The Unexpected Marriage Deal

I sat down at the round table alone, gulping down whiskey after whiskey. This would be the first time I had come to a bar in many years, the pain I felt in my heart was just too much, it felt as if the bright sunlight streaming through the windows only made the ache more unbearable. It was as if the warmth and light were mocking me, showing the emptiness and coldness that had taken up residence inside my chest. I squinted, trying to shield my eyes from the glare, but it was no use. The pain was just as relentless as the sun beating down on me. I poured myself another whiskey.

The scenes kept replaying in my head, welling me up with more pain and anger.

I ran my veiny hands over my hair until my always neatly combed hair became rough and I didn't care.

I was supposed to care, as I was a billionaire heir, and even without my father’s money I would still be a billionaire. I was a public figure, the Sloan heir, but I refused to care.

For the past three months, after the scene, I had immersed myself in deep work, I barely ate or changed my clothes.

But today, while at work, my body could not take it anymore. My hands began to shake, my skin turned pale and all the memories kept coming back. It came back with a gush of pain.

At first, I tried blocking it, but I allowed it to freely take over me. I gulped down the remaining Scotch from the half-filled glass and drank, letting the memory replay itself.

It happened when I had forgotten something and had rushed down to take it. I stopped at the front of my gate, I didn't bother driving into the parking lot.

The gateman greeted me cheerfully, too cheerfully, as if he was happy that I was finally discovering something.

“Is Bella inside?” I asked in a hurry.

The gateman nodded quickly. “She has not left since you went out, sir.”

I walked out before he finished talking. “Good,” I murmured to myself as I loosened my tie.

She would help me find another suit and help me arrange my file while I took a quick shower. I just hoped she had not stressed herself or my unborn baby.

On entering the house, I felt something was amiss. The air carried a foreign scent.

I heard sounds coming in as I approached my bedroom, sexual sounds.

I immediately waved off the thought of it. After all, she was pregnant. Then it came again.

“Ahh… fuck Aaron…

“Harder...” Bella's voice moaned.

My heart sank, and for a moment, my heart skipped a beat, my legs became too heavy for me.

No! No! No! This couldn't be happening.

It couldn’t be her. She would never want to hurt me. After all, we would be expecting a baby and our marriage was in the next six months.

I mustered strength and walked into the room.

“Fuck!” Bella shouted immediately at the sight of me. The man continued thrusting shamelessly, unaware of my presence.

“Eric,” Bella called awkwardly, and this made him stop. He turned to look at the door, only to find me leaning across the bedroom door, my hands crossed around my chest.

I smiled. It was Aaron Walker, one of my competitors.

Aaron smiled back at me with victory, and rolled to the other side.

“I think our baby is going to be a baby boy,” he said sarcastically, kissing the bump and moving upward to kiss her. "I will be the luckiest dad in the world in no time."

She shone her eyes in confusion while Aaron closed his eyes to kiss her. Her eyes fixed on me. Such a shameless slut

The truth soon dawned on me. The baby was not my own. They have been having an affair for so long.

No wonder I had never outsmarted Aaron, because I always discussed my plans with Bella and they always flopped. She had been the one telling him of my plans. She's such a snitch. A devil in human form.

I swallowed the betrayal bitterly and waited for Aaron to shamelessly get dressed and walk away after he told her he would see her later. I fought hard to curtail the urge to jump on him and tear him to pieces.

Bella immediately knelt before me and began begging. I watched her pour out everything, from how she met Aaron, how she got pregnant and Aaron told her to make him the father for now, and finally, how sorry she was. So this had been going on under my nose? She has the guts to date my rival!

I did not say anything, nor did I smile, nor shout, nor ask her any questions. I just stood at a spot lost in awe, I felt like crying, but I tried as much as I could to curtail my teardrops and braced up.

“I just have two words for you,” I finally broke the silence. “Get… out…!” I fired at her stressing every single word before leaving her on the floor still begging.

The only luck she had was that she was pregnant. If not, I would have carried her out of the house myself. She was such a shameless slut. I just thanked my goodness that I got to know this earlier.

I reached out to my file and left. Ordering my boys to carry her belongings out of my house.

**

Since that day, I hadn't sat down to think about it or feel the pain. I just worked, worked, and did not even bother to think about it until now.

With that incident, I promised to never love anyone again.

I ordered another and drank the whole bottle, making it my fourth bottle. Without wasting time, I called Damien to pick me up. I was too drunk to drive.

Damien arrived in an hour, took a pitiful look at me, his best friend and carried me.

I kept on babbling and talking nonsense. In the process of leaving, we fell. Causing attention.

Unknown to us, a photographer stood at the edge of the bar. Clicking every moment that looked intimate.

Tomorrow’s headlines would be headlines that would keep on trending for days or months.

LAURA.

