Forever with the Billionaire

Loukas POVBelonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

I watched as the priest began to talk about Mr. Atins and the life he left behind. After his death was confirmed yesterday, Aiden and I made preparations to bury him, and when we arrived at the church, I never expected that Mr. Atins had a lot of people come for his burial, and most of the people that came were businessmen that I knew in the business world. They had come for a purpose and that purpose was known best to me, but none of them had any idea that I had already signed the merger with Mr. Atins.

“We are all gathered here together for Mr. Atins, who died three days ago, leaving behind his son and everyone else. We truly hope that Mr. Atins finds peace in heaven and also finds peace with everyone else. ”

“Fancy seeing you here? You’ve not been active, not like you were before, but ever since you’ve gotten married, I’ve been unable to see you and I’m surprised you came to Mr. Atins’s burial ceremony. Do you guys know each other? ” No one needed to tell me that my stepbrother, Caleb, was the one beside me because I could recognize his voice even if my eyes were closed. Caleb took a seat beside me and pointed to the priest “I don’t know why you’re here, but I hope you’re not here to receive sympathy for losing your company to your brother,” he mocked and pointed to Hillary, who was seated at the front seat with Aiden and Rotimi.

I had told them that I wanted to sit alone and that decision was made so I could see everybody and what they had come to do at Mr. Atins’ burial. Even though I expected Caleb to be at Mr. Atin’s burial, I never expected he would come for the funeral ceremony in the church. I know he was an ambitious person, but I never expected him to be as greedy as his mother.

” Don’t you think you’re asking too much of a question?” I finally spoke after a moment of silence, but I didn’t turn my head to face him instead I had my eyes fixed on the priest.

“Hmmm,” said Caleb, crossing his legs. ” I never expected you would leave your company in my hands. After all, you were responsible for everything, including the new hotel.” I watched him chuckle and sighed briefly. “It’s such a shame that you are a lame man,” he whispered, and that made me turn my head to face him.

He was asking for my attention, and I was ready to give him what he wanted. “You think that you’ve won, right?” I asked him, but he shrugged his shoulder as if he was unaware of what I had said. “If you remember what I said a few weeks ago, I told you that I would regain everything you’ve stolen from me and that is what I’ll do. I am going to regain everything you’ve stolen from me! ”

” Steal? ” Caleb burst into laughter. His voice was so loud that everyone else in the church turned to face him, including Rotimi and Hillary. When Rotimi saw him, he frowned and stood up, but I beckoned for him to sit down instead. “Your dog is even trying to help you!” Caleb burst into laughter. “Pathetic!” he said.

“Why are you even here if not that you feel inferior towards me?” I burst into laughter.

” Unlike you,” Caleb said, clicking his tongue. ” I came here for something else and that is to get the merging with A&T construction. I don’t care about what you have to say or do! ”

” And why do you think the merging will come to you?” I scoffed. ”  I mean you should know me by now that I don’t lose” I flashed him a smile.

Caleb shifted in his seat and leaned closer to me. “Stop acting as if you didn’t lose to me in the past,” he scoffed. ” You’ve been miserable all your life, so don’t act as if you are a happy person when you are not.”

That hit a nerve, but I wasn’t the type to back down so easily. I had suffered enough as a puppet in the hands of my step-family, but I had to make a decision and that’s to make sure that I destroy everything they ever worked for and get back my company, even if I had to go dirty.

“If you are so fed up with seeing my face, dear brother, you might as well disappear as you did years ago!” I whispered back. “How do you think the whole world finds out that I have been in charge of all the drawings and you’ve never raised your hand to draw anything your entire life? ” I retorted.

Caleb’s expression changed but he tried to pretend that he was happy and to show me that he had the upper hand, but I know when a person is already on their limits and Caleb was playing with fire, and sooner or later he was going to burn.

Caleb cleared his throat when all eyes turned back to face him. “I’ve always known you to be smart while we were going up, but I never knew you would stoop so low to talk about the drawings you gave to me yourself. I mean, even if you tell the whole world, who is going to believe you?” He spoke in a low tone that only I could hear and pointed toward me. “Look at you, Loukas! You’ve been hiding yourself for years and you think that just because you are behind those drawings, you can come and take them back, but I’m so sorry about that,” he chuckled. ” That company belongs to me,” he said possessively, and I could see the greed in his eyes.

Sometimes I just wonder how he was raised when the inheritance never belonged to him. I wondered why he wanted the company when he wasn’t the direct heir. Amanda had changed everything, and I even wondered how many people she had to sleep with just to get her son to be the chairman of the company.

