The Idiotic Billionaire

One and half year ago...

"Promise me you will take care of yourself, dear," Gina says as she follows Neriah into the already moving train.

"I promise, mom," Neriah says for the one millionth time today.

Tears run down Gina's face ruining the perfect face Neriah hopes to remember for a long time. "And you promise to always call right?" She asks, making Neriah's heart hurt even more.

Neriah pulls her into a tight hug, "I'll call; I promise I'll call every week as much as I can." She vows, before pulling away and helping to wipe her tears away.

She gently takes Neriah's hands making her look into her eyes, trying to insert assertiveness. "If things get bad, you know you can always come back home okay?" she reminds her.

Neriah nods, biting her lips. Gina seems to be making it as though this is a final goodbye, which she knows isn't true. "I know, and if things don't work out well after two years, I'll come back home and find a decent job in the town, and get married. I promise, now stop crying and causing people to stare."

Gina nods, wipe her tears off and kisses Neriah on her forehead, "Take care of yourself, okay?" she says with a small whimper.

Neriah nods before collecting her other bag and Gina gets off the train and wave at her.

***

NOW...

"Please, Mr Tony, just one more week and I'll find a place to move go to, I promise." Neriah practically begs as she follows Tony out of her apartment.

Tony is the caretaker of her apartment, this is the thirteenth month since she has been in this apartment and it is the last month she has here.

The Middle Eastern man gives her a pitiful smile, "I like you, Miss. Gomez, but my hands are tied here. Mr Inferno, the new buyer of this house hopes to have everyone out before Friday so that he can tear down the building and begin a new one."

Neriah rubs her forehead vigorously as she felt a migraine coming in, "Mr Tony, that's tomorrow -" she tries to speak but he interrupts her.

"Don't do this to me, Neriah," he pleads, "you're one of the best tenants this building has ever had, but you got to move out before Friday."

Her eyes grow glassy and her lips trembles, "I don't have anywhere to go," she mumbles pathetically.

The fact that this notice came suddenly, robbed her of the chance of finding another good place to move into and she didn't have the luxury of staying in a hotel.

Tony groans, "I'm sorry, Miss Gomez" he apologizes once more before walking out of the room.

When Neriah had stepped into the big city eighteen months ago, she wanted to pursue her dream which had always been fashion and clothing design and there was no better place to pursue that but in the large city of Lagos where all dreams could come true.

Upon her arrival, she settled in and began working at some of the industries she'd read about while she was still at home, but none of them would approve of her work. Determined, she continued to go further, but the more she believed, the more she failed and the more heartbroken she became.

Her dreams are almost over, having already spent eighteen out of the twenty-four months she'd initially set out to pursue this dream and now to make matters worse, she's now being asked to leave the house with the refund of the six months advance she made on the house.

She scrambles to the cold tiled floor, burying her head between her legs and tears sting her eyes as she contemplates what to do next. Life couldn't be worse for someone like her. All her life she had to fight through every moment and from one battle, she was tossed into another. She wonders if it will ever end.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to announce this year man of success, Mr Cainan Inferno," announces the man on TV and the clapping of multitude follows next as the the the camera shows the young man getting up his seat and going over to the stage where the host is.

Why does the name sound familiar? Neriah wonders on the floor, where else has she heard the name.

She pauses a moment trying to recollect and then! It occurs to her like a flash of lightning. Inferno is the name of the man that Mr Tony said bought the building from the landlord.

Neriah grabs a pen and piece of paper before moving in front of the TV and seeing his name boldly written on the screen where he's being interviewed, she quickly writes it down. She goes to her laptop and types the full name in, before pressing on the search button and patiently she waits as the web displays the basic information about him to her. Apparently, the broadcast is a rerun and she's grateful that it is being aired now.

She takes her time and downloads all the available information about him, which she is still surprised are good things he's done. From everything written here, he's a self-made billionaire, who is heavily invested in humanitarian work and research. According to this article, he's a selfless enthusiast who hopes to change and make the world a much better place and many other wealthy billionaires in the country have joined him in the quest.

How bad can he be?

Neriah washes her sobbing eyes and put a little makeup on and ties her messy hair into a side ponytail. She grabs her sneakers and after putting them on, she walks out of her apartment.

The Inferno group which happens to be the real name of his company is luckily just a few minutes' walks from her house according to what she'd written down earlier from the web, which explains why he wanted to buy the building over.

Neriah is a little amazed by the fact that she'd lived in this neighbourhood for close to two years, but had never bothered to even know anyone or anything around her. She immediately blames herself for being too driven by her dream to get to enjoy life and hopes to make a change about that from now on.

