Chapter one
Kimberly 's POV
" Are you sure about this?," I glanced at Coco Andrews, my best friend, while nervously fiddling with my phone. We were on our way to meet the guy she had told me about. The guy she had said was going to solve my biggest problem.
Noticing my anxiousness, Coco threw me a mocking smile, and then she rolled her eyes, " I can't believe you are still in doubt Kim. This is like the hundredth time I am telling you that there is nothing to be scared of. This guy is the best when it comes to stuffs like this." she assured once again, at the same time peering through the taxi window to check if we had gotten to our destination, " Erm, excuse me driver. We will be stopping right here." she motioned to a tall apartment complex by the roadside.
After paying for the ride, we quietly climbed upstairs to the guy's room. And on the second knock, room 158 swung open producing a nerdy looking guy eating noddles from a takeout box
" You must be Coco and Kim?," he asked after giving us a fifteen second scrutinizing look.
" Yeah, that's right," Coco replied. Just like me, I could tell she was also wondering why he was still asking even after we had just called to tell him we were almost at his front door.
" Did you bring it?, " he continued with his questioning, forgetting that he hadn't invited us in. " Remember I told you I don't accept wire transfers."
Coco dipped her hand into her purse and pulled out an envelope, " Yes I brought it just the way you wanted." then she gave him thte look that said
It was at this point he opened his door wider, " Alright then, come on in. The job doesn't take a lot of time. We will be done before you know it." he briskly ducked into his kitchen and returned without the takeout box, " Please make yourselves comfortable, " he motioned to a couch, which like every other spot in the room, had either a computer monitor or laptop on it. Cautiously, we settled on the chair. " So this is what's going to happen. We are going to randomly pick a billionaire. You are not going to know his name or identity. Just be assured that in the next few minutes, you'd be free of your debts."
" Wait, I have a question." I almost raised my hand up, " Isn't he going to notice the missing money?," Instead of a serious answer, he bursted out with a long laughter.
" No, darling. He is a billionaire. There is no way is going to notice a couple hundred thousand that mysteriously went missing."
Aaron's POV
Feeling defeated and completely dejected, I sat alone in an empty bar finishing off a bottle of cognac I had bought to numb my mind. But the alcohol wasn't working. I could still feel the pain of the six hundred billion dollar contract slipping out of my grasp.
My eyes went to my wristwatch and noted that the time was already an hour passed midnight. Eight hours more and I would have completely lost the money. All because of a deceptively easy clause in contract that mandates that I marry Zadinito woman.
My phone beeped, and with a cursory glance I saw a debit notification. Immediately, I knew what would come in the next five to fifteen minutes.
Exactly twelve minutes later, my phone rang out just as I was expecting. Hitting the answer button, I pressed the cellphone close to my ear. " Hank, honestly I am not in the mood for your bickering."
" Yeah well, you can't escape it. That's why I am your financial manager." Hank paused briefly, " Anyways, I am sure you know why I called."
I sighed deeply knowing where the conversation was heading to, " Yes I do. How much is it."
I heard him scoff, " You didn't even open the message, did you?" when he noticed I wasn't going to reply, he continued, " Four hundred and seventy five thousand dollars. "
" Is that the reason you are disturbing me, Hank?. It's probably additional expenses for the airline I bought yesterday."
Hank scoffed again, " Disturbing you ?," he asked quizzically, " Oh I forgot. You are a billionaire. Anyways, that isn't the reason I called. And no, it also isn't any additional expenses. You would have known that if you had opened the message."
I knew he wasn't going going to stop, so I put my phone on loudspeaker and then minimize the screen. The full details of the notification appeared and I scrolled through, " Alright. So I defrauded. Isn't that part of your job? Making sure nothing like this ever happened."
" The person responsible did a good job in making sure we couldn't do anything to stop the fraud. We were able to trace the account the money was sent to and we found out it was used to pay off the debts on a woman's credit account. But that's not the problem."
" Then what is?,"
" To make the transaction successful, the hacker had to literally tie some strings. And you wouldn't guess what they were."
" What's did he do?"
" He married you off to the woman and then made your account a joint account with your new wife. And the marriage certificate is legit."
" What?,"
" Yes. But that's not the juicy part."
" Then what else would possibly be more juicer Hank?. Under your watch someone defrauded me and then faked my marriage which you said is legit."
"Hold on. I know you are angry, but I promise you, you are going to love this."
" And why is that?."
" Check the alert again. And this time Aaron, please carefully look at the account holder's name."
I reached for my phone and did just like he said. That was when it hit me. Like a big bang, the name hit me. " Hankkk????. What am I looking at right here. " I asked, unsure what feeling was going through my body,
" Whatever you are seeing is what it is, Lucky bastard."
" Hank look, if this is a joke......."
" It's no joke, Aaron. The wife you have travelling around the world searching for just walked right into your doorstep."