“I told you already, brother,” I said, pointing to the priest, who had finished his speech.”You should be thinking of how to stop me once the six months are over, not how you can talk shit about me now.

That was a warning, but Caleb was too foolish to realize that, and because of how he thinks like an idiot, I knew that he would fall for my prey and wouldn’t understand me at all. I was going to let him take the bait, and at the end of it all, he was going to regret not listening to me.

“Why should I be scared of you?” He scoffed and stood up from the chair as everyone else stood up. Caleb straightened his suit and inhaled deeply. “Everybody knows that you are never going to be the same whether you give me six months or you give me five years. You are still going to look the same as you are now with your paralyzed body and you will never lay your hands on that company that you wanted so much because I am going to make sure of that, ” he threatened but that sounded like music to my ears.

I smiled at him and nodded in response. “Whatever you say, dear brother, Don’t come to me and beg on your knees when everything is over for you! ”

” Move out of the way,” Rotimi shouted at him as he walked past him. ” I don’t want to see you around him anymore!” He warned Caleb, but that wasn’t necessary because my stupid brother wasn’t worth my time at all, even though he was getting on my nerves.

“Leave him be, Rotimi!” I said to him.

“You heard your master. You should know best not to be rude to me.” Caleb tapped my shoulder, but Rotimi slapped his hand away.

“Don’t you ever touch me ever again, or else you’ll lose your hands.” Rotimi threatened, but that only made Caleb laugh. He chuckled and walked away without saying anything else. “Are you okay?” Rotimi asked me, and I nodded my head in response.

“What does he want?” Hillary asked as she looked toward where Caleb had headed to. “Why is he here?”

I placed my hand on my chin and smiled. “He believes he has the upper hand,” I paused before clicking my tongue.”He doesn’t realize he’s already losing,” I chuckled, turning to face Aiden.” Are you ready to hear your father’s will, huh?”

Aiden nodded in response, and I turned to face Rotimi. “Let’s go to Mr. Atins and we’ll announce the merger there.”

“Alright, sir,” he agreed, and I beckoned to Rotimi to prepare the car. He headed out first, while Hillary wheeled me out of the Limo.

“It’s about to get pretty busy,” I chuckled.

“Will you be alright?” Hillary asked me, and I nodded in response.

“Everything will be fine,” I sighed and grinned broadly, knowing full well that my brother and the other businessmen would be shocked to learn of the merger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When we arrived at Mr. Atins’ mansion, there were a lot of people, including reporters, outside the mansion. There was a long line of cars parked outside the house, and when our limousine stopped in front of the mansion, I reminded Aiden of what his father told me a day before he was released from the detention center.

“Remember, you have to be strong and show everyone that you can be a great director and also make sure that you run the company pretty well,” I told him, and he nodded in response. “All right,” I said as I extended my hand for Rotimi to take as he assisted me out of the limo and into my wheelchair.

“This is already giving me chills,” Hillary said, and I touched her hand that was on my shoulders.

“Don’t give up yet, dear wife. Everything is going to be fine,” I told her, and she wheeled me towards the reporters while Rotimi and Aiden walked by our side with a few guards trailing behind. Reporters rushed towards us to take our pictures as we made our way into the mansion but the guards blocked them from reaching us.

When we arrived in the living room, the family’s lawyer, a black man, was already seated on one of the five couches in the living room, and when he saw Aiden, he rushed towards him and hugged him. “I am so sorry about your father,” I heard him say to Aiden. I looked around and realized that there were a few businessmen in the living room already seated, and Caleb was among those men. When our eyes met, I smirked at him.

“I hope you are fine.” He asked, and Aiden nodded in response. “Mr. Whitemore,” he said, turning to shake my hand.”Thanks for coming here,” he said, and I took his hand and shook it gently.

“Since we are all seated here, I shall read out the will of Mr. Atins,” the lawyer announced, and everyone shifted in their seat. ” Mr. Atins had left his mansion to his son Aiden Atins, but he could only get full ownership of the mansion once he had gotten married. ”

Everyone nodded at that, and the lawyer continued. “His estates are also given to his son but can only be accessible until his son is old enough,” The lawyer cleared his throat and looked into everyone’s faces.

I smiled when I realized that it had gotten to the point where the merging would be announced. “Right into what we’re all here for,” he sighed and stood up.” The A&T construction company has been handed over to…” He paused and looked into everyone’s faces yet again. “The company has been handed over to an anonymous person best known to Mr Atins. ”

Every one started murmuring when the lawyer announced that, but I smiled because I knew that I was the anonymous person no one would ever find out about until I was ready to reveal myself to the world. “This is so amazing!” I whispered under my breath and watched as they all murmured amongst themselves.

I had won and it was just the beginning.