Chapter 125 Raising Money to Pay Off Michael's Gambling Debt
When Cressida stepped into the front hall, the air seemed to freeze with a bone-chilling coldness.
Inside the hall, several burly casino enforcers stood with their arms crossed.
Beck, the head manager of the casino, sneered as he slapped IOUs onto the table one by one.
"Mr. Patrick Hamilton, take a good look. These are the debt notes borrowed by Mr. Michael Hamilton—two hundred thousand dollars, plus sixty thousand dollars in interest. Fair and square."
Patrick picked up the dozen or so IOUs. Michael had borrowed them bit by bit over many days.
Starting with ten thousand dollars, then forty thousand, then fifty thousand, one hundred thousand!
This string of shocking numbers made Patrick's face turn ashen.
Especially when he saw the dates on the debt notes, he became even more furious.
"You bastard!" Patrick suddenly grabbed a teacup and hurled it hard at Michael.
The scalding tea splashed down, but Michael didn't dare dodge.
The veins on Patrick's temples bulged: "So you've been playing dumb all along, gambling behind my back! How could I have a son like you!"
Michael trembled all over—whether from the burn or not was unclear.
"I didn't think, didn't think they'd actually dare come to collect. Didn't we agree I'd pay back after a while? Who told you to come!"
After saying this, Michael even turned his anger on the casino people.
Beck didn't care about any of that and laughed mockingly with his arms crossed.
"Mr. Michael Hamilton, don't you get it yet? You borrowed from a loan shark. I don't have that much time to be forgiving with you."
Patrick nearly choked, his burly frame swaying.
Loan sharks—that meant compounding interest!
Forget their family, even some wealthy households would have to empty half their fortune once they got involved with loan sharks.
Cressida walked in and asked, "What happens if we don't pay?"
Beck sneered: "Then don't blame us for coming every day and making a scene! As long as Mr. Patrick Hamilton isn't afraid of embarrassment, we're not afraid either!"
"Or else, we'll do things by the rules." Beck's sinister gaze shifted to Michael's hands.
Michael immediately became frightened.
He knew very well what methods the casino used.
"Father, I was wrong! I was just confused for a moment. Please save me, Father. If I can't pay this debt, they'll cut off my hands!"
Patrick couldn't worry about that now.
All he could think about was that if they didn't pay, this gang of casino thugs wouldn't reason with them and would definitely cause a huge scandal.
Then everyone would know that Patrick's son was a good-for-nothing gambler!
Besides, paying debts was only right and proper.
Thinking of this, Patrick's face turned pale, pointing at Michael and grinding his teeth: "You've destroyed the Hamilton family's dignity!"
Cressida walked over and handed him a cup of tea.
"Noah, please show these gentlemen to the side hall. I need to discuss this matter with Father."
Noah looked at Patrick, who clearly agreed.
The casino men urged: "Please make your decision quickly, Mr. Patrick Hamilton. This loan shark debt doubles over time."
After speaking, they followed Noah to the side hall.
As soon as they left, Patrick suddenly stood up and began beating and kicking Michael.
Cressida watched coldly as Michael held his head, putting on an act of knowing his mistake and wanting to change, and couldn't help but sneer inwardly.
Patrick said: "Michael, how many times is this? We paid off your previous debts, and you dare to gamble again!"
In his rage, Patrick said: "I should just hand you over to the casino and let them deal with you!"
Michael's head shot up, terrified, and he begged for forgiveness.
"Father, I won't dare again, I really won't dare again. It was the casino people who tempted me to gamble, otherwise I would have quit long ago."
Michael hugged Patrick's legs: "Please help me one last time, just this once!"
Patrick closed his eyes and asked Cressida: "How much cash can we take directly from the accounts?"
"The household treasury has over seventy thousand dollars, plus deposits from several banks, we can gather about one hundred and twenty thousand dollars."
"Not enough, far from enough. What about selling the shops?"
"Then we'd have to sell quickly at a loss," Cressida said.
She calculated for Patrick that the family currently had three shops in the best locations, and selling quickly, each shop could fetch about thirty thousand dollars.
Patrick closed his eyes, very reluctant: "When I bought them, they cost me forty thousand dollars each."
Cressida pressed her lips together: "We're selling in a hurry, naturally we'll take a loss. We might not even get thirty thousand dollars."
Patrick's heart truly ached now.
He suddenly said: "Sell Clio's properties first."
Michael's crying paused, and he quietly looked up.
Cressida asked: "Mother's properties aren't in good locations. Even if we sell them, each would only fetch ten thousand dollars at most."
"That's enough," Patrick nodded. "Sell them all and use the money to pay the debt!"
So Cressida had Emma go to the accounts office to get money, taking out all the available cash from the books.
"Here's a portion for you first. For the rest, how about we use the deeds to our shops as collateral?"
"Ms. Hamilton, I'm truly sorry, but we only accept cash! Those shops of yours might not even sell if they end up in our hands." The casino people refused.
Patrick also heard what they said and could only say firmly: "Come back in a couple of days. In the meantime, don't let this matter leak out, or the Hamilton family will never let you off!"
Beck bowed to him and smiled: "Mr. Hamilton, please calm down. We'll certainly follow your instructions."
After speaking, Beck waved: "Let's go. We'll come back in two days!"
The entire Hamilton Mansion began working to fill Michael's debt.
At first, Clio didn't agree to sell her assets, but when she heard it was to pay Michael's gambling debts, she brought out all her property deeds and estate documents.
Cressida roughly calculated—there were twelve shops and four estates in total.
Cressida arranged for Lily to help, representing Cressida as the buyer, and took over these deeds at the lowest price.
All these deeds only brought in seventy thousand dollars, far from enough.
Patrick could only hand over the three shops in the best locations to Cressida.
Again, Cressida sold them at the lowest price—seventy thousand dollars for three storefronts worth one hundred thousand dollars.
In the end, the money was still Cressida's, and the shops and properties became hers too.
They finally scraped together the money, but when the casino people came to the door, they said: "You're still twenty thousand dollars short."
Patrick's eyes widened in anger: "How can we be short? Two hundred and sixty thousand dollars, that's what we agreed on!"
Beck shrugged: "But Mr. Patrick Hamilton, gathering the money took another two or three days. I told you, loan shark debts double over time."
"You... this must be a scam! We're going to report you to the authorities!" Clio shouted angrily.
Patrick immediately scolded her: "Report what? You woman, you don't understand anything!"
Novaria had no clear laws restricting loan sharks. What good would reporting to the authorities do? They'd easily end up with no results and become a laughingstock.
Cressida persuaded Patrick: "Father, let's use the family's gold hairpins and silver items to pay the debt. That's the fastest way. Otherwise, this will go on and on—when will we ever be able to repay these debts?"
Clio immediately set her sights on Cressida's property.
Clio said coldly: "Don't you have lots of gold and silver jewelry in your room? Bring them out to pay your brother's debt! You're the older sister—this is what you should do."