by Anna London
And speaking of john, the two hadn’t spoken ever since the embarrassing moment when both of them were busted by over a dozen police officers sleeping in his room. Many a times, Fred wanted to do a damn thing about calling him, but he just didn’t know if it was the right move. Emotions were high and since john wasn’t making an effort to find out what was going on with him, Fred concluded that he was finally convinced that he was indeed a thief.
But why would they want to destroy him and he hadn’t done anything to them? And then it was at that moment that he realized how much of a threat he was. There were plenty of IT guys who were in john’s company who might have seen him as a threat.
It wasn’t a secret that Fred was one of the most brilliant people in that field and once he had started shagging the boss, it was most definitely going to give the IT experts some goose bumps here and there – something that he wasn’t ready to admit. And it was at that moment that he decided to do some digging and see if he was going to find out the people who were trying to frame him for something that he didn’t do.
Besides, Fred figured that it would be a good idea to call his lover as soon as he had concluded and found out the people who were responsible for his problems rather than calling john with empty apologies and words. And just like that, Fred decided to use the anger he was feeling to his advantage and make sure that the people who were trying to bring him down were going to have a difficult time doing just that.
He was released on a bond after his lawyer managed to convince the judge that Fred wasn’t a flight risk. And he even said that there was nothing that he was going to do as far as running is concerned because Fred had a company to run and that the company was his life. Somehow the judge was convinced and decided to slap him with a ten-thousand-dollar bail with the case being heard in a matter of three weeks.
As far as Fred was concerned, three weeks was a very long time for him to be in a position to prove his innocence. The IT guys who were clearly very smart, though not smarter than himself, were in a position to get the money and most likely linked him to the case by copying his IP address so that it could appear as though he used his computer to scum his boyfriend.
And without further ado, he decided to make sure that he was going to reveal the person who was behind the scum and shame them. All he needed to do was track the computer that used his IP address as a mask while committing the crime and once all was sorted out, the next thing that he could have done would have been to use his expertise to use the surveillance in that time and get the people responsible.
That was the kind of technology that the CIA uses and wasn’t available for just anyone to use it. but as far Fred was concerned, he just wasn’t any other tech wizard, he was arguably the very best in his field and needless to say, he was about to prove that for a fact, he was just that. And without further ado, he went straight to work.
-Truth comes out-
The truth was that not everyone was happy when john and Fred became a pair. And it was apparent that some people might try and get in the way of their union without a doubt. And that explained why john wasn’t convinced that Fred was capable of hacking into his foundation and syphoning millions to an untraceable account overseas.
But that said, it also occurred to him that people sometimes weren’t as they seemed to be and that explained why he did what he had to do. But either way, he was still hurt beyond words since from the look of things, it had seemed as though Fred was the one he had been looking for his entire life.
John didn’t care to show up at work that morning since he had been stressed out. All the drama that had happened in his relationship made him feel a little bit restless and the last thing he wanted was for people to look at him with pity. He was a billionaire and he was the one who was supposed to look at people with pity, not the other way round.
He emptied the glass of whisky that he had carried for himself and smiled for a moment. Things didn’t seem to be going on according to plans but either way, he was still alive. That was reason enough for him not to drink himself silly. And so john decided to stand up, wipe the dust off his ego and go out to the world and continue being the very best that he could be.
As far as he was concerned, things happened for a reason and perhaps his relationship with his short-term boyfriend just wasn’t meant to be, despite the fact that it sure felt like it.
From the look of everything, it seemed as though life wasn’t very keen on giving him a happy ending. As far as he could remember, john had been trying to find someone that he would love genuinely. And from all the sexy men that he knew who were gay, including underwear models as well as fitness models, John was in a position to find something in john that he couldn’t find in anyone else and that alone gave him that golden chance of being genuinely happy.
But when he thought that everything had finally worked out and that his prayers had been answered, something of this magnitude happened. He was sure that Fred wasn’t responsible but at that point, it wasn’t up to him to say or decide anything on his own, it was the board’s responsibility.
And at that point, the only thing that john could do was drink and hope for the best. But that was when his private investigator called him. He immediately put his glass down and picked his phone up and answered it almost immediately.
“Hello damson, what can I do for you?”
“Wrong question sir, you should be asking me what do I have for you.”
“Well, speak up. As you can see, I am really not in the mood for any damn thing at the moment.”
“Ok, I will go straight to the chase, I don’t think your boyfriend hacked into your finances. And I have proof of it.”
***
The judge finally sat down and the court was finally in session. And just like his lawyer had promised, Fred didn’t even try to escape. If anything, he looked much more confident than the first time and so was his lawyer. And the kind of attitude that they were exhibiting just showed to the opposition that they were going to have a very long day.
