Contract Marriage; Fated Love

But, where could she have gone?

Noah took out his phone and dailed a number,

“Look out for Emily Grants. Find her, dead or alive. You have only a week to do that,” he issued his orders and ended the call.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

He made another call,

“Any information about that woman?” he asked.

“Not yet sir. We are working very hard to find her. We have gotten the records of all the employees in that hotel. We will look into the attendees of that party too,” the man at the other end answered.

“Also remember to look out for my ring, and keep this private, understand?” Noah asked.

“Yes sir. We will give you feedback soon,” the other man replied promptly.

Some weeks ago, Noah had returned to the city for a business trip. Somehow, he found himself with a woman and he had a memorable time with her. But she was no where to be found in the morning and he didn’t get to see her face. But he had slid his customized gold ring on her finger. Hence, he was certain she would be found soon.

“Emily, I will deal with you. How dare you divorce me? What impudence,” Noah swore.

Two weeks swept past in a flash, yet, no trace of Emily. That was Noah’s greatest hit. Never had he looked for someone for that long.

“If she were dead, where the heck is her useless body? How can you not find her? Of what use are you?” he yelled at his man who reported the lack of progress.

“I am sorry sir. We will double and intensify our efforts,” the other man quickly apologised.

“You better do”, Noah grunted and ended the call.

“What is going on father? How can you say your business is going down?” Rose asked her father that evening.

“Exactly as I put it. We are going bankrupt. If only we…” Williams began to lament. But, Olivia quickly cut in

“… Yes. If only that Emily girl didn’t mess things up.”

“Someone is buying our shares greatly and at a very fast rate. With time, we will have no share in that company. And we might have to loose it to that highest shareholder,” Williams lamented sadly.

“And who is this buyer, can’t we stop him?” Rose questioned.

“I don’t know him. He is an anonymous shareholder, strangely enough,” Williams replied.

“You better man up and do something about your company. We won’t starve in this house,” Olivia said spitefully.

“Father, that’s my inheritance. I will not be happy with you if it goes bankrupt…” Rose retorted and could have spat out more of her nonsense but for the ringing of her phone. It was her boyfriend, Clinton.

“Hey baby,” he called out.

“Sweetheart.”

“I am outside. Hope you are ready?”

“Yes, baby,” she replied and hurried out.

Clinton was a handsome youth of about 28 years old. He was initially Emily’s boyfriend. Rose has never been happy for any luck gotten by Emily. She saw how Clinton always doted on Emily and was green with envy. She always had her ways. She was very quick to remove any one who stood in her way. She did same to Emily and soon, Emily was out if the picture before she knew it. Completely forgotten even before she could say Jack. Her supposed man, and the love of her life, was in the arms of another woman at the snap of her fingers. Not just another woman, but her own sister. She couldn’t fight back, she could do nothing but cry. Rose was always triumphant.

What the Grant family did not know was that the anonymous share holder was Noah. He had been so filled with rage at Emily’s divorce and disappearance that he swore to deal with her next of kin. He couldn’t do it openly as he couldn’t tell the world that his wife divorced him. He couldn’t bear the ignominy. He silently bought the company’s shares. He was going to render them bankrupt.

Noah lay on his bed surfing the net. He too has turned detective! All thanks to Emily Grant.

“Damn,” he swore.

Emily was no important person. No trace of her on the net.

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

Slowly, years ran by. Three years went past. No trace of Emily. And no trace of his one night lady.

One morning, Noah’s phone rang.

“Good morning Master Noah,” the man greeted as soon as the call connected.

“Morning. What is it?” Noah replied.

“We found the woman with the ring,” the man said.

Noah stood up immediately, a broad smile on his face.

“That’s great. Extremely great. Send her over immediately.”

“Sir…. sir… I wasn’t…” the man stammered.

“What is the problem? Can’t you send her over? Pay the required expenses. Make sure she comes over,” Noah rambled on in excitement.

“Sir, she disappeared. We could not find her.”

“What? What do you mean by that? Are you all dead woods? How could you not find her?” Noah thundered.

“We… sighted the ring sir, but before we could come closer, she disappeared from out sight,” the man explained in fear.

“You all are crazy. Crazy. Very crazy. Incompetent fools. Listen to what you are saying. She disappeared. Is she a spirit?”

“We are very sorry sir…” the man apologized.

“Sorry for yourself. Now, search again. Search everywhere and make sure to find her. Is that clear?” Noah instructed.

“Yes sir. We won’t fail this time sir,” the man promised.

“No mistakes. Make sure to bring her,” Noah stressed and the line went dead.

Noah slammed his fists on the table.

“Gosh. What’s going on? How did she disappear? And why are they all disappearing? Is it now a spirit. What incompetent men I’ve got,” he said to himself.

That woman had stirred up his emotions. She had woken his emotional life and his heart which was once killed. He didn’t wake up one morning and decide to dislike women. He didn’t ignore all the rumors that he was gay for nothing. His heart died once. And will probably remain dead till that woman from that night comes back. He had given her his all and she made him regret it. It was her who killed his heart. Never will he forget her name. She was no other than…