Chapter 18

18 Nowhere to Go

I gasped in shock as my mouth hung open at the inconsiderate attitude of the man. Staring at his back as he walked away from me, I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. Everything that I own is being taken away from me. My branded bags, shoes, clothes, jewelry, art pieces and everything else.

The staff started shooing me out of the penthouse. It was such an embarrassing and depressing situation that I just couldn’t bear staying in there any longer. Without getting my hands on anything, I called my driver so that he could drive me to a hotel.

I didn’t know back that that from that point on, my life was about to fall into ruins bit by bit. The car arrived and I got in before sighing loudly. I leaned my head into my hand as I watched the scenery outside go by. The ride was peacefully quiet as we headed to one of the most luxurious hotels in the city. I remembered that George likes this hotel a lot for their oriental oil massage. Not that he could enjoy any of that anymore.

“Madame...” the driver said.

“Yes?” I responded.

“I’m not sure if your lawyer has informed you but today is my last working day here,” Liam said sounding regretful.

“Huh? Why is that?” I asked cluelessly.

“Well, I’ve been laid off and although my last day is the end of the month, I cannot serve you anymore because the car will be gone tomorrow,” he said sadly.

“The car will be gone? What do you mean?” I asked in pure confusion.

.....

“I heard it’s to pay off Mr. George’s debt, Madame...” Liam replied softly.

“Oh...” I murmured.

They’re even taking away my driver and the car? I wasn’t sure if I wanted to cry from stress or laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. It’s just like they say: One day you could have it all, then the next day you could lose it all.

Thankfully, we arrived at the hotel soon after. I said goodbye to the driver and doubt that I would ever get to see him again. It was so sad for us to part like this, but I had other things that I needed to deal with. After getting out of the car, I headed for the hotel’s reception to check-in.

“The presidential suite please...” I said as I passed the receptionist my credit card.

The receptionist seemed nervous as she looked me up and down. I guess she must have seen the news about George and all that. Unfortunately, I attended public events with George a lot and many knew my face well. Failing to get my hands on a pair of sunglasses from the penthouse was a fatal mistake. I could have used it to at least partially hide my face.

“It’s good to see you again, Madame. Thank you for your card, we will only charge the deposit as per the procedure,” she explained politely.

“Sure...” I replied as I played with a strand of my hair.

The receptionist worked to swipe my card as I played around on my phone to pass the time as I waited for her. It was taking a while and when I looked up, I could see that she was fidgeting like something was wrong.

“Is something the matter?” I asked.

“Umm...this must be some kind of mistake or error, but the payment isn’t going through,” she said with an apologetic smile.

“Huh? You mean my card is being rejected?” I asked as a sense of dread started to take root in my stomach.

“Y-yes, Madame...” she replied.

“Maybe the card is broken. Try this one...or this one...” I said as I gave her a couple more of my other credit cards.

I watched as the young woman tried my other credit cards one by one just to see all my cards getting rejected. What is going on?

The receptionist returned the cards to me with an apologetic bow. By that time, I had suffered too much humiliation and I could feel many pairs of eyes on me. I quickly took the cards back from her before exiting from the hotel’s lobby. I needed to call my private banking agent. Why is this happening all of a sudden?

“What do you mean all my assets are frozen? I can’t use my credit cards either? I can’t use anything? I can’t withdraw my money?! That’s absurd...” I said in shock.

“That’s the order from the court and we have to comply as the bank. Also, for your next call, please reach out to the general contact number for the bank. I can no longer act as your private banking agent due to insufficient funds in your investment portfolio,” the banker said as he brushed me off.

“Yeah, sure. Just do whatever!” I snapped before hanging up.

I swore fluidly underneath my breath as I closed my eyes. Staring up at the sky, I realized for the first time since this whole thing started that I probably didn’t have anything left to my name apart from the clothes, shoes and underwear that I had on. Oh, and my luxury brand handbag and whatever was in it.

I opened my handbag and saw that I didn’t have a lot of cash left. This is probably enough for one or two taxi rides. Honestly, I never thought that I would reach a point in my life where I had to worry about not having enough money to get by. I don’t even have a place to stay for the night and barely enough money for taxi rides and a few meals.

Walking away from the hotel, I walked along the sidewalk until I found a bench. I pulled out my phone and sat down while my fingers scrolled through my contacts. Now’s the time to find out who’s your real friend. Most of the contacts that I had I wrote them off as fakers. All there for the sake of building business relationships and maintaining public appearances for George and his job. Now that he was gone and I was on the verge of bankruptcy, these people probably wouldn’t answer my calls even if I called them.

–To be continued...