John was in the court and quite surprisingly on the side of the person who had apparently stolen from him. And that further showed to the judge as well as the jury that either Fred was innocent or john was a very stupid human being.
And without further ado, the case was started and the opposing lawyer went ahead and gave up all of the evidence that he had. Once he was done, he called the IT consultant who was able to prove that it was indeed Fred who stole the funds. And it was at that moment that Fred started paying attention, he had a pen and paper and was going to prove that the details were wrong.
The inquest begun and the more the IT consultant kept on saying, the happier Fred was since he was just using some IT jargon to scare the hell out of people. But in real sense, he was the one who was guilty. He had been trying to steal from john’s company for years but it until he found the right scapegoat that he made his move.
Fred had already tracked down the ten million dollars in the account that was apparently in his name in Switzerland and given the police all of the details. They were just waiting for the IT guy to finish his statement before the police came and arrested him.
And surely, after he was done, he was taken under arrest moment before the judge dismissed the case. It was clearly a waste of his time and he was glad that it wasn’t stretched for a couple more days. And just like that, the two love birds were united together.
“So, as an apology, where do you want us to go to?”
“What do you mean?”
“I want us to go for a vacation and start over. I would really love for us to put all of this mess behind us and move on. I had some time to think over this situation and for real, I think its somehow a blessing to us. We have overcome it and that means that we will have plenty more problems and needless to say, we will have a chance to overcome it over and over again. So, what do you think? I have a private jet all fuelled and ready to take us anywhere in the world.”
There were plenty of places that Fr
ed wanted to vacation to. But from the look of things, Africa seemed like the place to be.
“So, Africa?”
“Yes, Africa!”
“Africa it is!”
And the two lovebirds lived happily ever after!!
THE END
BILLIONAIRE ROMANCE: OF DIFFERENT WORLDS
My family held out as long as could living on Earth. Despite the fact that it had become the most expensive planet in the Milky Way to live on, our roots--like all of the humanity--were firmly planted there in the southwestern hemisphere. True enough, most of our clan had emigrated to the outer planets such as Pluto and Europa generations ago, my father was not willing to let go of the 200 some odd acres of Amazon rainforest. The cost of maintaining it, however, was truly crushing.
The bulk of the planet had industrialized well over a century ago and most of the forested areas were being maintained by the planetary councils and their boundless resources. Even the surrounding acreage was being maintained by the councils and our little patch of the forest looked depleted and brown compared to the vast swaths of land that were fed with the top of the line weather generation machinery. We, of course, had our own atmosphere generation machinery but it was feeble and extremely outdated compared to the council’s equipment.
Personally, I had no idea why Father held onto the land so tightly. It wasn't like our family had sprung from the ancient forest. The land had been purchased by my great, great grandfather during the global environmental scares of the late 21st century just before Earth joined the Universal Trade Union. During that period, North Americans were experiencing such erratic and dangerous weather patterns that most of the population believed that the northern half of the continent was either going to freeze into a solid block of ice or turn into a blazing, unlivable desert. During the scare, Northern Americans migrated south by the millions out of fear that what humanity had done to the planets atmosphere was completely unfixable. Although, the southern half of the continent had escaped industrialization, so, therefore, it was thought that because of this, the weather patterns would be stable.
This, of course, was simply the illusion of safety, and my family--who were originally from New York--fell for the hype of the theories concerning migration. The environmental crisis was globe spanning, though, and no matter where humanity moved about on the planet, they were not going to be safe. Not, at least, until the Trade Union appeared, swooping out of the sky like angels in their massive ships promising to fix the atmosphere and the damaged caused by humanity over the long centuries of environmental abuse. All the Trade Union required to fix the environmental issues was complete and total control over the planet.
At the time, Earth's leaders thought it was a small price to pay. Besides, the bulk of humanity had stopped respecting their authority over the years, so maybe the Trade Union would have an easier time reigning in and controlling the native populations. And for the most part, humanity agreed to be governed by the Trade Union. They were, after all, a collection of "advanced" species from all across the universe--and multiverses--so they obviously knew how to govern and operate plants more efficiently than humanity, so why not give them a shot. The problem, however, was that the Trade Union not only took control over the management of Earth, but the entire Milky Way Galaxy and they needed help terraforming the rest of the uninhabitable planets in the Galaxy and they thought humanity would be ideal in accomplishing this task.
