Chapter 3 Huge Debt

TWO YEARS LATER

PRESENT

Caleb suddenly comes back to the city one day without informing his parents and Abigail in advance.

The first few days went well as he made an excuse to take a few days off from college and they were happy to see their son after so long. Especially Abigail, she can't put her feet on the floor when she sees him. But suddenly one day two men in black suits came to meet him in the house. His parents thought they were his friends while Abigail felt something was not right but what? She can't guess.

After those men left the home. They saw how Caleb's face lost all his colour as he was on the verge of death.

Only then, besides Abigail, Dale and Erma realized something was going on with their son.

"Caleb, What happened? Who are those men?" Dale questioned, looking at his son with a serious expression.

Abigail was standing in the corner with worried eyes but couldn't go so close to him as his parents were talking to him and she's not a member in their eyes.

Not after their son confessed his love for her too dearly that he was ready to go against them.

"Mom! Dad!" His complete body started trembling while his voice turned to shake. His eyes looked at the floor with grief.

Erma saw his son's reaction and felt anxious for him.

She sat on the couch beside him while Dale still stood and looked at his son with a straight face.

"What happened, son? You are scaring us!" She muttered with nervousness now.

Abigail also felt anxious to see him like this and could guess whatever the reason was. That was big.

"Mom, Dad..."

"I'm in a big debt..."

His voice turned weak while he was constantly shuddering with nervousness.

Hearing his sudden declaration, Abigail and his parents were completely shocked.

"What?"

"What do you mean 'In debt'?" Dale angrily shouted at his son.

"What debt are you talking about, Caleb?" He questioned angrily while gritting his teeth with frustration.

Abigail wanted to support Caleb, so she ran beside him without caring about his parent's anger.

But before she could go beside him, Erma glared at her and warned her with eyes to not take more steps.

Abigail stopped to see her reaction and just stood behind the couch and touched his shoulder from there to give him some comfort. As she could feel. How much pressure he is under right now.

Caleb felt her touch and looked at her for a second. He deeply inhaled before telling the complete truth to his parents.

Dale is still glaring at him angrily. He didn't mind Abigail at all. All attention is on his son.

"Mom, Dad!.." He looked at his parents as he started.

"My best friends and I wanted to start our own business for a long time, so, finally, we planned to make it happen, as we are already in our last semester of college and could graduate in a few months."

"As you all know, starting a business needs lots of money and a nice spot where we can build our small business. So, after thinking for a whole week. We finally made up our minds to get a loan to buy land to start a new business in partnership together. We started our search for perfect land, and it was finally over after ten days of searching."

"You bought the land?" Erma asked with shocked eyes.

"Yes..." Caleb answered.

"Where the hell did you get a loan to purchase land?" Dale yelled and threw the flower vase next second, which was just beside him, on the small table.

The loud sound of shattering shocked everyone.

"Honey! Please control your anger and let our son explain himself!" Erma rushes to her husband and holds his one arm to control his anger.

Abigail also gets frightened to see how angry Uncle Dale is with Caleb.

"Alright! Let's hear him!" Dale's eyes turned sharp.

Erma nodded hurriedly and signalled her son to start speaking.

Caleb understands and nods in pressure.

"For a loan, My friend used his old home as a mortgage. While I used all my college savings to combine it with the loan money. And finally, we purchased the land. Everything goes well! But after a few days of purchasing land. We got the notice that the land is under the government and we were deceived by the landman! He was a fraud!"

"Ohh, my goodness!" Erma pressed her hands against her mouth.

Abigail felt shocked while her eyes widened.

Dale clenched his fist with anger.

Caleb could see how big a blow they got because of him, and he truly felt sinful about it.

"We were in losses and suddenly we started to get a notice from the bank for paying their money or else we need to face the consequences." As he spoke, his eyes closed with frustration.

"My friends told me that we can earn so much money from casinos. And we finally decided to take the last risks as we don't have any options."

"What happened then?" Erma inquired with worry.

"But in the end, we got into more debt! And lose our last single penny also!"

Both his parents felt speechless and horrified as they could not handle his words anymore.

On the other side, Abigail doesn't know how to react. For her, Caleb was not like that before. He never does small things without his parent's permission. And if he did not tell them, he would surely share with her. But now he is in huge debt without even knowing any of them.

"Debtors started to threaten us and asked for their money. We were so scared as they were powerful people, and they would not be willing to listen to our words, so we finally decided to run back to our cities. To save ourselves! We thought they wouldn't find us. But we were wrong. As those two men in black suits work for casino owners, they come to warn me. Not to try to run and pay my debt in a few days." He looked guilty.

"Oh, my gosh!" Hearing Caleb's words, Erma felt she was going to faint any moment and lose her body balance.

"Mom!!" Caleb felt anxious and ran fast to held his mom at the right time not to hit the ground.

