Leaked

Chapter 1

I sigh deeply and place the newspaper down. The words in it linger in my mind: When your favorite politician is dating a man three times her age.

“Don’t sweat it. They’ll get over it,” Nia, my best friend, says. She stands behind me and starts massaging my shoulders.

I shut my eyes and try to relax when my office doors are kicked open.

“Oh, so you’re here,” Rain says as soon as he spots me.

“Rain…” I start but he cuts me off.

I quickly stand and rush to shut the door as he continues yelling.

“I’m calling Noah,” Nia says, her phone already in hand.

“Call everyone! Call the press! I don’t care. You can’t stoop any lower than this anyway,” Rain says, looking at me straight in the eyes.

“Rain, your dad and I wanted to tell you about the relationship, but the press beat us to it. I…”

“Relationship? Isla, he is 25 years older than you. 25!” He yells back.

“Rain, I know. I know you are angry…” I try stepping close to him, but he backs away, his eyes filled with disgust.

“Noah will be here any moment now. He was on his way here before I called,” Nia announces. I redirect my attention to Rain who scoffs. The disgust is still evident in his face.

“I’m not even shocked. I always knew you could do anything to climb to the top,” Rain continues.

“Rain, your dad and I love each other. It’s not about political seats or money,” I try holding his hand, but before I can understand what is happening, a slap lands squarely on my cheek.

Before I can process what is happening, the doors burst open. Noah’s eyes shift around the room, and he leaps forward and punches his son on the face. I quickly get between them before anything else happens.

“If you try that nonsense again, I’ll hand you over to the police,” Noah says before pulling me to himself and observing my face.

“I’m fine. It’s…” I begin to explain, but I’m cut off by Rain.

“Enjoy the calm because it won’t last long,” Rain says with a smirk on his face.

I can feel Noah’s body tense up like one preparing to fight, but I hold him back.

Nia rushes to Rain and ushers him out of the office. He leaves laughing mockingly.

“I’ve had it with him. I’m withdrawing all of my financial support towards all his businesses. The most he’ll get from me is a living allowance,” Noah says calmly, the kind of calm I only get from him when he’s made up his mind.

Before I can catch it, a giggle escapes my lips. He looks down at me somewhat shocked at my amusement at the present tense hour.

“I’m sorry. I just… I’ve not had this much drama in my office ever since I moved here,” I say quickly, trying to conceal my smile.

“I hate to be the one ruining your political career,” Noah says and sighs.

“Hush! If my political career is that steady, it will withstand this. I’m not leaving you, Mr. Man,” I reply and then break away from his embrace and walk to my chair.

He stands there, his hands in his pocket, looking at me with pure admiration in his eyes.

I stare back. Even at his age, he’s still the only man I find most attractive. The royal blue suit he’s wearing today looks so good on him. The few grey hairs on his head and beard make everything he wears look good. His height is befitting of his career. It ensures he commands obedience without uttering a word.

“Let’s hurry up and get married,” he says in all seriousness.

He makes his way to the chair across from me.

“How soon?” I ask leaning in.

“Tonight?” He replies, stroking my bruised lip where Rain slapped me.

“I like it,” I reply and he takes out his phone and makes a call. His eyes never leave mine as he talks to the person on the other end.

It begins to dawn on me how crazy of an idea it is when he ends the call.

“Done,” he says.

“Noah, this is… so many people won’t make it.”

“It doesn’t matter. We can do another slow and thoroughly prepared wedding later which they can attend, but for now, it’s only about us,” he says, holding my hand.

“The press is going to go crazy,” I reply.

“Even better. The more attention you get before the elections, the better,” he says and smiles. His smile fades when he sees the newspapers scattered on my desk.

“I… I couldn’t help it on my way to the office this morning,” I say quickly.

“Do I need to drive you to work every morning?” He asks, the seriousness back again.

“No,” I reply.

“Good. No more of this,” I nod quickly.

Sometimes I forget who Noah is and how much he has accomplished in his 50 years on this earth.

From the moment he was 27, he started climbing his way up the political ladder.

Along the way, he mentored many, including me.

I still remember the day we met like it was yesterday.

I was a tired high school dropout, volunteering at the local domestic abuse refuge center in our city. Back then, I was a rebellious girl, occasionally doing voluntary work, not because I wanted to, but because my sister would not tolerate seeing me in the house when I was supposed to be at school.

I met Noah then. He came to the center to donate. The lady at the center told him my issues. He was nice and kind to me and had advised me to get my life back on track. After the pep talk, I had went back to school and endured through it.

