Contract Marriage; Fated Love

“My boss sir.”

Her answer infuriated Noah.

“Will you speak up and say something sensible or I slap sense into your thick skull this evening.”

“Mr. Dan.”

“Call your colleague. Tell her to come here right now.”

“I don’t have any colleagues here,” she denied.

The rule of the game was that success was a shared value while failure was a personal thing. If you got caught in carrying out your task, it was secrecy at all costs. She only exposed her boss to reduce her punishment.

“You still have the guts to lie to me? Are you crazy?”

Noah resisted the urge to give her a deafening slap.

He called the security and handed her over to them. He also asked them to arrest the other girl quietly.

Rose was on her bed smiling and thinking of the respect and honour she was going to start getting soon. She was already envisioning herself as CEO. She was going to be CEO Rose. A very nice position she had always wanted. She was just waiting for Ben to call her and deliver the good news.

Ben called a few minutes later and asked her to see him.

“Did everything go as planned?”

“I will tell you everything. Come, and be quick too. I will text you the address.”

Rose had her bath and got dressed. She hurried to the arranged place, her heart bubbling with joy. She couldn’t wait for the good news. She even yelled at the cab driver for being too slow.

“Hey, can you drive faster?”

“This is the highest I can go, Miss. Security and safety entails that you don’t drive above the speed limit and…”

“Enough of that your sermon. I only gave a simple instruction.”

The cab driver kept quiet and continued driving within the speed limit. He didn’t let her naggings bother him. He wouldn’t let some bitter woman spoil his day that early morning.

Rose ran into the office that they agreed to meet and found Ben seated in handcuffs!

“Ben? What happened? Why…” Before she could complete her question, the police apprehended her. Finally, all the perpetrators of the crime have been caught. Rose couldn’t believe what was happening. Their plan failed? And not only did their plan fail, they were also arrested by the police. She was done for. Noah would go any length to get them all severely punished. She was taken to the other room with Ben. There, she met the three people who were part of the plan. Not even one of them escaped! They were hauled into the waiting police van and taken to the police station. Rose was worried. Was she going to be behind the bars soon? She even got more annoyed with Ben for flopping the plan and giving her away. Now, they would all pay for it.

Couldn’t he have done without involving her? Hadn’t she paid him? She looked at him and felt like strangling him.

Ben on his own thought her a terrible ill luck. He had successfully carried out shady deals in the past and had gotten away with all but hers was a mess. He had even been more careful in handling hers than he had been in all others. He scaled through in others but failed in hers. There was no doubt she was bad luck. He wished he hadn’t done this with her.

Sadly, this was no time for regret and the hands of the clock could not be turned back. They all had to face the consequences. It wasn’t time to apportion blame. They were all in it together. However, each person prayed for a lesser punishment.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Now you are all here, I want your statements. Nothing but the truth,” said a pot bellied policeman who seemed to be the boss there. He gave each of them a paper and a pen. He sat his fat self on the seat and read his newspaper while waiting for them.

About two hours later, President Noah showed up at the police station. The criminals were all brought before him and he looked at Rose directly in her eyes for a full minute. She looked down in shame but he kept looking at her. His interest and focus was on her. She probably masterminded the whole thing. He recalled her vain attempts to make him let go of the company. He walked closer to her and stood a few inches away from her.

“Hey! Look up.”

He sounded like an investigating officer. One could mistake him for the officer in charge, just that he wasn’t in uniform.

“You masterminded all these, right?”

She nodded.

“Can’t you speak?” a policeman nearby shouted at her.

“President Harper is asking you a question and you are not responding.”

He moved menacingly towards her but President Noah motioned him to stay calm. He shifted his attention from Rose and swept his gaze across the others. They shivered and hung their heads. Noah came to hear the story from the horse’s mouth. He wanted to know how and where they got the courage from.

Merely looking at them, he could guess how it all happened.

Rose had paid Ben to make Noah sign the document and release her father’s company. Of course, Ben couldn’t carry out the task alone. He contacted Dan and paid him to get him two girls to do the job. Rose was required to give the girl an employee card. She simply got her colleagues card. She had helped her hold her purse the previous day and she picked it out.

The girl entered successfully and wouldn’t have been spotted but for Noah. The last girl had also entered the same way and was well hidden in the restroom. The plan was for her to sneak out of the room, change her outfit and join the party like every normal employee once the document was signed.

Everything went as planned and just when they were about to gloat, the plan fell through.

Noah turned to the police man and said, “Put them all behind bars.”