"Honey!" Dale comes beside her while Abigail goes to the other side.

"Aunt!" She tried to rub her hand. As she had already fainted.

Dale felt numb to watch his wife suddenly lose her conscience like this. He asked Caleb to take her to their bedroom.

On the other side, Abigail called the Doctor urgently.

"The patient fainted because of stress and High BP." The Doctor reported after checking Erma.

"Doctor, when will mom wake up?" Caleb asked with an anxious face while Dale also looked at the Doctor with nervousness.

Abigail stood in the corner from them and listened to the Doctor.

"She will wake up after resting. So, Don't worry!"

Caleb nodded.

"For now I'll give you some medicine names. Let her take it on time as per my prescription!" Doctor instructed.

"Thank you, doctor!" Caleb thanked him, and the Doctor nodded.

"Now it's time for my leave!" The Doctor announced and turned to leave.

After the Doctor left, Dale looked at his son with anger and told him to leave them alone. As he doesn't want to see him for now!"

Caleb went to his room feeling upset and guilty for everything.

Abigail felt worried for him and instantly followed him behind.

She knew he would blame himself for everything and his mom's condition.

Abigail went to his room, as it was unlocked and the door was completely open. She could see Caleb standing on the window side. So, she steps towards him.

She stopped behind him and touched his shoulder while calling his name.

"Caleb..."

As soon as he heard her voice, he turned in her direction and hugged her tightly, and tears poured down his cheeks.

"Abigail, this is all my fault! This is all my fault!" He repeated the same word again and again between his sobbing.

Abigail never saw him broken like this before. No matter what situation comes in their paths he is always a confident person. But today she saw how broken he is.

"Caleb!" She tightly hugged him while her tears also came out.

"Please don't worry! We will find a way to pay the debt!" She tried to console him.

"No! There is no way! Abigail...! There is no way!" He said helplessly.

"Caleb..." She broke the hug while holding his hands.

"You need to calm down first! If you think like that we will just lose time! And don't forget about your parents. They are still in big shock and you need to be strong for them. Do you get it?" She looked at him with seriousness.

Caleb looked at her and said, "I don't know Abi..."

"The debt is not a small amount!"

"What do you mean? How much money do we need to pay?" She asked, feeling shaking.

"It's one million..." He felt speechless.

Hearing him, her eyelashes flickered with anxiety.

"Wh...What?" Her voice turned shocked with this new information.

"One Million, Caleb?" She shook her mind in confusion.

"I don't get it! How could you get into this much big debt? Is there anything you didn't tell us? You hide something, Caleb?" She looked at him with serious eyes.

Watching her stare at him, he tried to avoid his gaze.

Abigail bit her lower lips as she already guessed he had hidden something.

"Caleb, what have you truly done?" She asked, raising her voice.

"I used our home to gamble!" Her eyes widened with disbelief.

"Our home?" Her voice was shaking.

"Abigail..." he squeezed her hands.

"I truly don't want to do that, but because of the loan. I used our house as my last bet! But it's gone wrong! And I played again and again with the landed money from the gambler's owner."

"I don't know how many times I played that it turned out to be this big amount?"

"How could you do that, Caleb?" She angrily shouted.

"Abi..."

She retreats from him.

"How did you get the properties paper?" She asked.

Caleb looked at the ground and said," When I come in on new year's day to meet all of you. I stole it from dad's cupboard!"

"Why did you do that?".

"What if they come and ask us to leave the house?"

Abigail felt terrible.

"I'm sorry! Abigail! I know I made a big mistake! But believe me! I never thought the landlord turned out to be a fraud, and I need to gamble in the end!" He knelt in front of her.

"But what if they come?" She also knelt.

"I don't know Abi..."

"I don't know! And that's what scares me!"

"What about your friend? Didn't he also gamble with you?" She asked, feeling curious.

"Abi. It was a lie!" He pressed his lips.

"What?" She started to feel Caleb changed. The more she spoke, the more she felt.

"For gambling, it was only me who went to the casino." He explained.

"Then what about the loan?" She tried to understand the whole thing.

"He ran away after we got in debt!"

Abigail now understood everything.

"Abi...as you know, Mom and Dad are still not aware of it. Please don't tell them about it!" He looked at her with pleading eyes.

Abigail feels like the Caleb she is looking at is not the same one. As she never thought he could do something like this.

But now what? He is already guilty and facing a big problem.

And as his girlfriend, she needs to be there for him.

"Caleb..." she cupped his face.

"Don't worry! We both tried out to solve this big problem in any way! And until then I'll not tell you about home things to your parents!" She assured him.

Her eyes turned serious with her words, even when she knew very well that the amount is not a small deal. It's big enough to make them homeless.

"Thank you, Abi..." He hugged her.