Love, Lies and Billionaires

The phone buzzed for the umpteenth time and Maren finally picked it up and found the guts to switch it off.

What she needed now was definitely not another excuse to explain, lie and definitely not face what she knew was coming.

She finally stepped away from the table and clasped her hands in front of her before flashing a smile at the men who sat around the table who were now looking at her with expressions which questioned her actions.

“If it’s that urgent, you know you can excuse yourself and take it, right?” One man with a scanty moustache said to Maren.

“Oh, it’s definitely not that urgent. It’s probably just my social media fans calling or something.”

“Does that actually happen?” Another asked.

“Yeah, sometimes,” she replied dismissively and turned back to the chat behind her. “Let’s get back to work, shall we?”

She struggled with her phone, her bag and a booklet in her hand and she stepped onto the patio of the cafe.

Pulling out her glasses roughly from her jeans, which she had hurriedly put on to work today just to get out of the house. She put on the glasses as soon as the door was held open for her, as she saw that the inside was packed with people.

She’d chosen a public cafe for the sole reason of not being found at her usual tea room, where she suspected whoever wanted to could find her.

Scanning the area through her dark shades, she strolled down the aisle of booths and mouthed sorry when she found them occupied.Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

A buzz from her phone made her fumble with the jean jacket which hung on her arm as she pulled the phone out and stared at the caller ID. She just sighed and turned off the screen before resuming her search for a spot to hide.

“Are you leaving?” She asked the couple who had just stood up from the booth at the end of the aisle.

The lady’s brows creased as she tilted her head while looking at Maren like she was someone who’d risen from the dead.

“Yes, sure,” the man’s voice came, and she took his lady’s hand and pulled her along. Maren watched them leave, and she saw the lady turn around to glance at her one more time.

Maren ignored it and sank into the booth, and with her eyes closed, she heaved a heavy sigh of relief. The glasses were never a good disguise, anyway; she thought.

But that was the least of her problems now. She was a fugitive running away from everyone in her life, not having the balls to continue any of what she’d started.

Both Kendrick and Alexander had been blowing up her phone all day. Alexander kept texting and calling when she hadn’t taken his first call and Kendrick…well, she’d been ghosting him all week.

“Good day ma’am. What can I get for you?” Maren’s eyes flung open at the sound of the voice and she turned to view a young lady about the same age as Rose standing and smiling by the booth.

She was in a white shirt and trousers, which Maren thought wasn’t really the right uniform for a cafe.

“I think I’ll just have some black coffee,” Maren replied. Something stronger would have done the trick, but she was in a local cafe. She wasn’t going to risk asking for rum like she sometimes did in the tearoom.

“Right away, ma’am,” she replied and picked up the teacup of the table, which Maren was just noticing, then walked away.

Maren took a deep breath to calm her nerves, trying to convince herself that she had everything under control, whereas the red angel whispered otherwise.

She could do this, right? She asked herself. Though she hadn’t given Alexander a definite answer the other night-with reasons not known to her. She knew that soon she’d have no choice but to answer as that time was really, really close.

Deep down, she knew the answer was on the tip of her tongue and just waiting for her to let it out, but she was just being a pussy, as usual.

The lady returned bearing the coffee. And as she stirred the sugar into the liquid, her mind seemed to come together and make a resolution.

She had to tell everyone the truth!

*****

“Ma’am, you have a visitor,” a voice came from behind the door after a knock.

“Who’s that?” She asked absentmindedly as she clicked away on her laptop, hoping Nella was finally back from her shoot in Mumbai.

“They call him Mr Harding”

‘Fuck!’ Maren’s head screamed as her entire body froze. She remained that way for another minute till a whisper reminded her that Alexander was supposed to be in the living already.

“Shit!” she muttered and sprang up from the chair. She knew this day would come when these two would meet and she wouldn’t be able to stop them both from tearing each other apart.

She yanked open her wardrobe to find something less showy to change into, which was a real deal as she did it, so paranoid that she ended up scattering the entire thing.

In time, she was into better and comfortable pants and she headed out.

“You’ve got some balls to show up here, in my house, don’t you think?” She could hear Alexander’s voice from down the stairs.

“Been a while since I came here. You don’t do much touching up, do you?” Kendrick said, looking interestingly around.

Maren got to the top of the staircase and stopped, realising that she hadn’t seen Nathan since she got back. And knowing this night might end pretty badly, she turned around and headed for his room.

Gently, she opened the door and found Rose patting his sleeping head. She gave a small smile and walked over to his bed, then placed a kiss on his forehead before smoothening it. She took a quick gaze at him, then remembered that she had some matter to attend to.

Kendrick clicked his teeth, “Damn, I should have killed you the thousands of times I had the chance”

“Now I know why dad let you leave, you selfish bastard. You were always a thief, taking what never belongs to you. I hate that you’re my brother Ken-”

“What?”