The Billionaire’s Fake Marriage

Chapter 7

“Bloody hell!” Callum Holdsworth yelled as he accidentally spilled his drink on his coat. “Mate, you owe me another drink.” he said to the barkeep.

“What the hell are you talking about?” the barkeep asked.

“I spilled my drink, so now you have to give me a new one.”

“And why would I do that?” the barkeep asked.

“Because, my name is Callum Holdsworth and I am a reporter who investigates businesses and people. My investigations have shut down more than 20 businesses, and let me tell you a secret…” he then leaned in to whisper into the barkeep’s ears. “Not all of them deserved to be closed down. They only went out of the business because they pissed me off.”

The barkeep looked at Callum’s intimidating face.

The main door of the bar opened and Callum came out flying. He crashed on the road followed by his coat and a notebook.

“Fu*k off! You are banned from this place,” the barkeep yelled from inside the bar.

“Piss off you little wanker!” Callum screamed while getting up. “I am going to fu*k your business up.”

But there was nobody listening to him and so Callum decided to move on. He bent down to pick up his coat and notepad when he noticed something —

A tabloid front page with Janet and Brian’s picture, “High Seas founder found love using her own dating site.”

“Would you look at that? A dating site owner found love in a British bloke. Isn’t that convenient?” and suddenly, his expression turned grim. “Too bloody convenient.”

Callum laughed while he pocketed that tabloid front page and walked away from the bar.

*****

Janet woke up with jackhammers running over her head.

“Fu*k!” she knew she should not have had that much alcohol.

“You okay?” Brian asked sitting down beside her. “Here drink this. It will help,” he handed her a tea that had no milk, no sugar and excessive amount of lemon.

“What is this?” Janet could not take the drink after just one sip.

“It’s an age old hangover cure. We use it in England.”

“I can’t drink this. It will give me another hangover,” Janet pleaded to get rid of that potion.

“Fine! Suit yourself.” Brian put the drink away. And then Janet remembered something else. Though she was not able to remember exactly what she said to him, she knew that she embarrassed herself when she was drunk.

“Did I say something to you while I was drunk?”

Brian smiled mysteriously, “You don’t remember?”

“Oh sh*t! I must have made a fool out of myself.” Janet repented holding her aching head.

“Don’t worry, it was nothing embarrassing. Right now you need to get some rest.”

“But I have this massive headache.”

“I will get you some medicine.” Brian walked into the bathroom.

“Where do you keep your headache medicine?” he yelled from inside.

“With the other generic medicines,” she tried not to yell as it increased her headache.

Brian came back but without anything, “Looks like you are out of medicines. I will get some for you. Just try to relax.”

Janet nodded and Brian left the penthouse.

“God!” she cried due to the headache while her phone rang loudly.

“Hello!” she answered irritatingly.

“Is this Janet Crane? Founder of High Seas?” a British voice came from the other end of the phone.

“Yes. Who are you?”

“My name is Callum Holdsworth and I am an investigative journalist. Would it be possible for you to answer some of my questions Miss Crane?”

Janet tried to think what she should say to this man, but Callum took her silence as an agreement.

“For how long have you and Brian Watson been dating?”

“What?”

“When did you come across his profile and is there any proof that you actually met him using your website or app? Because honestly I think your story is bollocks and you just created it to get people’s attention.”

Suddenly, Janet’s headache disappeared and anxiety took her over. This reporter had just spoken the truth.

“Miss Crane? I am still waiting for you to answer.”

Janet did not want to talk to him anymore, “I am quite busy right now and you can make an appointment for an interview later. Goodbye!”

Quickly, she disconnected the phone and her hangover and buzz vanished into thin air.

*****

Kitty was on the phone with Bilal. She was informing him about the latest update between Janet and Brian.

“She said what?” Bilal asked screaming over the phone.

“Exactly what I told you. She really likes him, Bilal. And now I am worried about her.”

“Do you want me to talk to him? I can ask if he is interested in Janet.”

“No, I don’t want you to do that. In fact it would be best if the two of them sort things out themselves.” Kitty made it clear that she did not want anybody else to step in.

“Alright, but do let me know if you need my help.”

“I will!”

“So now your membership numbers are up and Janet and Brian are going steady… where is our holiday that you promised?” Bilal asked reminding Kitty of her promise.

“Not now Bilal. I just told you how tensed Janet is. You know I can’t leave her like this.”

“I guess. But remember you owe me a holiday.” Bilal’s voice was smiling.

“I do baby, and I will make it up to you. Wait, somebody is calling me.”

“Alright, I love you!” Bilal said hanging up.

“Love you too.” Kitty answered the other call. “Hello.”

“Hi, is this Miss Kitty? Personal Assistant of Janet Crane.. The founder of High Seas?” Callum’s voice asked so many questions in one go.

“Yes, who is this?”

“My name is Callum Holdsworth and I am an investigative reporter. I have reasons to believe that the romantic story of your owner and her boyfriend is fake.”

Callum’s words froze every drop of blood in Kitty’s body.

“Are you there Miss Kitty?” Callum inquired.

“What are you talking about?” Kitty tried to put on a brave face.

Callum was a seasoned player of this game of poker and so he used his much experience bluff. “Oh come on Miss Kitty, I know what you and Miss Crane were up to. The numbers were low and so your company needed a miracle. And you found it in an Englishman.”

Kitty was now convinced that this man knew everything. But how? She had no clue.

“By the way, if you don’t mind me asking, why did you choose a British guy? You could have gone for something much more exotic like a middle eastern or maybe an Asian. Even Indians are quite popular these days. So why did you decide to get her an English boyfriend? Was that to appeal to the American masses?”

“This is a ridiculous story. Everybody knows Janet met Brian on the High Seas website.”