Marriage of convenience

Chapter 36

My brother drove me a few miles away until we were in front of a fancy gated community. I looked at my brother, expecting him to troll me and take me to a smaller sized place, but he continued to drive in and I narrowed my eyes. He couldn't possibly be able to afford this place!

The security guard at the entrance seemed to recognize him and gave him a short salute as we drove by. We soon parked and a guard came to our aid as we brought my luggage out of the car.

"Bring this to Gold 19 A," he instructed the guard and he lead me to the elevator. When he pressed the 19th floor button, I knew we had a long way to go. It was silent between us and awkward elevator music filled the air. I sighed as the door opened and he lead me to a door in the very corner of the floor. The door opened up into an equally fancy looking house and I silently glanced at things. It looked pretty neat and tidy. Over that, it was pretty grand. He had glassware everywhere and preferred his furniture in glass. A huge plasma screen and a home theater grabbed the attention and fragile decorative pieces were strategically placed. His things were orderly unlike all those years in our childhood. Looked like he developed good habits as well.

"Why are you standing there? Come inside," he smiled and for the first time in my life, I hesitated. Was it okay to go inside? But I was the one who took this decision of moving away from Ray. However, did that mean that things were back to normal between us siblings? I wasn't even close to feeling remotely normal!

I took a few steps forward to amuse him and stood still there. 

"How?" That was the only word which my mind could form as I processed all of the events which happened today. I broke ties with one and was mending ties with another.

"What do you mean?" he asked frowning.

"All of these," I swept my hand casually across the room. "How did you get them?"

"What do you think?" he asked as he took a seat on the sofa, gesturing me to do the same.

"I just hope you did not steal anything and are living an honest life," I shrugged sitting down on another sofa.

He chuckled softly. "I'm sure I did nothing of that sort. Don't worry."

"Then how?" I asked again.

"Well, I invested the money I took with me carefully," he shrugged. "The returns seemed to be great!" When I didn't look satisfied with his answer, he quickly took out his wallet and handed me his visiting card. In a bold and fancy script it read, 'Ralph R. Marlow', his name, his number and his email address. I didn't seem to find any company's name or anything of that sort which let me know that he was doing nothing illegal.

"It doesn't say what you do for a living," I bluntly stated.

"I sell ideas," he smiled.

"What?" It was an understatement to say that my jaw dropped to the ground. It slammed the ground and reached all the way to hell.

He nodded smiling. "I sell ideas, I get paid. I invest that money for acquisitions and sell them again after a little bit of tweaking. It is maximum money generation in a few years time."

I didn't have an idea of how he suddenly got so creative as to sell ideas for people and so thoughtful about making investments. But whatever he did, he made sure that he lived well. I looked around the house one more time. He lived more than just 'well'.

I didn't wanna question him further though. I wasn't really up for any more conversation. I was just tired of all the things which happened. I wanted to sleep.

"Do you have a room for me?" I asked.

"There are many. Just choose one," he smirked and I rolled my eyes. As I went to the first room I laid my eyes on, he continued, "except mine."