The Secret Billionaire: A BWWM Love Story For Adults (11 page)

He had followed Vera
from her house to this restaurant where he found Archer with her. He
was trying to take some shots of him inside the restroom when this
fiasco happened.

Victor quickly turned a
corner and appeared on the street. He quickly changed his pace to
normal. He did not want people to notice him and so he kept his head
low and kept walking. He reached his white scooter that was parked in
a corner. A few meters away from the Italian restaurant.

Victor knew that going
back to the restaurant was a bad idea. Archer Finch now knew that he
was being followed, and so the best option was to get out of there as
quickly as possible. Victor knew where to find Vera, and so he knew
where to find Archer. Besides, it was Vera he was more interested in.
She made this story more appealing.

He checked the pictures
from this evening one last time before starting his scooter. The
images seemed fine and Victor was relieved.

But suddenly, a cold and
strong hand grabbed his neck from behind and pulled him away from his
scooter.

“
Motherfucker!
I have been noticing you for a long time.” Archer grabbed the
camera by its lens and pulled it towards himself. “You think I
don’t know you have been following us to the club?”

“
Robbery!
Robbery!” Victor started yelling.

In return, Archer cupped
his mouth and slammed him into the wall behind him. “One more
word from your mouth and I am going to smash your camera against this
wall.” Archer said in a cold tone.

Victor noticed that with
his other hand, Archer was holding his camera. He had enough room to
smash the camera into the wall, and so Victor decided to do as he was
asked. The camera was expensive and the pictures inside were
priceless.

Archer could see that
Victor was ready to cooperate and so he took his hand off his mouth
and snatched the camera. “Who sent you?”

“
What?”
Victor did not know how to answer that.

Archer was quickly going
through the pictures and what he saw in the camera, made him mad.
“You asshole! You are following my girlfriend.”

Archer grabbed Victor by
his throat. The cameraman was no match for Archer’s strong
body. His throat felt as if it was being squeezed like a lemon. He
tried to speak, but only vowel sounds came out of his mouth.

“
I
am going to fucking kill you! How dare you go after her?”
Archer was turning into the hulk. Victor knew rich people like him
did not care about breaking the law. He knew his life was in danger.

He then looked behind
Archer and using all the air in his lungs screamed, “Vera! Help
me!” Archer quickly turned back expecting Vera behind him, but
there was nothing.

Victor hit Archer in the
stomach with his knee and pushed him away. Archer lost his balance
and fell on the ground. Victor jumped on his scooter and fled.

Archer
stood up and dusted his clothes. He now had Victor
’
s
camera and all the pictures inside. After checking the pictures in
the camera one more time, Archer took out his cellphone and called
Phillip.

“
Hey
there! How is your date going?” Phillip was cheerful.

“
Not
good Phil! Not good at all.”

“
What
happened? You told her?”

Archer did not know how
to break this news to Phillip without sounding like an idiot. Since
he started meeting Vera, Phillip had advised him to tell Vera the
truth. And now, she was being stalked by a crazy photographer because
of him.

“
Uhh..
No! I was about to tell her, when something happened.”

“
What
happened?” Phillip sounded serious.

“
I
caught this photographer outside the restaurant where we came. And
his camera is filled with Vera’s pictures. This is all my
fault.”

“
How
do you know it's because of you?” Phillip asked.

“
Because
I have spotted this photographer a couple of times before. He keeps
taking our photos together and now I am looking at these pictures of
Vera at her house. This asshole followed her from her house to this
restaurant.”

“
Archer,
we still don’t know whether he is doing this because she is
dating you, or because he is a creepy stalker following Vera. So just
calm down and think for a moment. The first thing you need to do is
tell Vera everything and drop her home right now.”

Archer knew Phillip was
right, but telling Vera the truth right now felt like a bad idea for
their relationship. “I will drop her home and come back. Lets
talk about it then.”

“
Alright!”
Phillip said and hung up.

Archer walked to his car
and threw the camera under his seat. He then returned to the
restaurant. He first went back to the restroom and fixed himself.

Then he returned to the
restaurant, but looking at Vera, his heart bent his brain to its
will. Instead of ending the date early, he enjoyed the evening, like
they had planned.

In the end, Archer
dropped Vera home and bid her goodbye.

Ecstatic and oblivious,
Vera entered entered her home.

In the morning, Vera
thanked Jane for keeping her mother entertained behind her back.

“
Don't
mention it.” Jane said wearing her shoes, “You know why I
am doing this.”

“
Yes,
and consider me a babysitter for your future kids.” Vera said.

“
So
before I leave, tell me how it went? You seemed so happy last night I
did not want to poke you.” Jane was so eager to know all the
details.

Vera pulled out a chair
and sat down in front of her. “It was so amazing! To be honest,
I was not expecting everything to go as planned. When he went to the
bathroom, for some reason my heart kept telling me that some fuck up
was taking place. And when I was about to give up, he came back. So
that was the big suspense of my date.”

“
What
happened then?” Jane opened her eyes wide.

“
Well,
we talked about our families. Well my family, his family died when he
was a little boy.” Vera remembered.

“
Wow!”
Jane exclaimed, “You have got yourself a Bruce Wayne.”

