Contract Marriage; Fated Love

Noah waited for his father to talk but the man was in a world of his own. He was thinking.

“Noah,” he finally called.

“Dad.”

“I am not hiding anything from you.”

“Then why have you denied me access to mum’s records?”

“It’s not necessary to reopen old wounds. Reviewing your mum’s records will only hurt you and bring back memories of her demise.”

“I am not complaining. It would hurt me even more if I don’t get the records.”

“And what has that got to do with our relationship? Why is it severed?”

“Because you murdered mum!” he screamed within.

There was an uncomfortable silence that lingered for two minutes. Noah stood up to leave.

“What can I do to please you? What can I do to cement our relationship? Your mother wouldn’t be happy to find out that the bliss and peace left her family after she died.”

Noah stopped in his tracks and listened to what his father had to say. Mr Joshua loved his only son, Noah more than anything in the world. He would do anything to please him but Noah didn’t want him anymore. It gave him sleepless nights and he thought of what to do to make things right. But each meeting with his son never ended well. It was always Noah provoking him and finally walking out on him without looking back.

Noah turned around and faced his father, looking directly at him.

“Hand me my mother’s hospital records. Release them to me. I want to see them.”

“Alright. I will do that for you.”

Noah raised a brow. It didn’t feel right for him to agree instantly.

“I want them as they are. They shouldn’t be falsified. No shady deals or alterations.”

“Noah.”

“Yes Dad.”

“Do you have respect for me at all? Have you lost your respect?”

“Not at all, dad.”

“Listen to yourself again when you talk to me. What makes you think you haven’t?”

“I haven’t because I respected your wish and left mum’s records as you instructed. If I had no respect for you, I would have challenged you to a fight and will not stop until I have my way. But I didn’t. Again, I always honour all your invitations to this house. I stay out of your way and do nothing to tarnish your image.”

Naoh was just like his father. He was as stubborn as his father and as dogged as his mother. His mother stopped at nothing to get what she wanted if she believed it was right. His father was very stubborn and powerful in the business world.

“Yet, you accuse me of falsifying your mum’s records.”

“I didn’t.”

“I will release them to you tomorrow.”

“Alright.”

“Happy now?”

“It’s better.”

The news of Rose’s arrest and imprisonment got into the ears of her parents. They were grieving for their favourite daughter. What hurt them most was that there was nothing they could do to save her. She was imprisoned according to the instructions of the most powerful CEO in the country. They only heard that she offended the first master but the offence wasn’t disclosed.

“What has she done? I’m sure she did nothing wrong. Oh! My dear child,” Olivia cried.

“Williams, we need to go and see our child. Let’s know what happened and how to bring her out. She can’t spend a night there.”

“I hope she hasn’t offended the first master. We might as well be in for more trouble. He can ruin our family. It will take him nothing to do that.”

“I knew that was his plan all along. When he started buying shares, you kept mute. He took over the company and you were still dumb. Why won’t he go further? Tell me, why?”

“What did you expect me to do? Are you the only one who doesn’t know how grievous a sin it is to offend President Harper? How could I have fought back?”

“Let’s go and see our daughter first.”

They weren’t allowed to see their daughter. Noah had given strict instructions that no visitors should be allowed to see them. Olivia was furious.

Who does he think he is? Why can’t she see her daughter?

“Call him! I need to see my daughter right now.” Olivia blurted out.

The policemen looked at her like she was insane.

Call President Noah?

“I said I want to see my daughter. I will not leave without that.”

Williams was however calmer.

“Gentlemen, can you at least tell us what she did?”

“She and some others connived to drug the President and make him sign a document.”

“No! That can’t be true. I want to see her.”

One of the policemen went inside and reported to the officer in charge. He called President Noah. He had ordered him to contact him once any of the perpetrator’s family called.

“Alright. Let them go ahead and see them.”

The officer in charge passed the instruction to his subordinate.

The Grants were eventually led into the visiting room and Rose was brought out. Her mother hugged her.

“What happened? How did you get here?” Williams asked.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Dad, I was only taking what was rightfully ours.”

“Speak in clear terms. What happened?”

“I only got a few people to help me reclaim our company from President Harper and we were imprisoned. I mean, who gets punished for fighting for their rights? He’s abusing power.”

“What? You challenged President Harper? Have you gone nuts?”

“I did nothing wrong father. We would not watch him take our company. It is ours and will remain so. You kept quiet and watched him take it. I won’t.”

“Enough, Williams. Don’t yell at her. She did nothing wrong. You will give us the details later. What matters now is how to get you out.”

Olivia wanted to say a lot more. She wanted to say how much of a jerk Noah was but there was a policeman there to monitor the visitation.

Noah opened his eyes and everything seemed blurry. He looked around the room and sat up immediately. Where was he?