The Unexpected Marriage Deal

I sat down at the round table alone. 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. The scenes kept replaying in my head, welling me up with 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, skin colour 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."

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 can't be happening. It can't be here. 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," she 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, 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.

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

I swallowed the betrayal bitterly and waited for Aaron to get dressed and walk away after he told her he would see her later. 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 me the father of the unborn child for now, and finally, how sorry she was. I didn't not say anything, neither did I smile, nor shout, nor asked her any questions.

"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. 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.nWith 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 in 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 anyways, 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.

Tears 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," I 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 whe 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've 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. Frustrated, 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 are the evidence attached to the allegation**

I attached the photo sent to me after typing as instructed, Even though they might end up killing me, my mother's life will 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-on back my phone 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 asked you to, I hope it won't land you into trouble?" my mother asked, her voice was laced with worry. I could feel the pain deep down.

Giving a bitter smile, I replied "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 alright, 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.

Bracing up to open my laptop again to check how the public was reacting to the news, I could view different hate comments about Eric circulating 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 the 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? Worst of all, the two people I was made to accuse had remained silent. Something within me told me it was calm before a big storm.

ERIC

I could feel myself floating as I walked into my office. I had woken up this morning to discover the mess a blogger created alleging I was gay. That had not moved me, although I knew my father was going to bring down the roof. Damien had not called me, even though I was sure as hell that he had seen the headlines.

What made me avidly angry was the state I was in when they took those photos. I was at the peak of pain from the betrayal I suffered from a woman and they called me gay? Since when did gays get broken because of the opposite gender?

I had sent my investigator to gather more information about the blogger. Once they had gathered the information, I would make her life hell for what she did. But why did she decide to post about me? Some other businessmen and celebrities were gay but had never been carried by blogs.

After all, it was their personal life. It could only mean so many things. She did it to increase conversion to her blog page, or one of his competitors hated him so much that they wanted to ruin him. could it be a strategy from Damien's father's opponent to reduce his chance of being elected for the second tenure as prime minister?

Whatever it was, I would get to the root of it when I apprehend the blogger.

Walking into my office, I could hear silent whispers about me. I would normally have shouted at them and asked them to get back to work, but I left them. After all, what is life without gossip? The only thing here was that they did not know how it affected me.

When I got to my office, my investigator, Tyler, was waiting for me. He was a long-time friend and had been loyal. Tyler narrowed his eyes, eye-rating me. "You have grown leaner. Have you been eating?" he asked, his voice laced with concern.

"What can I say, friend? My girlfriend cheated on me with my opponent. While trying to recover from it, a blogger decides to declare me gay," I replied and sat up. "Do you know how much damage this news is going to cause to the people involved in it? To Damien and his father. To me and my career?" I let a moment of silence pass before I responded. "I am too worried to care about eating."

There was no need to lie and keep up with the tough billionaire's name. If there was anything I had discovered within the past week, it was that. Love and Rumour could break a man more than anything.

Tyler heaved a sigh and nodded his head in understanding. "I understand but I've gotten everything you asked for," He said and handed his tab to me as I scrolled through the file. He turned on the television and started recounting the girl's whole life to me.

"Did you find the reason she did it? I mean, did you check her call logs, her bank account, and stuff like that?"

"I did, and there was no trace. No money was paid into her account. No calls. I think she did this on purpose." Tyler concluded.

I nodded at him. "She was not under any duress; she did this for her selfish reasons. So, what do we do?" I asked.

"Well, I think..."

A loud bang on the door interrupted our discussion. I shut my eyes in anger for a moment as a familiar scent hit the room.

My father, he walked in, his face heavy. He threw at me, a copy of a magazine with mine and Damien's photos on it. I got more furious, seeing the caption. He sat opposite me, slanted himself a little in the chair, his two hands were intertwined together with his chin resting on it. He glared at me. "What is the meaning of this?" He asked, his eyes on the paper.

Scoffing, I replied. "It's just some blogger snooping around. I will take care of it," with that, I tossed the magazine back to him.

"My question is why will Eric Sloan, son of Landon Sloan, future heir to the Sloan group of companies, be found at a bar with his friend in this position"

I shrugged. "I was drunk"

"Why?" He asked, wearing a more serious face.

"I wanted to relieve myself of some stress. Besides, why did you seem to care? You know it's a lie," I replied. He did not know the reason why Bella and I had broken up. No one did, except Damien and Tyler.

He banged his fist on my table. "You do not relieve some stress by getting drunk! I trained you more than that!" His nostrils flared as he shouted.

"Did you forget who you are? So many of our investors will question your capability. Is that what you wanted? To be referred to as a failure?" He asked.

I closed my eyes as I tried to control my anger. Who said being gay made one incompetent?

"I would fix it?" I assured him.

He stood up and buttoned his suit. "Better do. The world does not need to know you are a coward," he said with a stern voice and left. Tyler stood there, his mouth cracked. He was shocked at my father's outburst.

Damien entered inside a few minutes later and shook hands with me as if he was not aware of what happened. "We need to do something about this tweet of a blogger," he said, facing me. Tyler sat by his side.

"The political party is beginning to question my dad. Because he said I was straight, I mean I campaigned for him as a straight man and then this news came out that I am gay," Damien explained, his voice low, his eyes red with worry.

"Let's not forget Bella, my girlfriend. People are throwing questions and I am not trying to blame you, but it's your fault!" I glared at him.

"Don't look at me like that. You would have gotten drunk in a more expensive restaurant where your privacy could have been be more safe, or even at one of your hotels."

I knew what he was saying was true. I would have gone to my restaurant or an expensive one. But then again. I was too sorrowful to think. "I know, but I am confused. I don't..."

"We have to figure it out before it blows up everything" Damien cut me shut before I could finish my statement.

Tyler suddenly increased the volume of the TV. We glared at him. Why would he be bothered about something like TV at this time? He pointed towards the TV. "That's the blogger. That's Laura," he said, pointing at her.

We listened to her with rapt attention. "Yeah, I was an eyewitness to that photo I posted. Even his former girlfriend approached me after I wrote it. She thanked me for being able to do what she could not do. This confirms the entire issue. That they are both gay."

I curled my palm into a fist.

"What the fuck!" Damien shouted. He spared a glance at me, then at her. "She needs to be taught a lesson," he said

I nodded in support "An unforgettable lesson!"