Neriah finally comes to a stop at 14th street Avenue where the company is supposed to be and as she looks, her mouth drops open and she knows she's soon going to fall on her butt if she keeps starring up and hoping to see the top of the building.

"Excuse me, ma'am," a young man in a blue suit says, brushing past her and hurrying into the building and she hears him murmuring, "I'm so fired already." Under his panicking breath.

Neriah swallows down on nothing and looks at her wristwatch and it's only three minutes past eight a.m., she tells herself before entering the building.

The inside is even more organized than the outside with each staff on their position, on their desk highly focused on their works. She approaches one of the workers on his computer at the corner of the room and smiles a little as she reaches his table.

The blonde-haired, twenty-something-year-old man stops typing and glances up at her with the 'I can't be bothered' look before asking, "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, good morning, I'm actually looking for Mr...."

"Oh my gosh, he's here," comes the stuttering voice of the man she's standing before, "can you move away from this desk? I don't want to get into any trouble with the boss."

Neriah turns around from the blond and rather rude young man and as she does this, she sights the man she's been hoping to see before coming here.

Cainan Inferno.

Everything in his path seems to stop moving and so does she. She doesn't want to but she knows she has to admit that he is handsome maybe even beautiful in this case. Mixed, rich olives and skin, thick black hair, well-sculpted nose, chiselled and hard jaw, green eyes and swollen red lips and she think she can guess what he's been doing in the last few minutes.

"Hey, everyone!" Cainan calls out, bringing the attention of everyone on the floor to him. "Say hello to Shawn," he says, pulling the young man Neriah had seen outside earlier when coming in by the arm.

"Hello, Shawn," everyone says in unison.

The twenty-something-year-old, brown eyes, dark skin, black hair man who looks like he's about to pass out head drops and he stares at the floor.

"Shawn is late again and everyone knows the first one is a...?" He pauses after asking.

"Warning," the staffs reply again like automatic answering robots.

"So everyone says goodbye to Shawn," the young man's eyes widen in sorrow and looks like he's about to break down in tears.

"Goodbye, Shawn."

Cainan pats his shoulder, "Go and clear your table, Mr Ola."

"Sir, please give me one more chance." Shawn ramble helplessly, "My mom's admitted at the hospital I need this job so we're not thrown out." he says in tears.

Not showing any bit of sympathy, Cainan says, "Not my business, Shawn, go clear your table or I'll call the security to throw your things out."

Unable to say anything else Shawn bows his head and walk away from him in sorrow.

Cainan who doesn't seem to be done yet continues to speak, "Let this be a warning to every one of you, if you do your best, you'll be rewarded, if not, you'll be fired. Carry on people."

Neriah saw her opportunity and she decides to take it. She begins to approach him only to be blocked by two men out of nowhere.

"Let me through!" She says, after being unable to make them move even as she pushes at them.

"Who are you and what do you want?" One of the tall heavily built men asks.

She tiptoes to make sure Cainan isn't completely gone yet. "I just want to speak to your boss."

He folds his arms, "He doesn't want to talk to you."

"Can you go ask him at least?" Neriah knows she's sounding desperate but she can't help it, she really needs more time in her apartment and the only way to get it is by talking to Cainan.

"Who's that?" Cainan demands, his voice deep and commanding attention.

"This Lady here want to talk to you," one of the men replies.

He walks over to where the three are, "Let's hear it then," he pauses and folds his hands

Neriah is taken off guard, not expecting it to be that easy and so she asks, "What?"

He rolls his eyes, "You're not deaf are you?"

She shakes her head, "I'm not, I stay at the mainland, 17th street avenue." She begins to say.

He growls and Neriah is sure he's losing his patience, "You're inviting me to your house now? Cause I have better offers."

The guards chuckle and he glares at them, and once again Neriah dismisses his rude and arrogant response. "N-no... No" she stutters, shaking her head even as her cheeks heat up in embarrassment. "You're the new owner of the property and you're are asking us to leave because you're hoping to tear it down tomorrow."

"I believe I gave you all extension and also gave a double refund of your rents."

She nods, "Yes you did, but finding a house in the city is not as easy as you think it is," she explains, her frustration dawning on her

He shrugs casually, "Then move back to your home town, young lady."

Her eyes widen and she scoffs, "Thanks; I just need a little more time and I'll leave that's all."

"Twenty four hours is my most generous offer to you young lady." He says with no trace of pity in his tone as he walks away from her.

Her eyes widen and she follows him out of his office, "But that's unfair."

"Unfair is demolishing the house on you while you're still inside and believe me that's what I'm going to do if you don't get lost in twenty-four hours."

She scoff, not knowing if the man she's talking to is a man or metal. How can he not sympathise with those in difficult situations? Sure things might come easy for him, but that wasn't the case for a lot of other people.

