Love, Lies and Billionaires

“You’ve been quiet ever since you got back from William’s burial. What is the problem?”

Maren didn’t respond. She just sat at the table on her room’s balcony, her eyes glued to the screen of her laptop.NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.

“What the hell happened that day Maren, talk to me,” her mom persuaded, settling into the chair opposite her, placing a cup of tea in front of her. “You turned off your phone after that day and even Alexander hasn’t been able to reach you.”

Maren reached for the cup and lifted it to her lips, making sure to not lock eyes with her mom. She took a sip of the tea and placed the cup in front of her mom, meaning she wasn’t interested.

Her mom narrowed her eyes at her. “At least if you wouldn’t speak, listen to me.” Maren still wasn’t moved and one could tell that her attention wasn’t entirely on what she was doing.

“Well, Micheal, the detective was here yesterday while you were busy wallowing in your mind” her mom went on, anyway.

“He could get a hold of the two companies which he secretly worked with and trust me, what I saw in his report wasn’t comforting at all.”

“What companies?” Maren suddenly asked,

“Oh, so now you’ll talk?” Her mom shot.

“Mom, please tell me,” she begged, finally lifting her head to meet her mom.

“That was another evidence Alexander had withheld but was contained in the file which he gave Micheal” her mom replied.

“What did you see, mom?”

“Well,” she began, “Obviously these men were into shady businesses. But what no one else knew was that they were into organ harvesting.” Her mom said, making Maren wring her nose in disgust.

“Yeah, there was also picture evidence which he showed me and trust me when I say I sometimes still see those things when I close my eyes at night”

“I guess the good thing about all of this is that William wasn’t involved in the harvesting, according to the men he had apprehended. He just needed a favour from their boss who is nowhere to be found, by the way”

“So, if we had used that evidence against him in court, it would have been useless?” Maren asked.

“Exactly what I had asked him. According to him, there was a chance that it could be used against him because it was really incriminating. Plus, he might not see it coming so none of them might not be there to testify against it.”

“Chances of him being screwed in court was fifty to fifty despite the other evidence on him, Maren,” her mom said in conclusion.

“But Alexander said there were testimonies from some of his assaulted workers and the money laundering?”

“Michael’s assumption is that probably, William had figured some workers were going to snitch about the money laundering, so instead of torturing them himself, he went to Gustavo, the boss of the harvesters”

“That sounds like a really stupid thing to do. William would never do that”

“That’s what I thought too. But it’s just an assumption though, he hasn’t fully investigated that part for now, he’s focusing on finding Gustavo. It’s graduated to an FBI case.”

“I hope they find him and find who killed William”

Maren said but her mom kept quiet, staring at her as she pressed the buttons on the keyboard half mindedly.

“Are you ready to tell me what happened at the funeral?” Her mom asked after the long silence.

Maren sighed, but kept her eyes on the laptop. “I met Irene at the funeral,” she said and paused, as if searching for words to say.

“Okay? Go on!”

“She told me everything,” Maren said with a firm voice.

“Told you what? Can you please stop these few words sentences?”

Maren took a deep breath, raised her head to view her mom, then closed her laptop. “Mom, I’m screwed.” Her mom gave her a questioning look, but she just looked away towards the garden as she fought her tears from falling.

She ran her hands through her hair and turned back to her mom, thinking of words to use to explain all what Irene had told her.

“Irene told me everything. How she and William’s affair started,” he began, but her voice failed her as it began to quake. “She said I caused everything and-”

“And what?” Mom asked. Her voice was firm, but worry was written all over her face.

“She said their affair started when he always went to confide in her. He always told her the problems we had in our relationship, mom.” She said and paused.

“Which was?”

Maren raised her eyes to meet her mom’s. “William told her he couldn’t father a child. ”

There was a long silence at that point, and the only thing heard was the whooshing of the wind on the trees as both women just stared at each other.

After a while, Maren’s mom gave something that sounded like a snicker. Maren was sure she heard wrong until she did it again, and the next came as a chuckle.

Maren looked at her mom in confusion, hoping she hadn’t gone mad because what she had just said had no iota of comedy in it. “What’s so funny, mom?” she asked, her stinging tears suddenly drying up.

Her mom held her stomach while she gave a short laugh. “It’s just so funny how typical a liar William was. And she believed him? How else did Nathan come about?”

Maren didn’t respond. She just stared at her mom and let her have her moment as she chuckled and took a mouth full of the tea which had become too warm by the way.

Her mom suddenly stopped and looked at her. “Wait, you believe him too?” She asked, her face getting serious again.

“I don’t…I don’t know, mom. I’m just really confused right now. She said a lot of things that day. Things that I could confirm myself. I really don’t know what to believe, mom”

“What about the DNA test? I mean, the test confirmed that he’s the father” her mom asked.

“That was rigged, mom. Irene confirmed it. They both planned it to make us suffer”

Her mom turned to the garden, quiet in thought after that, and Maren stared at her in anticipation.

“But what would you be worried about if you were sure William is the father?” Her mom finally asked, quietly, “What have you done, Maren?”