a hug. Audrey has been her best friend since childhood and she has been there for her ever since her father died. She's the only one Hannah can call a family now. She and her husband Toby have been her rock in the past weeks. Ever since she got the news of her father's death, from arranging for the hospital mortuary people to planning the burial of her dad: Audrey and Toby had been overseeing everything to the wreath selection.
Wiping her tears with the handkerchief Audrey gave her, she faced the banker dude once again, 'please remind me of your name again.' 'It's Alan ma'am,' he said with an understanding smile. 'Alan Drew'.
'Alan Drew, you said my father took a loan?' she asked with a voice that sounds more like hers, not the squeak she had given earlier. 'Yes ma'am' he replied, assessing the voluminous file he took out of the black Mont Blanc Platinum leather office briefcase. 'Your father took out a loan of 900,000 dollars and his collateral is the Mary's Chow Place restaurant.' he read out
A pin dropped at that moment would have made a whole lot of noise, because the silence was deafening. 'He did what?' she screamed at the top of my voice. Facing Audrey, she told her with a haunted voice 'Please I need to speak with my father's lawyer.'
Festus woke up with a pounding headache when he tried to sit up on the bed, he felt a dizzying spell sweep over him. He was hungover, not that he was surprised after the raging party -he could almost remember nothing about- last night.
What did surprise him was the smell of freshly made coffee and fried eggs with bacon that wafted into his bedroom from the kitchen, this made him try and recollect his thoughts, at least the little he could gather from last night.
Checking around, he confirmed he was in his Penthouse in San Jose, CA. The one he picked out with Selina those days he thought she loved as much as he loved her; it was supposed to be the house where they would raise their family. Selina was never the white picket fence kind of girl; days when he still thought nothing was better than love. Selina made sure he learnt alright. So at his friend Ethan's bachelor's party last night, he vaguely remembered a certain girl who refused to leave his side and he eventually brought her home with him.
Deciding he wasn't going to brood, he stood up, picked one of his shorts -to give him a sense of modesty- from his closet and moved towards the sweet, irresistible aroma that was calling unto him like a siren in the kitchen.
Entering the kitchen, he saw the girl from last night. She was startled to see him awake. She was wearing his midnight blue Ralph Lauren long-sleeved shirt. 'You are awake,' she sounded excited. 'I was making breakfast' he could see that he thought drily, ignoring her totally while reaching for the la marzocco strada coffee machine-another one of Selina's excessive spending that he indulged as usual- to pour himself a mug. He rummaged through the top cabinet for aspirin. His head was still pounding.
'I wanted to serve you breakfast in bed', the girl Emma-something he thinks said. Cradling his coffee mug he turned around to face her, she was looking relaxed. Like she fits in and she knows it, the confidence she was exuding was almost palpable.
Sipping his coffee, he studied her over the rim of his coffee mug. She was a knockout alright, of course. She's had about nine or ninety-five jobs done. The butt is fake, sexy but fake and her boobs no way a Double D cup would stand that firm.
She misunderstood his observing her thinking he was interested, so she gave him what she probably thought was a sexy smirk and sashayed towards him. "I bet you wished I woke you up with some good loving right?" He raised an eyebrow at her but said nothing 'I can make that happen again in 3 minutes'.
'Don't come any closer' he said, which stopped her dead in her tracks, a confused look creeping into her face for the first time. Draining the remaining contents of his mug, dropping the mug into the dishwasher, and washing his hand, he looked at her one more time and said 'my driver will be ready to take you to wherever in ten minutes, so be ready in ten minutes. cleaning his hands he started walking towards the door when he threw over his shoulder 'keep the shirt' with that he sauntered out of the kitchen leaving a bewildered and hurt expression on the face of the girl.