This man was the complete opposite of what the news and sources said about him. He didn't have a good heart, he had the heart of stone and he may help the less privileged, but he seems to do that for the attention that brought him. She thought.

"You're unbelievable." She shook her head.

"Being unbelievable is what has brought me here today." He agrees with a nod.

"And being an idiot is what will take you to where you will be tomorrow, cause you might be a billionaire, but you sure are an idiotic one." She does not realize she'd said that out loud until she finds the whole room quiet and the eyes of all the staffs in the room on her, including the murderous eyes of the one she just called an idiot.

He looks like he's about to unleash all hell down on her after what she said about him and she didn't think she would make it if he did that.

She doesn't say another word before walking away, more of running.

She meets Shawn as she walks outside and he's still holding the box that contains his personal belongings, "Hey, I saw what happened to you inside and I must say no one deserves to go through that."

He smiles a little and he looks down, "Thanks and I heard what you told him inside, thank you for saying it to his face, most of us wish we had that much courage. So on behalf of all of us who didn't have enough guts to speak, thank you."

She can't help smiling even though her day is already messed up and not going to get better, "No problem."

She was unable to do what she came to do, but at least she was able to bring a smile to the face of someone.

The two begin to walk down the road, "So what are you going to do now?"

She shakes her head, "Going home and pack my bags and look for where I can move to before tomorrow comes."

"There's a house on lease close to where I live, you can come and check it out today if you're not very busy." He casually suggested.

Her face lightens up, as she turns to him, "Really?"

He nods, "Definitely. I know it isn't luxurious but it's something."

"Okay sure."

"The idiotic billionaire, I hope someone writes something my mean ex-boss someday."

...

There comes a knock on the door and Cainan drops the pen and closes the file he's reading through, "Come in," he says.

The tall, forty-three years old wearing a black suit named, Ben, who is Cainan head of security enters the office, crossing his hands behind his back as he comes to a halt. "I was told you needed me."

He nods and lay his back against his seat, "I have a job for you."

"What is it, boss?"

He rubs his jaw slowly, "I want you to keep an eye out for someone and feed me back everything you find out about them."

"Okay, sir, who's it?"

"Her name is Neriah Gomez."

"So what do you think?" Shawn asks when he sees Neriah walk out of the apartment with a broad smile on her face.

They had both checked out the apartment and when Cecil, his mother's friend and owner of the place came by, they both went in to discuss while Shawn waited outside. It's been close to fifteen minutes since the two women had gone in to talk.

"It's okay, I like it!" She squeals and hugs him, "and according to Cecilia I can move in if I have six months payment down." She couldn't have been happier to say those words.

"That's great news then?" He asks as he stared into her eyes.

She may not have known Shawn for so long, but he's gone out of his way to help her out and she's grateful for that. "Yes. Thank you, Shawn, you're a lifesaver." She says as they begin to walk on.

His smile dies down as he mutters, "If only that were true."

Neriah doesn't need to think twice to know what he's referring to because she'd heard him talk about his mom being in the hospital when Cainan fired him in the morning. How cold that man was to ignore the reasonable excuse presented to him.

"How is she?" She asks looking up at him and she sees his face drop.

He sighs, "Hanging on."

"That's good though right?"

He takes a deep laboured breath, "She doesn't see the point of holding on and according to her, she's becoming more of a burden than she's ever wanted to be. I had to tell her to keep the faith before leaving this morning."

Neriah is quiet for a while before blurting out the obvious, "That was why you were late."

He silently nods, "I can't tell her I got fired, it'll crush her."

"What are you going to tell her?" Her brow raises, "Lying would only last for a while."

And she understands first hand what lying is like. Every time her family from home calls, she tells them she's doing alright even though she knows that's so far from the truth. She couldn't tell them she wasn't alright and that all wasn't going well with her because she knew that would only make them worry and she didn't want that.

"It'll be long enough for me to find another job."

"I believe you'll find a good job soon." She pats his shoulder as she reassuringly says this.

***

"You're thinking," Clara quietly points out, her fingers lightly drumming on Cainan's chest as she stares at Cainan whose eyes are fixed on the ceiling in deep concentration. Having known him for a long time, she knows he only looks this way when something is bothering him. She's seen this look when she first walked in an hour ago and this is the first time sex didn't help improve his mood.

He shakes his head, but he knows she knows better, "What's wrong? Someone giving you a hard time at work?" She prob, becoming more interested than she should be.

He turns so his eyes fixed on hers, "Even if they are, there's really nothing you can do because the last time I checked, you are married and it's not to me."

She groans and pulls the bedsheets up with her as she sits down, "Cainan, please tell me you're not going back to point fingers at my marriage again."

