The Last Gamble

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE (THE LAST GAMBLE)

"Call off the wedding? Do you know what you're saying, Georgina? Calling off the wedding means you're breaching the contract. Our family and yours already signed an arranged marriage contract. You need to pay a high price for it and for tarnishing the name of the Jung Family. Kiela isn't in critical condition. We could..." 

"Mrs. Jung, I'm very thankful to you and your family for standing up for me. Since I lived here, I felt the true warmth of what they called family. I'm calling off the wedding not for my own sake or because I don't want to marry your son. It's just I'd decided to carry everything on my own. It's my way of repaying your kindness," 

"Gina..." 

"Please, I'm begging you to consider my decision. Promise, I'll pay you with all I have right now." She said. 

"Gina, we know you didn't mean to do it to Kiela. I understand you want to exclude us from your selfish plan, but we can still help you. You're like a daughter to us and..." Hector couldn't continue his words when he saw the eagerness in Georgina's eyes. 

After the incident with Kiela's parents, Georgina insists on talking to them privately. They're sitting on a long sofa without anyone but them. 

"Did Henrick knows this?" 

She shrugs her head. "He didn't know about the wedding. I'm sorry for my selfish abrupt decision." 

Amanda caressed her face and smiled. "The world of adults isn't the same as in your youth days. It's serious, painful, and full of hard days. You can't take a rest because you need to work things out by yourself. I know your smart, but if you take everything alone, it's still too much." 

"There are some people I want to protect, I want to treasure, and I want to see them smile bright again. It's enough reason for me to sacrifice my happiness. It's enough reason for me to surrender in the game I partook in even though I don't have any chance of winning, so please, let me go." 

"Go on. We give you permission to go and live your life as you want. Be careful." 

"T-thank you, Mrs. Jung. I will never forget your kindness towards me. Sorry for tarnishing your family name." 

"Our daughter, you're too young to act brave. Always remember that if you can't take any of the hardships life's giving you, come back here. You're always welcome here, honey." 

"Hmm..." 

It's almost a week since she last stepped foot in Jung's Mansion. She didn't get her things and lived in a single shabby-room apartment in a nearby city. Throughout the entire week, she barely goes out or interacts with anyone. She's lying on the bed—staring at nowhere and drinking all night.

It's not like she's hiding. She's waiting.

She's waiting for her mother to come and end it all.

Georgina heaves a deep sigh because of the thought running in her mind and looks at the sky where colorful fireworks lits out. She's on her apartment balcony, drinking a canned beer while listening to the loud music from the street and people's cheerful conversation. A typical way for every human being to celebrate new year's Eve. Nevertheless, the excitement that everyone felt seemed like a big slap on her face. 

A chuckle escaped from her mouth before she drank the beer.

It might be the last time she'll have mixed feelings. At the end of everything, she'll either laugh or cry because this it's the final gamble of her life.

Before leaving the Jung Mansion, Georgina already thought she'd lost the game of revenge, but three days ago, her father's secretary came to meet up with her. Since her father died and they handed them his last will, Mr. Norman, his secretary, vanished out of nowhere and left the company.

Mr. Norman's sudden appearance made her see a glimpse of success. They talked about the company affairs privately and the existing problems inside. He told her that the company has divided into two groups, some allied to his father and the rest to her mother. He gave her the lists of the names who cooperated with her mother and the financial status report of the company for the last six years. Every piece of information and shreds of evidence she wanted to get, the man provided it all.

Georgina went speechless as she looked at the evidence, but what motivated her to gamble everything was her father's word that Mr. Norman delivered.

"You're father knew that someday your mother would do this and prepare everything in secret, but his sudden death had a great impact on the allied parties and at risk of going to Mrs. Alvarez's side. Seventy percent of the employees in the company are already on her side, ten percent are still loyal to Mr. Alvarez, and the rest are undecided. He told me to give you this if the situation got worst," he said and took out a recording before playing it.

"If I'm gone, and the company is on the brink of falling, I'll entrust it to my children to handle. Warren's still young, but he's smart and calm. He'll think and analyze the situation before having a final decision. He's like me, while Georgina is someone who'll burden herself. Even though she's smart, she'll carry everything without making any fuss, but plenty of good people surrounding her, and she'll make good use of it. I trusted both of them. They'll take over the company I worked hard to build on."

Those words seem like a burden but motivate her to go on. Georgina's father's hard work, she doesn't want to waste it, so once again, she takes the last gamble and seeks help from those who offered her before.

Amidst her deep thoughts, she heard a knocking on the door.

A smirk formed on his lips before she finished the canned beer and went inside to open the door. There she saw Jin, Marga, and Jaceriel, who seemed confused to see each other.

"Good to see you came on short notice," she said, letting them in.

