ROMANCE: The Lion's Chosen Mate (Paranormal Lion Shapeshifter New Adult Contemporary Romance) (Shapeshifter Mystery Alpha Lion Romance) (11 page)

-Moving on-

Fred didn’t show up at his place of work for almost a week. He knew that the IT world was very small, somewhat of a global village and by then, word would have already gone out about what had happened to the McKinley foundation. And if that was the case, then all of the huge corporates that might have been interested in sponsoring his enterprise would have pulled out as fast as possible.

In other words, he had screwed up big time and no matter how hard he was going to try and fix it, there was no way around it. In short, he was screwed and nothing he could do was going to make things right. 

The good thing about Fred was that he was a smart ass and even while he was hurt and crying, he couldn’t help but think up of ways in which he was going to make an amazing comeback at the end of the day. It was also an incredible thing since think seemed to be the only way that he was going to get his mind off the scum that had happened to him.

He had already known that lots of people, especially in the McKinley foundation weren’t very happy with how their boss had fished out another IT expert who was not only a handsome lad but also happened to be ten times smarter than them. It was clear that he was going to have it rough dating john. And now, as though his predictions were right, it was the same thing that was happening at that moment.

But the damage had already been done and nothing could be done to quell the situation. First and foremost, it would have rather made some sense if he was trying to gold dig his boyfriend. But Fred never even thought of doing anything like that. As a matter of fact, he wasn’t interested in dating the billionaire but the man.

But Fred also wasn’t going to lie to himself since the former was how the society would always look at it at the end of the day.

It had been a very dramatic weekend for Fred. First and foremost, he had never been arrested in his entire life and that alone was just too darn traumatizing, let alone the fact that he was being accused of something that he didn’t ever dream of doing.

But on hearing the case, Fred figured that it had been very cleverly crafted and that if he wasn’t going to be smart about going about it, then he could land in jail and even worse, lose everything that he had worked so hard to achieve, including his love with john.

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 Fred 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

Living in Vegas was a dream for many. There were so many people who often dream of spending some time there, but for Blake, it wasn’t anything less than a living hell. Blake had moved from his apartment on one of the upscale areas to a much smaller apartment in a somewhat affordable locality.

Life didn’t look all that jazzy anymore after he had quit his last job, following a dispute at the workplace. It was often hard to get a job and Blake had realized his mistake two months after quitting the old job. He had filled in numerous applications, but not one among them had converted. He had lost his confidence and debated moving to another city because Vegas seemed to have lost the jazz for him.

The cost of living in Vegas was terribly high and even if he stopped frequenting at the casinos and the bars, he still had to work really hard to make sure that he didn’t eat into every single penny of his hard earned savings.

Blake Rogers was 29 years old, marketing graduate and gay. He had lost three very good opportunities because of being homosexual.

“Damn, the world still needs to catch up. I don’t get it why being a gay could cost me my job. It has nothing to do with my efficiency,” Blake said to himself to vent out his frustration. He knew very well that his rejection letter came because of his sexual orientation.

Blake was still furious when he got a call from Jack. Jack was leaving Vegas and he wanted to meet Blake before bidding a goodbye to the city. Even though Blake wasn’t really in a mood to meet or converse, but he owed it to Jack. Jack had been one of his closest buddies in the city and they had some great time together. He was one of those friends who never judged Blake for being gay.

They agreed to meet at the café near his office during the lunch hours. Blake dressed casually and headed out. As he waited patiently at the café for Jack to arrive, he could see his whole life crashing apart. It would be so easy to lose everything that he had taken so long to build.  He really needed to get a grip on his life and make it work.

As he was still busy with his thoughts, he felt a tap on his shoulder he turned around to see Jack. It had been nearly two months since they had met and Jack looked handsome as ever.

“Why are you leaving Vegas man? As it is the city sucks now, without you, what am I going to do?” Blake said.

“I know man. I got a better job opportunity in Kentucky. Also, it is closer to Sarah as she works at a firm there. The long distance thing sucks real hard. She asked if I could shift and this seemed like a good job opportunity.”

“I am happy for you man. You and Sarah look good together.”

“What is wrong with you? Where has all your energy gone?”

“Oh, Jack! You know how I had a major argument at my last job. I left them but ever since I have been turned down almost everywhere. Life is such a struggle. The worst thing is I was one of the topmost qualified candidates at three jobs. They turned me down because I am gay. Can you even believe that?”

Jack could feel the frustration level which Blake had.

“Damn it, Blake, you were going through all this shit and you are telling me about it now? Like, do I even exist for you?”

Blake felt bad for not relying much on his friend; he knew he could have used Jack for some comfort.

“I am sorry dude. I was just in a terrible mood.”

“Blake, you don’t get it! My office has a vacancy. I am leaving the job and they still haven’t found someone to fill in the position. More so, you know what! You are not going to be judged either because Austin White, the CEO of the firm is rumored to be gay.”

Blake couldn’t believe his luck. He knew what Jack did and he knew that it was in the same niche. Jack had often called him for ideas and they had a great time discussing them.

“Are you serious Jack? Dude, you could be my savior. Could you kick some reference in for me?”

“Oh definitely. You didn’t have to ask. I would love to pitch in a reference. I have to leave tomorrow evening. I will talk to Austin today itself and get an interview scheduled for you. He is a badass, but he is desperately looking for someone to fill in my place.”

Blake heaved a sigh of relief as he was delighted to spot a golden ray of hope. Maybe, not everything was going to sink, after all, he mused and prayed that this time, his life worked out. He was tired of too many rejection letters.

They spent the lunch discussing the different events. Their life and where they hoped to be in times to come. After spending some quality time together. Jack headed to his office promising to talk to Austin and Blake went back home, feeling just a little better.