He shrugs and sits down as well, "I've never been a liar, won't start now. You left me and married Hugo and now you're cheating on him with me and don't forget that I also happen to have a girlfriend."

When they started this a few months ago he told himself it was the last time, but there was something about Clara that made him always come back.

She rolls her eyes, "You want this too, don't try to pin it all on me."

He would never do that, it was much of his fault as it was hers, "I'm not. I do want this because I still have strong feelings for you but I hope to someday get over that, but that day isn't today." He pulls her closer and kisses her lips as he pushes her back down on the bed.

Cainan's phone begins to ring and they both growl and pull apart. Cainan begins to reach for it when Clara speak up. "Ignore it."

His mouth pauses a little and decides to let the phone ring after muting it the phone soon stop vibrating and they kiss again, Cainan is about to roll on top of Clara when the phone begins to ring again.

He pulls away from her and reaches for the phone, "Could be important," he explains, giving her apologetic eyes.

"The last time I checked, I'm still very important," Clara argues the obvious and he won't argue with her on that.

He glances at his phone and sees the caller ID is Ben and he figures he's probably calling to give information about the assignment he'd given him earlier. "Sorry, I've got to pick it." He says, getting up from the bed and walking to the bathroom.

"Yes?" He asks, before going quiet to hear what Ben is saying.

"Sir, I have followed up with Neriah Gomez, just like you asked." Came Ben's report.

"So you have all the information?" He further enquires, awaiting the response.

"Yes sir," he proceeded to explain in details what he had found before adding, "I will have then over to you once you're in the office."

"Good then, keep an eye on her." He says before ending the call.

When he turns around, he sees Clara staring at him with a folded arms. She's already in her black gown and he realises the call might not be as brief as he realised that the call wasn't as brief as he thought it would be.

The look on her face is unreadable which was and still is one of the things he doesn't like about her. The fact that she can shut her emotions and he would be unable to know what's going on in her head.

He taps on the phone in his hand, before saying the only reasonable thing he can think of. "I'm sorry about that."

At this, she gives him a smile filled with unsureness, "Do I get to be angry? At least I know why the call was so important. Is she pretty?"

He makes a grunting sound, his eyes lowering to the phone in his hands, "It's not what you think?"

"What do you think I think?" She asks with her brow arching.

"That we are screwing, but this is totally different." He defends himself.

She places a hand on her hips and holds her head up. "And if it isn't, do I have the right to be mad?"

"Yes!" He instantly replies.

She shakes her head and steps towards him, her brown eyes not once deflecting, "No I don't and you know why because I'm not your girlfriend nor are you my husband."

"Don't go there please," he pleads and back away from her.

"But it's true! And you're right." She replies, making him stop in his movement. "We are just horrible people who are too fucked up to move on and so we settle for screw each brain out."

His breath is heavy and laboured as he begins to boil with rage and he wishes he can do something that'll hurt her in return for the way she has hurt him, but he can't, no not really.

"Is that what you tell yourself? That we are fucked up?" His voice is pained and angry.

She nods remorsefully, "Yes and we are so going to hell for it and the way you make me feel isn't enough to change that reality."

"What are you trying to say?" He asks, still forcing himself to stay calm.

She begins to walk towards him and all he wants to do is tell her not to come any closer but he wants her close, he wants her to hold him and never let go. "I made the greatest mistake of my life when I left you and married Hugo and as much as what we are doing feels so good, it's wrong on so many different levels." She reaches out a hand and stroke his cheeks tenderly.

He takes hold of her hand trying to mentally stop the reaction her touch brings out of her body. "I don't know where all this is coming from cause the Clara in bed with me less than ten minutes ago couldn't have cared less."

She pulled her hand away from his, "She wouldn't have if you hadn't received that phone call and if she didn't hear you sound so determined over the phone. She probably would not have realised how selfish she has been for trying to keep you as hers even when she knows that it is no longer possible."

He takes her hand, "I love you and you love me and that's all that matters to me."

She smiles slowly and runs her free hand through the small stubble on his face. "I think you deserve better."

His jaw clenches and he shoves her hand off his face, "You don't get to tell me what you think I deserve!" He snaps and walks away from her, into the room. "You lost that privilege when you ripped out my heart by calling me a boy who was too young to be with you and so couldn't wait for me!"

She follows behind him, "You're right, I don't, but Hugo deserves better and so does Samantha and we can't keep doing this to them."

"And just like five years ago, you're ending things again." His eyes squeeze shut on their own, feeling the sting of tears coming on as he remembers their break up five years ago and the pain feels so real every time he thinks about it like it was yesterday.

"Yes," she picks up her purse, "only this time I won't be coming back."