"You live in this shabby room?" Marga asked while scanning the place.

"I will leave here soon. Anyway, did someone follow the two of you?" She looked towards Marga and Jin.

"No. I deceived the person tailing me on the way by disguising myself inside the boutique and fitting in the crowds of people on the street." Marga said.

"I helped my uncle in his shop until half an hour ago, and as people came, I used the chance to leave at the kitchen back door and borrowed his motorcycle," Jin said.

"Well, it's a great help that it's New Year's Eve today."

"What's going on here?" Jaceriel asked in confusion before looking back and forth between the three.

"Stealer, I'm sorry to take your time. But I will become selfish for the last time. Please help me."

"H-huh?"

"I won't beat around the bush. I will take my final revenge on my evil mother. It's the last gamble. If I failed it, then I would lose the game." Georgina said.

She let them sit before explaining every piece of information Mr. Norman and her talked about three days ago and showed them the evidence she had accumulated. As Georgina ended the explanation, the three couldn't utter a single word but stared at her in awe.

"You have all of this? You can use it to file a report..." Jin said.

"No. I needed stronger evidence that the evil witch couldn't escape from the law with her money."

"What are you planning now?" Jaceriel asked while scanning the paper.

"I'm going to give her whatever she wants from me. I'll give her the best first and last act of my life and surrender everything, even the last bit of my happiness. She can take all of it."

"Georgina, this is too risky to do. If she found a way out, everything you gamble will be in vain."

"I know, if I'm doing this alone, then I'll lose, but it's the mere reason I called the three of you." She said and smiled at them. "One of these days, she'll find me because I breached the arranged marriage contract with the Jung family. She'll go berserk, and that's the final act will go. Once she takes the bait, the plan will move."

"What do we need to do?" Jaceriel asked.

"Once she'll take the bait, I'll be gone." Georgina clenched her fists and looked down. "Two years, I need your help in two long years to fulfill the plan. Like the previous plan, Jin, I want you to track all the people's involvement in her plans and monitor all the private properties she had with the laundered money. The list Marga gave us has her name, but she might change the owner's name. She's suspecting Marga as a traitor, be careful because she has her eyes on you and Van."

"I-I know. I'll take care of it."

"Marga, even if she's suspecting you, you're still working for her for a long time, so be the eyes and ears for us. In short, be our spy. All her plans, the people she's seeing, anything she'll do, report it to us."

"Auntie won't say anything to me anymore, even though we lived together. But I have my ways." Georgina nodded before turning to Jaceriel.

"Stealer, you're the least suspected person out of the three, and I'm sorry for burdening you with the hard job."

Jaceriel smiled. "It's good that you're taking a step forward, Gina. I'm willing to help you in any way I can."

"Thank you. Well, next month, the shareholder meetings will happen. I'll surrender my shares to her so they won't need to vote for the next CEO. The evil witch will take over the position. I want you to work with Mr. Norman and talk with the other shareholders to side with us again."

"Is that it?"

"There's a lot of shareholders who's loyal to that witch, it might take time, and they might stab your back if you're not careful. Mr. Norman knows what to do. You need to be extra careful."

"Gina, what about inside the company? If you surrender your shares, no one will..."

"Mr. Norman has someone inside, a loyal employee of my father. He's working in the marketing and finance department. If lucked with us, we could get the original reports of the company's financial status throughout these past six years."

"Then what's all these papers?" Jin asked.

"He suspected that the reports were all faked. They couldn't take the original reports because the one working on it was one of my mother's people. They're smart enough to fabricate it, so it'll take time."

"Why do you need two years?" Jaceriel asked.

"It's a lot of work, besides in two years, it'll be the 30th anniversary of the company. I want to give my father the best gift for his hard work."

"Gina..."

"Once everything works according to our plan, I'll give back the company to Warren, but before it..." Georgina chuckled because of the thought inside her mind. "After you gathered all the evidence, talked to other shareholders, and found witnesses, I wanted you to give it to Giovanni Javier."

"W-what did you say? Van?" Jin asked.

"Yeah, he's part of this dispute and surrendered a lot. It's not only my revenge. It's our revenge. Besides, he's one of the shareholders."

"Shareholder? How?" The three asked in unison.

"Mr. Norman said one of the shareholders sold his shares, so I told him to sell it to me under Giovanni's name. I'll make sure to give their company back and start over again. But, as long as he's partaking in the company's affair, he can accuse her of laundering and many more."

"But..."

"I told you all my plans. I'm very grateful for your help. Whether I lose or not, there's no one to blame." She smiles at them before standing. "Mr. Norman will contact you in six months."

"Six months?"

"The plan will begin in six months after I'm gone. The evil witch will watch me, Giovanni, and Henrick 24/7 while she's focused on that go on with the plan. It's a battle of wits now."