Love, Lies and Billionaires

A YEAR LATER

“Ding dong!” Maren could hear the doorbell ring from her bedroom, then the sound of the door being opened and then inaudible voices then-

“Maren Sharppe!!”

“Fucking hell,” she swore, startled and stared into the mirror. The view of the eyeliner she was applying on the right side of her eyes had gone zigzag.

She took out a piece of wipes and just took off the entire thing and headed for the door and down the stairs. She knew that voice even in her sleep.

“There’s my mother fucking bitch!” Nella screamed as she sighted Maren coming down the stairs. She ran to her and almost swept her off her feet.

“Alright, easy there,” Maren said as she returned her hug with a wide grin. “Bitch, I thought your flight was tomorrow. What are you doing here?”

“That’s the thing. The flight was too far away, so I took my dad’s private jet to be here today,” she explained and hugged her again.”

Maren shook her head in amusement. “You never change, do you?”

“I can’t wait for you to show me around this beautiful city or even the country.”

“I’ve only been here for about a year and I barely go out, so that’s half impossible, Nell”

“Nathan!!!” Zack’s voice echoed from behind as both women were too engrossed in themselves to recall that they both had kids who were friends.

They watched as Nathan, who had just come out with Rose and Zack, who had just walked in through the door, both ran to hug each other with so much happiness that it took some time before they let go.

“Zack was also part of the reason we just had to take my dad’s jet. We starved these kids, you know. Video calls never did anyone good,” Nella said with a bright smile on her face.

“It’s so nice to finally have you both here, Nella,” she said and pulled her in for a hug again.

“I know,” Nella replied and patted Maren on her back while they hugged.

“You just left without any notice, Maren. That was really wrong, you know, and you didn’t take my calls for a month. You almost had me file for a missing person case, you know,” Nella nagged as all four of them rode in a limousine to a location where the kids had chosen.

“I know, Nella, and I’m sorry. You continuously repeated this for the entire year, and I continuously apologised.” Maren said with a chuckle.

“Well, it’s not enough. And you still owe me an entire explanation for that stunt, don’t you forget?”

“Definitely. I’m willing to explain everything to you”

The vehicle finally came to a halt and the chauffeur open the door for them to get off. In front of them was a massive building painted in the colours of the rainbow with some funny-looking man on the banner of the building.

“Ice cream!!” Both boys cheered and hurried towards the entrance, where a man opened the door to let them in.

“So, care to share what drove you out of your birth city with your entire family?” Nella asked as they were finally seated with a scoop of ice cream in front of each of them. While the boys giggled with three scoops each.

Maren sighed and looked in the distance with a weak smile on her face. “Damn, the last three years was a fucking lot Nella, and you were there for most of it” she began. “From William to Alexander to Kendrick. god it was a lot”

“If you ask me, I’d say I’d like to hear Kendrick’s part. I mean, I was so sure you were so in love with him.”

“Well, he was a liar, Nella. He killed my father”

“Oh, my god” Nella exclaimed, trying to keep the ice cream in her mouth from pouring out.

“Yep, he was just like his brother. They were both monsters, and I really didn’t want to see either of them and that’s why I refused to attend Irene’s funeral”

Nella’s jaw dropped. “What?”

“Irene was found dead in an alley two months after we moved. Her throat was slit”

“Jesus! Do you suspect anyone?”

“My guess is Alexander, but I don’t have enough evidence. I think it’s fair to just let it go since both of them jointly hurt me,” Maren replied with a straight face.

“Wow, you’ve gone badass, Maren,” Nella praised and took another spoon in her mouth.

“It really wasn’t easy putting my life back together after all that, and being here in the new city is kind of helping a little.” She chuckled. “You know, my mom used to think it was a terrible idea building another company branch here. But guess who’s on vacation in the Bahamas?”

Nella looked at her and smiled. She really was happy for her friend. She reached across the table and took her hand. “You really are a strong woman, Maren and I am so proud of you”

Maren returned her smile. “Thank you Nella,” she replied and then suddenly let go of Nella’s hand. “Stop it, you’re going to make me cry”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

Nella chuckled and got back to her ice cream. “That reminds me, what happened to your secretary, Louise?”

“Damn, Louise. She was a good secretary, but I found out she was spying on me for both Alexander and Kendrick. I think she and Kendrick used to fuck once, but I’m not sure”

“God that’s so mess up”

“Oh, and she forged the second DNA test because she was in love with Kendrick and didn’t want her boss to know he was the father of her child.”

“Wow, that’s a lot,” Nella leaned back in her chair.

“So that’s basically it, my love,” Maren said and smiled. “It was worth moving, wasn’t it?”

“Definitely!”

“I’m just really glad you’re here, Nell,” Maren said, and both women chuckled.

*****

Maren was seated in a massive office with great lighting and ventilation, and her table was scattered with papers and files.

“Of course we can render our services,” she said on the phone. “Yes, I can clear my schedule after our first meeting and we can have another after that.”

“That’s alright.” She said and dropped the call. Just as she picked up her pen, she heard a knock on the door. “Come in”

An average height, dark haired lady walked in bearing three files and an envelope. She placed it on one side of Maren’s table.

“These came in for you ma’am”

She took a glance at it and turned back to what she was doing. “Alright, you can leave.”

As soon as the door was closed behind the lady, Maren lifted her eyes to the envelope and took it. She checked the body for a writing or inscription, but it was blank so she broke the seal and looked inside.

In it was just a white paper, so she carefully took it out.

On it was written:

“YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD RUN?”