“
Bruce
Wayne is a billionaire!” Vera corrected her friend and
continued — “So I told him about Mom, and you, and my
college life and he told me about his school life and how he got a
degree in aeronautics.” Vera was picturing Archer in that suit
from last night. It was giving her goosebumps and making her wet at
the same time.

Jane was able to read
her friend’s state. “Hey, stop lusting around and give me
more details. Until now it's just regular stuff. Did you guys do
anything?”

Vera let out a sigh,
“No. We did nothing. He got a call from work and so he seemed
in a rush to go back. He said he had to go home and work on
something.”

“
Dude
seems busy! So you guys didn’t even make out?” Jane
wondered.

“
If
I remember correctly, last time you reminded me to keep my hands off
on first dates.” Vera argued in her favor.

“
I
said not to jump in the sack on first date. There is no rule that
says you should not make out with your date.” Jane countered.

“
I
tried, but he seemed a little pre-occupied. So I did not try hard.”

“
Fine!
But now what?” Jane asked curiously.

“
We
will continue our arrangement. Meeting at the club every Saturday and
I guess a date every once in a while.” Vera was smiling just
thinking of it.

But Jane suddenly turned
serious, “Okay, and what if you guys really like each other?
You think you can get serious with him?”

Vera knew why Jane was
asking this question, but she remained quiet.

“
Are
you ready to get married?” Jane asked again.

“
I
don’t know if he wants to get married.” Vera replied.

“
Don’t
talk like a child. What if he asks you to marry him one day? What are
you going to tell him?” Jane looked at Vera for answers but she
kept her lips sealed.

“
Tell
me!” Jane cried. “Will you tell him that you cannot marry
him or anybody else because you need to take care of your mother?”

“
Please
stop! I don’t want to think about it right now. Things are
finally going my way and I don’t want to ruin them.”

Jane could hear the
sadness in Vera’s voice and so she stopped. Both of them sat in
the room without saying anything.

Outside the door, Alice
stood with a tray of breakfast in her hands. She did not know what to
do — she just realized she was keeping her daughter chained.
Slowly, she turned around without making a sound and went back to her
room.

Almost falling in her
bed, Alice wondered what she could do to make her daughter free of
her burden. Vera was close to her father and so she rarely talked
about her problems to her mother. And now Alice did not know what to
do in this situation.

But then, she remembered
something. She stood up and opened her wardrobe. Going back to her
bed, she brought a small stool with her and placed it before the open
wardrobe. Standing on the stool, Alice looked in the corner of the
top shelf. Covered in dust and darkness, there was a small box placed
in one corner. Alice pulled the box out and sat down in her bed.

She remembered the day
when Michael brought this box to the house. “This, is my
promise to you,” he said to her that day. “I am going to
put money in this box and once we have enough, I am going to take you
around the world.”

Alice wiped the dust off
the box with her hands and opened it. It was teeming with money.

“
How
did I forget about this?” she asked herself. But her eyes
noticed something else inside the box — it was an old paper
folded neatly. Its faded off-white color made it stand out among all
the dollar bills. Alice picked the paper up and unfolded it. It was a
note from her dead husband —

“
My
lovely Alice,

I am saving this
money for us to see the world, but life does not come with a
warranty. I don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow and so
if it comes to a point when only one of us is left to use this money,
I suggest we spend it like it's never going to end. If you are
reading this note without me, go out and see the world without me.
And if I am reading this note without you by my side, only God can
tell you how much I miss you.

Love,

Michael.”

A teardrop fell over
that letter.

*****

A week went
by and Vera came back from another date with Archer. While heading
towards her room, she heard her mother from behind, “Vera!”

“
Yes
Mom,” she turned around and looked at her.

“
Do
you really like this man you have been dating?” Alice asked.

Vera had no
idea why she was being asked something like this by her mother. But
she kept her straight face on, “I guess so. Why are you asking
this?”

“
If
everything goes right, will you think of marrying him?” Alice
shot another round.

Vera was not
able to understand why her mother was suddenly interested in her
affair. But deep down she was getting the idea that her mother was
going to ask her about her life choices.

“
Mom,
I am really tired right now. Can we discuss it in the morning?”
Vera quickly turned around and went to her room. Alice stood in the
main hall and then went back to her room.

The next
morning, Vera came down and did not find her mother. She looked
through the whole house, but Alice had disappeared.

Putting on a
jacket, Vera went out and looked around the neighborhood, but there
was no sign or trace of her mother anywhere. Tired, she came back
home after spending an hour outside. Coming back home, Vera started
feeling worried. She thought of calling her relatives, but stopped
herself. “I should check her room first.”

Vera entered
her mother’s room and realized that something was missing. And
it was not her mother, but something else. Something that was a part
of this room, but now was gone. And then she saw it, her mother’s
favorite black suitcase was gone. It had left a mark in the corner
where it protected the wall from dust. Vera’s heart sank and
she collapsed on the bed. “Fuck!” Tears came out of her
eyes and she felt terrible about snubbing her last night. But then
she collected herself and went to the main hall. Her mother did not
carry a cellphone and so she was not sure what to do next.