So just as the Trade Union was beginning to stabilize Earth's environment, the Union began shipping human beings by the millions to planets such as Mars and Uranus. Entire clans were uprooted from their lands and sent streaking into the vastness of space completely unsure of what kind of existence lay ahead for them. Most of their concerns were completely unfounded, of course, the Trade Union were ruthless capitalists, but they held the lives of their charges and employees in the highest regard. Teraphorming was, of course, incredibly dangerous work, but the Trade Union had been doing it for centuries, so there was little to no danger to the people who were building and then colonizing these planets.
But most people had no idea of knowing this and they were both frightened and angry that they were being forced to leave the only home they had ever known. There were, of course, pockets of descent and open rebellion, particularly in the Western Hemisphere, which was led by my grandfather, Roy Donovon. Grandpa Roy believed in absolute freedom and considered all government to be a form of tyranny. He considered the Trade Union to be particularly tyrannical. As far as he was concerned, he believed that they were stealing Earth and enslaving its people. Never mind that they were saving the planet and providing all of its inhabitants with a safe haven. But none of this really mattered to Grandpa. The Union was the "other"; the great unknown beast trying to take his land and freedom away from him.
Grandpa's militia was quite the burden to the Trade Union. They constantly sabotaged Union transports, raided Union colonies and slaughtered as many "bugs" as they could get their hands on (By the way, most aliens in the Trade Union do not even remotely resemble bugs of any sort. Most are humanoid, but by giving the colonists this label, the militia more easily demonized them). After a decade of sabotage and fighting, the Trade Union finally relented and allowed Grandpa and his follower’s sovereignty. The downside of this agreement, however, was that the rebels were completely cut off from the Trade Union and the technologies they provided. And this part of the treaty was what eventually broke the backs of most of the original rebels.
Obviously, Trade Union technology was far more advanced than human technology, and it was Trade Union tech that was sustaining the atmosphere and they could localize it; they could take it away and the vast stretches of the Amazon the rebels occupied would be wide open to the ruined environment of Earth. And that was exactly what happened, and the weather turned fierce and deadly. Super Hurricanes in the winters and blister 130-degree heat in the summer was what most of the rebels encountered. Over the years they even experienced a few years of some of the fiercest snow storms recorded in human history--it was during one of these deadly winters when I was born; one of two twins. Unfortunately, my sister did not live through our birth--followed by a two-year long dust storm which devastated the crops and dried up the river.
After decades of this brutal life, most of the rebels went crawling on their bellies begging for forgiveness and the chance to join the outworld colonies. All except my family. Despite the fact that my Grandpa dropped dead of a heart attack at the age of one hundred and twenty-five (If he had joined up with the Union there's a better chance than not he'd still be alive. But that's neither here nor there), but my Father was raised to be a man of principal, even if his principals doomed his family to a life of never-ending hardship and death.
Not that I'm complaining. As difficult as our lives were, my family is a loving one. There are ten of us plus my mother and father. I am the youngest of the ten and one of only three girls (Four if you count my dead sister, who, in a way, lives inside of me) and the only of my sisters unmarried and still living on Earth. Which is also the reason why I have become not only my family's savior but also its slave.
My father was practically in tears.
Over the last twenty-four hours, our lands atmospheric generator had been offline and slowly but surely, the dust was creeping its way onto our lands, clogging the river, turning it red like blood, the sky turning dark and thick in the lungs. My father had been nursing it for years with parts he'd stolen from the Trade Union colonies (We still called them colonies despite the fact that the small settlements that the Union had established decades ago were now full blown cities which supported tens of millions of lives) and had managed to keep it online and the foulness of Earth's natural environment at bay.
But the Union had grown wise to Father's sojourns into the colonies scrap and machine yards. They'd put out extra patrols of armed guards and had upgraded the identification software so that any time someone who didn't belong inside the boundaries of the colonies they
would immediately be incapacitated, jailed, and sent to one of the crueler off world colonies such an as Saturn. Father, of course, hadn't been caught up in this web, he'd only heard about it from his connections within the other Earth free states. The prospect of having his family broken up and his land taken away absolutely prettified my father, and instead stealing what he needed to keep the atmospheric generators running, he paid the high prices the thieves demanded when he couldn't rig an essential part; the rest he kept together with duct tape and chewing gum.
Maintaining the ancient machines was more or less a full-time job and everything else on the property suffered, including the crops that sustained us as a family. In years past, my brothers would have been the ones to take in the crops and then bring them to the markets for trade or sale. But much like everyone else who came of age during the rebellions, my brothers had grown tired of the hard lives they had inherited and had succumbed to live within the Trade Union. No one blamed them, not my mother or father, me, or my grandmother. They hadn't chosen the life they were born into and they had no obligation to anyone except themselves and their own young families.