A BARGAIN WITH MR BILLIONAIRE

I shrugged off my coat and hung it on the rack. The air around me was tense but I ignored it, blowing into my palms for warmth. I could hear the familiar sounds of the kitchen which instantly lifted my mood. I was starving and the chef was certainly whipping up something delicious.

I stood beside my dad as he scrolled through The New York Times on his Tablet. I really have never understood the joy these adults get from reading the news. If anything, I would rather watch than read.

“Dad, I wanted to speak to you about our new clients from the Russian Fintech company, I was thinking perhaps I could-” I was cut off by the clipped tone of my stepmother before I could finish.

“Your father hasn't told you?” I and my dad turned our heads in attention to her. Glancing at him, he appeared as confused as I was.

“Told me what? I don't think he has mentioned anything about the Russians. Is there a problem, Dad?” I asked, turning my attention back to him.

He opened his mouth to say something but, she was quick to cut him off as well.

“Not at all my darling. It's just that your sister, Audrey would now be in charge of that project. You can go do whatever it is you usually do, she will handle it perfectly."

“Audrey? Audrey doesn't know shit about the company and she would only make us lose a whole lot of money."

Nope! I didn't say that out loud.

That was exactly what I was going to say but somehow, I never seemed to find the voice to say things like that in the presence of my stepmother.

My heart sank as her words registered themselves. I had worked so hard to finally earn my place in the family business, and now they were just taking this away from me?

"But... but why? I have been working so hard for the company. These are my clients...” I started, turning to my dad for support.

“How come? I was the one doing the follow-up on these clients from the onset so, it's my project. I have invested money into this.” I managed to force out, in between gulps.

“Money from the company, might I add,” Audrey chirped in, joining us in the sitting room unannounced.

“MY MONEY!!!” I corrected, starting to get slightly pissed off.

I had spent the last three months doing nothing but, studying the market and the build up that surrounds this company.

This was my gig! My client!! My investment!!!

I already had a one-on-one meeting with the CEO two months ago to finalize everything.

"What were they talking about?" I queried myself.

"Please, just tell me what I did wrong. I will do anything to fix it. I just want to make you happy and honestly, I am thinking of the growth of the company."

I caught Audrey staring at me with a blank expression on her face.

"Sophia, it's not about what you did wrong. It's just that….,” he sighed.

“I have spoken with the CEO of the company already, and I made him understand that he would be doing business with someone else. He seemed a bit reluctant at first, because he said he liked your business etiquette but I was able to convince him that the person taking over was basically the same person as you, given that she's your sister,” his gruff voice sounded although he barely raised his head from the screen of that tablet.

I couldn't help but chortle at what he just said. I and Audrey, basically the same person? I love my step-sister but we were nothing alike.

“Okay, Dad.” It was certainly not okay.

Audrey gave me a smile to which I returned with a half-hearted one of my own. My stepmother took a seat with Audrey right behind her, mimicking her actions.

I stared hard at them raising a brow in question. "Why were they seated like they were about to gang up on me?"

“Have you spoken to David today?” My dad spurted out, finally dropping his tablet and paying full attention to the rest of the world.

“Uhm….not really. Just some texts here and there.

Why do you ask?”

“Call him now! Call him and tell him that we are waiting for him.” My stepmother stated.

I looked at her with confusion clearly evident on my face but, still went ahead to dial David's number.

“Hey! Where are you?” I said immediately he picked up.

“Oh! Hey! Soph, how are you? I was going to call you later” He replied with what I thought was a forced chuckle.

“Well uh, I am at home now and my stepmother said to tell you that, they are waiting for you. But, hey babe, you didn't mention that you were meeting them.”

He was silent for some seconds before sighing softly. “I am sorry baby. I have been so busy these past few days and I must have forgotten to mention it to you. Let them know I am close though. I am driving now. Catch you later .” He said almost stuttering.

He did that mainly when he was lying.

Lying about what though? There's no big deal if he was not on the way yet. They can just talk whenever he comes by.

Shrugging my shoulders, I turned to relay his words to them before excusing myself to go upstairs and freshen up.

Entering into the small room that I have been using since I was 14, I locked the door behind me.

I walked to where my shoes were kept, crossed my legs on the floor and pulled out a dusty shoe box from the bottom. I opened it to pull out the one single thing I had left of my mother. It was an old photo that had faded out on the edges.

A beautiful woman was carrying a 5 year old me in her arms and we were both smiling widely at the camera when the shot was taken by my father.

I pushed the shoe box to the left side of my thighs and held the pictures in my hands.

Closing my eyes, I just sat there and imagined my mum and me as a beautiful duo dancing in a snow-filled room. But, my moment of fantasy was interrupted by the voices downstairs so, I stood up and took the stairs in twos almost tiptoeing.

