The Contract Wife Tries to Leave - Chapter 92
“I’m not paying off your debt anymore. Isn’t it enough that you’ve already used my name to take out loans from loan sharks? What more do you expect from me? Will you only come to your senses when your own daughter is sold off to settle your debts?”
“What are you saying…! How could you even suggest that!”
“I have nothing more to say, and I don’t want to see your face again. Don’t come to me, and don’t go to Daniel either. I’ve already told him not to meet with you. Just live your life as if we’re no longer your children. It’s the best thing you can do for us.”
Johanna fully expected her father to resist, especially since he was desperate for money. He wasn’t the type to give up easily.
But surprisingly, he agreed without much protest.
“Alright, I understand… I’ll take care of the money myself.”
“……?”
Johanna frowned in confusion. Take care of it himself? That didn’t sound like something her father would say. Suspicion crept into her mind, and she narrowed her eyes, probing him in a softer tone.
“You’ll take care of it? How? You have no one left to borrow from.”
He had long since alienated everyone—relatives, friends, even acquaintances—because he borrowed money without repaying. He had even gone to her aunt, with whom he had no relationship, to borrow 20,000 rubles, and when that wasn’t enough, he’d resorted to loan sharks.
Surely, he wasn’t planning to take out another loan from them. If that was the case, she needed to make things clear.
“I don’t care if you borrow from loan sharks anymore, but if you try to use my or Daniel’s name to take out loans, I won’t let it slide. I’ll report you to the police.”
“…I don’t know when my daughter became so cold-hearted. I’m not going to the loan sharks. If I can’t get help from you, someone else I know has agreed to lend me the money.”
“Someone you know?”
That sounded suspicious. Who was this person? What kind of person would lend him money, especially given his reputation? Johanna’s resolve remained firm, but an uneasy feeling began to creep in.
“Anyway, it’s unfortunate that you won’t help me. And you don’t even want to see me anymore… I guess it’s the curse of being an incompetent father.”
The way he diverted the conversation felt deeply unsettling. Should she just ignore it? Yet, she couldn’t shake the bad feeling gnawing at her.
“I don’t have anything else to say, so I’ll be on my way. It was nice seeing you, despite everything…”
Just as Philipp was trying to awkwardly end the conversation, the door chimed softly, signaling someone’s entrance into the café. Instinctively, Johanna glanced up and was surprised for multiple reasons. First, the person who walked in was an exceptional beauty, someone who stood out anywhere. And second, that very person was heading straight toward them.
With such looks and presence, it was likely this woman was either an omega or an alpha. She smiled directly at Johanna—a dazzling smile, like a flower blooming from poisonous roots.
But the beauty wasn’t here for Johanna. She spoke to Philipp.
“Philipp, what are you doing here? You haven’t forgotten our dinner plans for tonight, have you?”
Philipp, who hadn’t noticed her approach, flinched in shock. He stammered, turning toward the woman.
“T-Tasha.”
So, her name was Tasha. Johanna’s mood grew increasingly sour as she glanced between the two of them—her flustered father and this woman who was speaking to him with such affection.
A suspicion flashed through her mind, one that she immediately pushed aside because it seemed too absurd.
It couldn’t be. Her father might be a gambling addict and a man with no sense of responsibility, but he wasn’t the type to have an affair. Especially not so soon after her mother’s passing…
He had only found out about her death a few days ago.
“This is your daughter? So, you’ve wrapped things up, I assume? What did you decide to do?”
“W-Well, I…”
Philipp was drenched in sweat, nervously gauging Johanna’s reaction. His guilty demeanor only deepened her suspicions.
“My daughter said she can’t help, so…”
“Oh… is that so? Then I suppose I’ll have to lend it to you, won’t I?”
It became clear that this Tasha woman was the one who had offered to lend Philipp the 40,000 rubles.
Realizing this, Johanna’s curiosity grew. What kind of relationship did this woman have with her father that would make her so willing to lend him such a large sum of money?
“Then go ahead and sign here. The promissory note and the contract.”
“W-What…? Right now?”
“You said you needed the money urgently. The sooner, the better.”
“Uh, yes… that’s true…”
Pushed along by Tasha, Philipp hesitantly signed the two documents and pressed his thumbprint on them. Tasha carefully wiped the red ink from his thumb with a napkin, the gesture unusually intimate.
Watching the scene with growing discomfort, Johanna couldn’t hold back her hostility as she directly asked,
“And just what kind of relationship do the two of you have?”
