His Bride: Being the mafia’s princess

Fred dropped the phone and sighed. He put the phone back in his trouser pocket and opened the door, heading downstairs. He met his father in the sitting room looking so unhappy, and he guessed he had already heard.

“What’s this news I’m hearing?”

“And what is that?” Fred said as he feigned a puzzled look.

“You mean you don’t know the company has lost over $100, 000, 000?!” His Dad said furiously, and Fred bowed his head.

“The investors are all threatening to back off from the project if it is not being handled urgently!” He continued to rant out in anger.

“Dad, I would try to fix this in all possible ways that I can.” Fred assured in a sigh.

“Oh! So, you knew about it yet, you acted as if you knew nothing?” His dad said, glaring hard at him as he reduced his tone, but it was only for a while.

“Huh? Answer me!” He fired at him.

“I didn’t because I was going to investigate how to sort it out.” Fred defended lowering his gaze.

“I didn’t hand this company over to you, so you could destroy all what I have built with my very hands for more than decades now.” Mr. Jeffrey seethed as he pointed a finger at him.

“Dad, I’m clueless about how this happened. I make sure to keep an eye on this company even …….” Fred tried to defend, but his father cut him off.

“This is not a matter of keeping an eye on it. It is all about the account of the company, the huge amount of money it lost.” Mr. Jeffrey rasped, and Fred took a quick glance at him from where he stood.

“Do you want this company to go bankrupt?” He asked lowly this time, but Fred remained silent.

“Don’t you keep quiet! Answer the fucking question!” He thundered, sending little shivers into Fred.

“No, dad.” Fred replied, but without looking at him.

“But, it wasn’t my fault in the first place. I’m not the company’s finance manager.” Fred tried to defend.

“But you are the damn CEO. If the company goes bankrupt, the so-called finance manager would get a job somewhere else, leaving you to bear the consequences. What would become of the family then?” His dad rasped out.

“You better fix this, else I’ll strip you off everything that has to do with the company, including being the CEO.” Mr. Jeffrey pointed out. Fred raised his head as he stared at his father with a shocked expression.

“Fix this Fredrick.” He repeated and stomped off.

Fred took his hands to his hair, scattering it in the process as he took in a deep breath. He sank to the couch nearby and brought out his phone. He dialed a number and placed the phone on his ear.

“Hello! I need your help.”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

**********************

“Dude, I came here immediately you asked to see me, but you have refused to say a word for the past few minutes that I arrived.”

“Or was I called here for some silence competition?” Francisco uttered again.

“Does that even exist?” Fred said dryly and took a glance at him.

“I don’t know, and I don’t want to know. Now tell me, why am I here?” Francisco asked now resting back on his seat.

Francisco and Fred were best friends since high school, and they’ve been there for each other, especially in times like this.

“It’s the company. It suffered a huge loss of money and my dad is so mad about it, that he threatened to take away the CEO duties from me.” Fred explained after seconds of silence.

“What? Why would he say so?” Francisco expressed in shock.

“The company’s investors of the upcoming project are all threatening to withdraw if nothing is done to solve the issue.” Fred replied wearily as he rested back on the seat and closed his eyes.

“How much loss are we talking about here anyway?” Francisco asked.

“$100, 000, 000.” Fred stated simply.

“What!! That’s a lot of money.” Francisco said as his eyes widened in shock.

“What are you going to do now?” He asked when Fred didn’t say anything.

“That is why I called you here, Francisco because I don’t know what to do. I’m seriously confused.” Fred replied, hitting his head slightly.

“This is shockingly serious.” Francisco muttered quietly.

“I know this didn’t just happen on its own, someone must be behind it.” Fred said, still puzzled about the whole thing.

“Has it ever happened before?” Francisco asked, staring intently at him.

“No. More reason why I’m very sure someone is behind it.” Fred replied.

“And do you have an idea on whom it might be?” Francisco asked slowly.

“If I did, you wouldn’t be here, Francisco.” Fred replied wearily.

The entire issue was just stressing him out and also scaring the hell out of him!

“You can’t continue to sit here and be confused. You’ve got to sit up for this is your responsibility or would you allow your dad strip you off your legal rights?” Francisco said, filled with vim and vigor.

“You’ve got to do something before it gets too late.” Francisco said again facing Fred completely.

“You should think of something now.” He advised, and Fred sighed.

“I have only one thing in mind, and that is to find out the person behind it…” Fred said, pausing for a moment.

“And I would be needing your help.”

*******************

Lillian came out of the house with her purse in her hand. She has been looking for Bella, but she couldn’t find her. She even asked some of the maids she saw around, but none of them had an idea of where she could be.

“Please, do you know where Bella is?” She asked the guard she saw outside.

“No ma’am, I don’t.” The guard replied, secretly checking her from the head to the toe.

“Alright then, thank you.” She said and tried leaving but was stopped again by the guard.

“Ma’am, sorry for disturbing you, but you look like you’re going somewhere.” He said holding her arm.

“Yes, I’m going to the Spa.” She replied in a nod, trying not to be bothered with how he held her back.

“Can I drive you?” The guard said, and Lillian thought for a while.

“Okay.” She replied, freeing herself from his hold. He bowed a little and went to a red car parked not far away from them, while Lillian followed suit.

He opened the back seat for her and she entered. He also opened the driver’s seat and entered, then he drove out of the house.

“Which of the Spas do you want me to drive you to?” The guard said as they hit the road.

“The Raven Spa.” She replied, tossing her purse to the seat next to her.

“And where is that located?” He asked, glancing at her through the rearview mirror.

“At the Rowena Ave. You know the place, right?” She said, stretching forward to see his face.

“Yes I do, ma’am.” He replied. Lillian took out her phone from her purse and started scrolling on it. She smiled at the contents she was seeing in the phone and took a glance at the driver.

“Is there any problem?” She asked when she caught him staring at her in the rearview mirror.

“No, ma’am.” He replied as he focused back on the road. Lillian shook her head, taking her gaze back to her phone.

She noticed the driver took a different turn, and she looked up again.

“Why are you taking this way?” She asked, sounding a little confused.

“It is the quickest way to where we are going.” He replied, still focused on the road.

“But the Queen’sway bridge is also a quick route.” She said becoming uncomfortable.

“This is still the fastest compared to the bridge.” He replied, not looking at her.

“By the way, I’m not in a hurry, so you shouldn’t have bothered.” She said trying to feel relaxed with the situation.

“But I am.” He replied and suddenly, he opened the car door and jumped out of the moving car.

What!!!!!

“Hey!” She panickedly called, but he was no longer to be seen. She stared at the car as it moved with no one to control it.

Her heart began to race as fear gripped her. She took up her phone, which had fallen from her out of fear. She unlocked it and dialed Bella’s number, as it was the first that appeared on her list.

She looked ahead of her waiting for the number to go through as her trembled in fear.

The phone fell from her again as she sighted a cliff a few meters away.

“Nooo.” She cried out in terror.