“We cannot keep putting off on telling her the truth. Audrey and I have agreed to marry in a few weeks and I think Sophie needs to know and she needs to know now! I have to call off the wedding with her."

What was going on?

Audrey. Marry. Wedding. Was my sister getting married?

The words were not so clear since I was still on the staircase but I had heard enough to have me speed down the remaining flight of stairs.

I could hear my dad talking in a hushed tone when I got to the bottom of the stairs and he only did that when he had to say something he should not be found saying.

“What's happening to whose wedding?” I asked and immediately everyone's attention turned to me in no time. My dad looked pale with fear. I have never seen him look this way.

“Sophie, David's parents has instructed him to call off the wedding today. It's tradition for their first son to marry a first daughter and not the second one.” My step mother started condescendingly without giving a care in the world.

“Plus, you don't have a mother to even get you through the preparation process. David and I are getting married Sophie,” Audrey finished, crossing her leg on the chair.

My ears were ringing like a school bell.

Did she just say what I thought she said or am I hearing things?

“You must be mistaken, Audrey. We decided to put a hold on the wedding. It has nothing to do with his parents or my family, right David?” I asked with a small laughter.

“Don't be delusional, Sophie. You know that the first daughter was going to marry the only son of the Nelsons Family and I am the first daughter. I really honestly don't know why you bothered bringing yourself so low to try to change David's mind. Why try to seduce him into marrying you? He told me that you even tried getting pregnant just to trap him in the relationship. What a conniving bitch.” Audrey spat out disgustingly.

My head was spinning. What was she talking about?

I have been dating David for five years and we were engaged now and everybody knew that, and that included all the blogs that my stepmother paid to carry the news.

The headline flashed through my eyes:

"Daughter of the Woods to be married to the Nelsons’ heir."

And just like that, it clicked. There was no mention of my name, no pictures of us.

“You don't need a swarm of paparazzi everywhere you go now, do you darling?” My step mother had said when I asked her. I had wondered to what use it was since most people knew I and David were a couple, but I didn't question her. I just believed she only wanted what's best for me.

I spun my head to look at the man I had spent the last 5 years of my life loving, but he immediately dragged his eyes to the ground. Air left my lungs because obviously, he knew all this while.

When he made me have an abortion because his parents would not want pregnancy controversy surrounding their family name, he knew. When I almost lost my life on the island he took me to recover for over two weeks, he knew. When we talked about where we would spend our honeymoon, he knew.

David knew all about this when he watched me almost bleed out after that abortion.

My fiance knew this whole time that I wasn't the one he was getting married to. The first tear dropped from my eyes. My whole world was falling apart right in front of me.

My stepmother Elise smirked at me, she was not even attempting to hide her contempt.

I turned to my last hope. I tried pleading with him through my eyes. For a split second, I saw his resolve falter but one look from my stepmother had him looking away from me.

“It would be best for you to end the relationship here Sophia, although there's nothing quite left of it anymore. We wouldn't want anything messy getting out to the public. The Woods' reputation is not one to be toyed with.” My stepmother said, the visible puff of her chest had appeared whenever she spoke of the family's reputation quickly appeared.

“Mother, please, I am sure I and David would sit to talk an-” She cut me off by holding a hand up.

“David?” She called his attention, causing him to perk up.

“I am calling off the engagement, Soph.” I winced at the nickname he frequently called me. It sounded like poison to my ears now.

“I am getting married to Audrey.”

The large sitting room suddenly felt too small to contain the five of us, six if you include David's PA, Robert, who was standing at the corner of where David had previously sat. I had gotten so accustomed to Robert that he was almost family.

But right now, I couldn't breathe.

Staring into his eyes, I searched desperately for it. Anything! A flicker of regret, uncertainty, perhaps the love I could always see so glaringly. Anything that would help me fan the flame of hope I was starting.

They were blank, empty, emotionless. It was like I was looking into a completely different pair of green eyes. This can't be my David.

Shaking my head, I took a step back. Then another and another, I was almost toppling over my own feet when I turned around.

In a flash, I grabbed my keys from the top of a statue where I had previously dropped them and dashed out.

My car had narrowly escaped getting bashed as I blew through the wide compound to the gate. The men at the gate scrambled to open the gate and get out of the way as I blared my way through.

I took a last look at the mansion through my rearview mirror and kept looking as it reduced in size just before I took a turn into the highway. It disappeared from my view making me let out a breath in relief. I wished more than anything that this was a dream, if it was then I desperately wanted to wake up.

Perhaps if I rammed my car into that truck, I would quickly be snapped out of the dream.

I shook my head bitterly, this was no dream.

It was real, all of it was real. If anything, I was sure the pain of my heartbreak was real. The breathlessness and anxiety that ripped through me were real.