Sitting on my bed yoga style, with my palms pressed closely at the middle of my chest, anyone would think that I was doing yoga. That was my intention anyway, but my mind couldn't stay focused.

I inhaled deeply and started all over. I had to calm my nerves down for the atrocity I was about to commit.

My phone suddenly rang with an unknown caller. I knew who they were; they were the people who kidnapped my mother.

Answering the phone, a male voice echoed from the other end. “We sent you the photos in the morning. Haven’t you seen it?”

“I did, but I just wanted to wait a little,” I replied with a low voice even though all I wanted to do was kill them.

The caller broke into a sarcastic laugh. “How long do you want to wait till you post it? Seven days? Or till we drop your mother’s corpse on your bed?” He asked, his voice sharp with anger.

“Now listen to me and listen good, within the next one hour, I want you to post the photos sent to you or we will kill your mother. Maybe we will send you your mother’s photo and Ashes,” he warned.

Teardrops flowed freely from my eyes as I tightened the grip on my phone. “Please don’t hurt her. I will do as you've asked. Please, she is the only one I’ve got,” she pleaded.

“Then act fast!” The man retorted.

“Okay but please can I talk to her?” I pleaded hoping they could allow me, but all my hopes went crashing down when he replied.

“No, when you are done we will call you.”

Before I could reply, he ended the call. I couldn't help but break out in uncontrollable tears. I never wanted to do as they asked.

I tried to concentrate and continue my yoga, but each time I tried, a video of my mother tied up resurfaced on my face. I had to do something.

The worst part was that I was the only one carrying the cross, my younger brother knew nothing about what was going on.

In frustration, I gave up trying and then focused on my laptop. The surroundings slowed for a while and my breathing became difficult. They had sent me these photos in the morning but I had waited till in the evening.

At first, I thought it would be someone popular but not powerful. But the people in the photos were popular and powerful. Particularly the man they wanted me to post about. It was Eric Sloan and Damien Avery. I was supposed to accuse both of them of being gay.

Not to save anyone but to save my mother’s life who was in the hands of unknown kidnappers. The thought of my mother gave me the courage to open my blog page, then I started a new tweet;

—POPULAR MULTI-BILLIONAIRE AND HEIR TO THE SLOAN GROUP OF COMPANIES, ERIC SLOAN, IS GAY"—

**One month ago, Popular celebrity Bella Warner took the responsibility to announce the cancellation of her wedding to Mr. Eric Sloan popularly known as the multi-billionaire.

According to her, she claimed that they had different interests and wanted to focus on their business. All questions asked were particularly left unanswered.

However, it seems that Laura Karma, CEO of Karma’s blog has found the truth we have been looking for.

The wedding which was slated to happen in six months was called off because Eric Sloan is gay.

You might be wondering who his gay partner is, but I got you covered.

His gay partner is his one and only friend Damien Avery son of the current prime minister, Louis Avery.

Below is the evidence attached to the photo sent to me after typing as instructed, Even though they might end up killing me, my mother’s and brother’s lives would be saved.

Without thinking twice, I published it and watched until it ticked blue. Within two minutes it had over five thousand views.

I immediately turned off my phone and laptop, heaved a deep sigh, and fell back on my bed.

Two hours later I decided to turn my phone back on while waiting for their call.

They called thirty minutes later and gave the phone directly to my mother.

“Lala.” my mother addressed me by my nickname; her voice sounded very weak.

“Mum, are you okay?” I asked even though I knew what the answer would be.

“No, but I will be okay if you tell me that you are fine. They said you did as they said, hope it won’t land you in trouble?” my mother asked. I could feel the pain deep down

I gave a bitter smile “No mum. I will be fine.”

“One minute more!” I could hear the kidnapper shout to her notice from the background.

“Okay, Lala, I hope you are taking care of Jeff. If he asks you tell him I am all right, he is a medical student and I don’t want him worrying and getting distracted.” my mother sniffed, making me more broken.

“Yes, mum. I will take care of him. Just stay safe. I love you,” I replied, trying as much as I could to maintain my tone.

“I love…” my mother replied but before she could finish whatever she was saying the line went off. I broke down in yet another uncontrollable tears as the line went dead.

I decided to open the laptop again to check how the public was reacting to the news. Different hate comments about Eric filled everywhere. Everyone was talking.

More photos of him and his best friend surfaced online and had been tagged **the couple we never saw coming**

**Welcome to the LGBTQ community**

#love does not select gender#

Of all the comments and hashtags that filled her comment section, no one drew my attention as the two last ones

One was from Robes, a big podcasting channel.

**Miss Laura we would love to have you in our studio tomorrow if possible**

The other was from Bella Warner

**Thank you for helping me**

W.T.F. Why would Bella be thanking me if their allegation is true?

And what the hell would I say on the podcast? To cram it, all the two people she accused had remained silent. Something within told me it was calm before a big storm.