Five

ERICA’S POV

“Erica,” he said, still smiling.

Swallowing the fear I had in me, I decided to know why I was here.

“What do you want from me? Why am I here? How do you know my name?” I said. My voice sounded foreign in my ears as I tried to make it sound brave.

I saw a ghost smile on the old man’s face. He was trying to suppress his laugh.

“How I knew your name is not important now. You are here because you owe me” he said smugly.

“How? The last I checked, today was the first day I set my eyes on you” I said as confusion married my face.

He laughed quietly.

“Your father borrowed 100 million Dollars from me.”

My eyes almost popped out of it’s place.

“Yes your father’s little wealth was thanks to me” he said as he sat on a chair I didn’t know was there.

I stared at him. I was hoping that he would tell me that it was a lie, but from the looks of things, it didn’t look like the old man was going to do any of that. It rang in my head.

“My father had borrowed money from the Mafia. How could he?”, I wondered.

Rather than dwell on the past or cry over spilled milk, I decided that I would make things better.

“Okay. I have heard what you have to say. I’ll work and will start paying you” I said.

Well, l got the shock of my life, when the old man busted into fits of laughter. I looked down at my clothes and they weren’t clown costumes nor did I recall pursuing a career in a stand up comedy. I let him have his laugh.

“Oh Erica, forgive my outburst. I admire your courage in trying to make things right, but don’t you think that is too late?” he asked.

“Late?” I said.

“Yes, late. Your father was meant to begin payment the year you were born, but suddenly he disappeared without a trace. I got to find out about his death a week ago and when I found out he had a daughter. I couldn’t be any more glad” he said.

I sighed deeply

“Okay I know my father owes you, but I am not my father. I will do my best to pay back even to a single dollar”

“You know I can wipe out the money” he said.

“Really? That would be so kind of you sir” I said smiling broadly.

“But you have to do one thing,” he said.

That was when my heart began to race.

“And what would that be?” I asked.

“You have to marry my son” he said.

“What?!” that was the only word that made it out of my mouth.

My heart stopped beating, but somehow I was breathing. It felt like I had just been handed my life sentence. For the next 30 seconds, I sat immobile, but the moment I got myself, I realized what the old man was asking of me. Marriage was no child’s play.

“No, I will not marry your son!. It can’t happen! I can’t just wake up one morning and marry your son. I mean, who still does arranged marriage in this era? Heck, I can’t marry someone I just met not to talk of your son. He is literally a stranger.” I ranted.

This man must be high on something.

He chuckled.

“I am 80% sure that you would fall in love with my son”

“No sir. That is not happening” I said boldly.

“You know, you are bound by contract to Marry my son,” he said.

“What!?” I said.

So he brought a paper. It was like a contract. He showed me the last clause which stated that failure to pay up the debt would have the debtor’s daughter marry a relative of the creditor. I couldn’t even doubt him because I could clearly see my father’s complicated signature right under the clause.

How could my father, my loving and ever Caring father put me in such a precarious situation.

Right now my hands and legs were tied.

“I mean if you don’t want to marry my son and I decided to harvest”, he paused

“Do you have good kidneys?”. He took the horrified state of my face as an answer and continued talking.

“If l decided to sell them.. your organs I mean.. it still won’t fetch me all my money”, he said.

“So the best thing to do is to marry my son” He finished.

I didn’t get the opportunity to answer him when his phone rang and he went off to answer it. By then all my body was shaking. How much bad news was I going to get in a day. Suddenly he came back.

“l just got off the phone with my men. He said your grandpa had a heart attack. Though he is stable, he urgently needs a transplant. Now Erica, I can provide for him. I’ll buy a donor and he will do the surgery. He will be good, but you have to say yes” he said, staring at me.

As he mentioned my grandpa, my world came crumbling. If I don’t say yes, I might have my only family to bury. I looked up at him. At that point I felt utterly helpless.

“Erica, remember you don’t have to worry about the debt, or the hospital bills for your grandpa. I will have that settled. All you need to do is marry my son and convince him to be the heir to my empire.” He said.

“How will I do that?” l asked.

“Don’t worry. Firstly, say yes to marrying my son” he said.

I sighed deeply and squeezed my eyes shut. On opening them, a tear slipped from my eyes.

“Okay. I’ll do it” I said in a small voice.

“Good, because the wedding is tomorrow at 9am. Don’t be late” and with that he left the room.

***********Flashback off************