I had no idea where I was going, or what direction I had been driving in for the past thirty minutes. Tears were streaming down my face, I considered taking a hand off the steering wheel to wipe it off then decided against it. I felt like a fucking joke so might as well look the part.

“I don't care what my parents think, I love you and I'm going to get married to you.” That was what he had said to me when I last confronted him with this topic.

It was the weekend before he asked me to marry him almost a year ago now, about 10 months. Now that I think about it, that was probably a forced response from him to stop me from asking those questions.

“What if your father cuts you out of the company for good because of that? What happens to your dreams, all the plans you have for yourself?” I had asked him as he drew circles with his fingers on my thigh. “I think it's better we convince your family to scrap the first daughter thing so they can approve of us.” I had ended cautiously.

I hated getting him angry.

“I don't care about them, Soph. All I care about is you, what matters is us. I'm getting married to you with or without their approval.” He swooped down for a kiss that had me melting into him.

I was hopelessly, foolishly in love. Tears clouded my vision by now.

Stupid! Stupid!! Stupid!!!

My whole body was shaking, I almost missed a sharp turn and quickly pulled the car to a quick stop.

“He told me that you even tried getting pregnant just to trap him in the relationship.” Audrey's voice rang in my head.

“What a conniving bitch!”

I laughed bitterly. When I learned I was pregnant, I had calculated the day I conceived.

5 months ago, I was selected as a representative from the Management to oversee the meeting we were to have with some clients flying in from Dubai the following day. I didn't want to spend the night at home while I cross-checked the presentation the team had put together and made sure I was on track.

So I booked a room at the hotel where the meeting was to be held.

David had come to my hotel room that night, drunk after a heated argument with his father concerning his dropping out of business school.

“What's the point? I'm going to take over the company from my father regardless of whether I finish school or not.” He would always yell whenever I tried to convince him to finish his last year.

In seconds, he had pushed me to the bed and attempted to undo my robe, but I held his hands to stop him.

“You're drunk David.”

“No I'm not baby, I'm just a little tipsy but I promise I'm in my right senses,” he said placing wet kisses along my neck.

We had sex without a condom that night.

When he found out I was pregnant, he has asked me over and over how it was possible.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck. How did this happen? We were careful, at least I know I was. Did you stop taking your birth control pills? You aren't supposed to get pregnant Sophia.” He kept pacing and muttering. I stayed mute, said nothing about the night he didn't use a condom, the night I got pregnant.

I should have known then. That's not how any man would react to hearing your fiance was a month pregnant. He should have been happy, a little surprised since it was unplanned but happy regardless. Sex was a norm in this age and time, nobody cares what you do, how you do it, who you do it with, and not even when or where you did it.

But for some reason, his very educated modern age parents were not going to be happy with my getting pregnant before we got married. “We can just make plans to get married sooner than we had said we would. That way, it wouldn't be a problem."

I kept my words in my head at that time, of course, I couldn't say it to him so he wouldn't get mad.

I let out a small laugh, how could I be so stupid?

“You're my sunlight, I love you now and forever. Until the sun doesn't shine…” he would say.

“And the moon doesn't come up before nine”, I'd always complete.

“Our love would never die”, we would echo together. He would kiss me and just like that, everything would be alright. All my worries would magically disappear.

Audrey was right. Delusional, that was just the word to describe me.

A loud honk broke me out of my thoughts. I pulled myself together and drove off the middle of the road, the driver blew past me, yelling profanities as she drove past.

I couldn't see her clearly but she looked effortlessly beautiful. I'm sure her fiance would not leave her for her sister.

Was that it? He didn't like the way I looked or dressed and preferred Audrey's appearance?

Audrey was always clad in mini skirts and dresses a size too small, she had on makeup for up to 15 hours each day whereas I was in a pair of slacks and a messy bun for up to 10 hours each day.

Tears sprung in my eyes when another memory flooded my head. I had caught his eyes trailing after Audrey one day when he came to the company I managed. She had just gotten her new black card registered and needed Daddy to sign it off as approved. She strutted across the glass tiles with her heels clinking at each step.

“Forgive my sister, I don't know why she always dresses like this. I'm so worried about her. Even when I keep saying it makes her look like she internationally wants to flash a part of her ass or boobs to the public, she just doesn't listen to me.”

“Oh, no. There's really nothing wrong with the way she dresses, whatever makes one comfortable I guess.” He shrugged in response, begrudgingly tearing his eyes away from her frame.

I was a bit taken aback but shrugged it off because like he said, wherever makes one comfortable.

I scoffed at the memory.

There were signs, I was just oblivious as shit so I couldn't see them.

I turned on the ignition just as my phone rang...