The Billionaire's Forced Alliance

Chapter Twenty Two

Ben got a text from Jean, telling him how happy she was. Seth had agreed to cover her wedding. Replying with an emoji of white hearts, he put his phone into his pocket, descending down the stairs. He came down to see Marie cooking something in the kitchen.

"Greetings, my lady." Ben set forward his formal tone of enchantment. "How are you, this morning?"

Marie blushed like a red rose. "Oh, Ben, stop messing with an old lady!"

Ben eyed her. "Old? Come on, Marie, you're just too beautiful to be old."

While Marie got back to her cooking with a wide smile on her face, he heard footsteps behind him to see Alex coming down. "Morning, man."

Alex hummed. "Yes, morning."

"What happened? Why are you sulking?" Ben came towards him, sitting on the sofa.

Sitting himself on the easy chair, Alex sighed. "Vikar just called. He told me a few things."

Ben gulped, trying to keep his fear intact in his stomach. "Ah, uh, wh-what?"

"A few things about Sanjeev. He told me that he's sensing that Sanjeev is into some shady stuff."

"What!" It was more of an exclamation, than a question. "What the hell!"

"Yeah, I know. I told him that I trust Sanjeev, and I know he can't do something like this!"

Ben sighed. Alex trusted people way too easily. It was good to trust people, but Sanjeev? Hell, no. He wasn't a man that deserved trust and loyalty. "But you know Vikar doesn't say anything without proof. I think---we should look into it."

Alex nodded. "Yeah, for safety sake, we should. Let's deal with this after the wedding."

"Okay."

Alex opened his laptop and started checking out some mails while Ben just sat there, drowning in his own thoughts. Vikar never said anything without an ounce of truth; the magnificent Greek business tycoon was too honest and trustworthy to fashion unpalatable lies about others. As far as Sanjeev was concerned, he couldn't say the same. That Indian old man was cunning in more ways than one. He had never wanted to push Isabella Group forward into the government sector, Ben remembered. He had always tried to distract Alex with other huge projects, and for the benefit of the company, Alex had always roundly considered his suggestions in regards to his age and experience in the business. It was rounding off a major doubt in Ben's head; if Sanjeev never wanted the company to grow with government aided projects, why had he suddenly given into it after Ben had agreed to marry his daughter?

Somehow, the weirdness of the entire matter seemed to bug him. Why hadn't he realised this earlier? If a person didn't want something, why would he give in suddenly? Judging by the selfish person that he was, Ben couldn't even make himself believe that Sanjeev cared enough for his daughter to sacrifice his agendas. What was he missing here? What was the man's motive?

"Guys, look who's here!" Richard marched inside the living room with Jean and another woman quaintly her age, following behind him.

"Oh, am I seeing right? Is that--Maya?" Alex got up from the chair, his face in a happy knot.

Ben got up too, facing the front door from where Richard so callously walked inside, and behind him, Jean and another woman who piqued his interest; she had black hair, almost as dark as Sarah's but not as shiny, he internally mused. The woman seemed to be somewhere near twenty six, and she had deep, dark eyes that were chocolate brown in colour.

She came forward, adjusting her black pantsuit, and smiled at Alex. "Yes, it's Maya. How are you, chief?"

Chief? Ben gagged. He looked at Alex to see him already giving the woman a friendly hug. "I'm great, what about you? Where were you the past few months?"