The Con Man

Chapter Thirteen

Two days later Ethan was on his way to the states on his private jet along with his younger sister who was a model and had to attend a function in NYC.

Ethan had lost sleep over the business proposition given by George. From a business point of view this was the deal of the century; he just got handed over one of the best company of the world. Ethan knew about Hawking and Sons. His father was friends with George and his father often sang praises of this company. His father always wanted him to be inspired by the work George does. However the dark side to this deal was that how could he hurt his daughter in the progress?

Ethan had searched up about Isabelle Hawking the night before and she was a lovely lady. Ethan would have been attracted to her but he didn’t have any interest in the female gender. He was gay, something which didn’t set well with his father hence Ethan kept up public appearances with ladies therefore branding himself as a playboy. This was a big dilemma for Ethan and he didn’t know what to do.

“Ethan, what is wrong?” his sister Alexis asked him. Alexis had been noticing her big brother from the past one hour and he seemed to be troubled with something.

“I…It is nothing” Ethan waved his hand and reached out for a magazine but Alexis grabbed his hand.

“You can tell me Ethan. Did something happen between you and Mike?” Alexis asked wondering if everything was good between her brother and his boyfriend.

“Yes we are fine. Mike is gone to South Africa to take pictures for some magazine.” Mike was a professional photographer.

“Tell me Ethan”

Ethan looked at his sister and sighed. He always shared everything with Alexis. Ethan explained the entire deal with George to Alexis and watched as fury clouded her face.

“What the bloody hell Ethan?! You cannot play with a woman’s heart like that! I cannot believe you said yes!” Alexis almost screamed at her stupid brother.

“Look Alexis, I am businessman and I cannot let this deal go okay?”

“And you are also a human. How can you do this? Her father is a devil but that doesn’t mean you have to pair up with him to make that poor woman’s life miserable!”

“I will not hurt her!”

“Oh yeah right! You are going to win her over which I don’t know how you will and then you are going to marry her and then divorce her?! She will be so happy you know!” Alexis remarked sarcastically.

“No I will not charm her or anything. This will be proposed as a business alliance between our fathers. It will be a marriage in name only. Also father thinks that this marriage will wipe away any rumors of my sexuality. After a few months of our marriage we will divorce on the grounds of non consummation and she will walk free. I won’t hurt her. She will know about this and I know she is a smart woman.”

“She is the CEO of this company. What makes you think she will let down this position do easily?” Alexis asked

“That is the only part where I am going to lie to her. She won’t know about this company staying in my name even after the marriage. I have simply decided to let her father take all the decisions regarding her. I will do whatever her father wants me to do with her.”

“That just makes you worse than her father!” Alexis shot at him

“Alexis do not confuse me anymore. I will not hurt her if it will be in my hands. I cannot let this deal go. She will move on. I am not going to promise her the world or anything.”

“I don’t care what you do. Just don’t hurt that woman.”

“Like I said, I will do whatever her old man wants me to do. It is not like she will be on the streets after I have the company in my name. She will be getting money from the divorce plus her father is there to provide for a luxurious lifestyle to her. She just needs to step down from the position of the CEO without any fuss and everything will be done smoothly and nobody will be hurt.” Ethan explained.

“I just hope you know what you are doing”
-------------------------------------------------------
 

“Hey Belle you okay?” Alex asked as he went towards her while she stood against the window looking out. Belle had not come to the office ever since their date and Alex stopped himself from going over to her place or calling her. He knew she needed time.

“Yes. Just tired.” Belle said and tried to smile.

Alex came and hugged.

“You didn’t show up to the office from the past three days ever since our date. I didn’t mean to scare you off.”

“No. It is nothing like that. I just felt under the weather.”

“You okay now babe?” Alex said as he stepped back to look at her with concerned eyes.”You do look very pale. You should have called me”

“I am fine Alex”

“When are you going to stop fighting yourself and let go?”

“Alex some battles can never be won. You step into them knowing there is no way you can win yet you still fight them.”

“I will fight your battles for you Belle. I want to be there for you. Why don’t you give me one chance?”

“Alex I am scared of what love can do to a person…I am scared to love…” Belle said trying to control her tears. After failed attempts at trying to shut down her heart and push Alex out it from the past three days, Belle realized that she loved this man yet she could not bring herself to say it. The fact that she had fallen in love with Alex scared her. What if they ended up like her parents?

“Hey…shh…don’t be baby girl. I am always here for you. I have told you how I feel for you. I will never hurt you, I promise. I love you, gorgeous.” Alex said as he rocked her back and forth trying to soothe her.

Alex understood there was something that was holding Belle back from loving him and he was willing to wait. He wanted her to be ready. He was not going to force her and make her fight her demons when she was not ready.

“Alex you won’t ever hurt me right?” Belle asked in a whisper.

Alex’s heart wrenched at the sorrow and insecurity in her voice. Alex wondered what the reason behind such sorrow and insecurity was.

“No baby girl. I will never hurt you.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”