Fast forward 6 years later, he had come to our university graduation as the guest of honor. By then, he had become a renowned politician. We all were graduating to be future politicians, so we all wanted to be taken under his wing.

He had volunteered to take 10 graduates to mentor. I had not made the cut, but as he was leaving, I had stopped his car and reminded him who I was. The rest is history.

“I sent the glam team to get you ready for tonight,” his voice cuts me from my thoughts. He reaches forward and touches my face where Rain had slapped me. I instinctively lean into his hand, and he smiles, all the worry in his face fading away.

The moment is cut short when Julius, Noah’s PA, bursts into my office.

“The venue is set,” he says, breathless.

“Did you run here?” I ask.

“I… Yes. I also wanted to tell Mr. Cross that he has a meeting in 15 minutes,” he says quickly.

“It’s okay. He’ll be there in a few minutes,” I answer for Noah who gives me a disapproving look.

“Already running my life, I see,” he says and Julius leaves like the room is on fire.

“Do you mind?” I ask smiling.

“No, no, Ma’am. Do whatever you please,” he replies.

“We’re getting married tonight. You’ll spend so much time with me that you’ll get sick of me,” I reply, and he laughs.

“We’ve been close for 10 years now, and that has not happened. I doubt it will happen now,” he replies, just as his phone starts ringing.

His daughter’s name flashes on the screen.

My heart drops to my stomach, and I instinctively try withdrawing my hand from his, but he holds it tighter, stopping me.

This brings me to the confession about the weird family situation we have found ourselves in since we started dating.

Noah has two children from a previous marriage, Rain and Bia. Rain is 24 years old while Bia is 17 years old. Their mother is late and has been for a decade now.

Bia sometimes consents to my relationship with her dad. Other times, Rain gets into her head, and she joins him in making my life hard.

Rain… well, you know what that looks like.

Noah loves children, everyone’s children. He especially loves Bia.

What people don’t know is that our age gap had once been an issue to me as well. At some point, I doubted my own motives in liking Noah.

Noah confessed his feelings first. Being my mentor, his solution was finding me another mentor. That way, he and I could date.

I was struck by his boldness and honesty. I knew he was a good man, my dream marriage partner. Using my head and not my heart, I made a decision to date him.

“You’re in your head again,” Noah’s voice cut me off. I hadn’t realized that his call with his daughter had ended.

“Yeah, it’s crazy how far we’ve come,” I say looking down at our joined hands.

Just then, a knock is heard on the door, then Julius’ head peaks in.

“Sir, the meeting starts in 5 minutes. The car is ready, and we can join virtually as we drive there. They insist on having the meeting today and on you being there,” he says, and Noah nods.

“You are needed,” I say.

“I prefer being needed here than there,” he says.

“Oh you are much needed here,” I reply.

“So… I don’t need to go there then,” he says leaning closer to me.

“Don’t let the country fall apart because of me Mr. Prime Minister,” I reply.

“That would be an understandable mistake, don’t you agree?”

“Julius is probably pacing up and down the hallway. Don’t scare the poor man,” I reply. He stares into my eyes for a few seconds before abruptly standing.

“See you in 4 hours,” he says after reading the time.

“I can’t wait,” I reply as he comes around the table.

“We’ll have so much fun tonight,” he whispers in my ear, and I laugh.

“We’ll see about that old man,” I reply, and he laughs out loud as he walks to the door.

The night was fun. Only a few friends and family managed to come. After we were joined in holy matrimony, celebrations went on till late morning the following day.

I’m woken up by my phone ringing at around 10 pm. I don’t even know what day it is.

I reach for it, only for Noah to pull me closer to him and further away from the phone.

“I need to pick it,” I say laughing.

“No, you don’t,” he replies, but I still manage to pry his arms from around my waist.

“Naomi, hi,” I say as soon as I answer the call.

“Hi,” she says in a rushed tone. “Um, where are you?” She asks quickly.

“Dubai? I don’t know,” I reply.

“Okay. Good. Don’t check social media,” she says.

“Why? What happened?”

“Just, um, really bad rumors,” she says, but I can tell it’s serious.

“Okay,” I reply then end the call. Immediately I do, I’m opening every social media app I know.

I open this one app and the first news on it makes me feel things I don’t understand.

My heart beats fast while it feels like blood has stopped moving in my body. It feels like my heart is about to stop, but then it beats even faster.

I must have sat there motionless for very many minutes before looking down at the ring on my finger, the one Noah had placed on me a few hours ago.

My eyes lift with great effort to look at the news bulletin on my phone again.

“Noah Cross’ secret family exposed few hours after his wedding with young lover.”