3. Five Billion Dollar Debt

"What???" Sophie yelled, staring deeply at Agatha.

"You heard me, Sophie. You are getting married next month to Maxwell Dupree. I'm sure you saw him yesterday night at the party," Agatha said.

"Yes, but as Mandy's fiance, why do I have to be the one to marry him?" Sophie asked, not sure she quite understood what was going on.

"You are getting married to him because I said so," Agatha said, now returning to her breakfast.

"What about my boyfriend Timothy, I really love him, grandmother, please, don't do this to me," Sophie pleaded almost in tears. 

Agatha chuckled, turning to look at Sophie."Let's see, Timothy Griffith, no social class, no money, no power or connection, and above all, no real job. Tell me, Sophie, what makes you think that I, Agatha Rowling would accept a man that works more than twelve hours a day as a delivery man and still earns below minimum wage as my son-in-law, what are the chances of that ever happening?' Agatha asked.

"He is hardworking. He just wasn't lucky to be born rich, but that doesn't make him less of a person. He is a nice man, I'm sure you would like her when you both meet," Sophie said, making Agatha burst into laughter.

"Well, Sophie, aren't you lucky to croak your way into riches." Agatha said sarcastically.

"To be frank with you, Sophie, I don't really care about you or your little broke boyfriend, Timothy, or whatever he calls himself. And I am certainly not telling you this to get your permission, I am merely informing you. The decision has already been made, and the necessary preparations are in motion already, but if you still want us to consider your opinion, we would gladly do that," Agatha said.

"Really?" Sophie asked.

"Yes," Agatha said, signaling one of the maid. The maid walked towards Sophie and hands her a big brown envelope.

"Inside you would find a bank statement containing the report of every single dime the family has spent on you right from the first day we found out that you have been conceived...." Agatha paused. She glanced at Sophie, studying her facial expression before she continued.

"If you can pay back every single dime, including taxes before Thursday then I would gladly let you off the hook, but if you can't, Sophie Rowling, I suggest you make yourself available for your engagement this Saturday," Agatha said with a tone of finality.

"Five billion dollars, and that's without taxes. How is this even possible, I didn't even go to an Ivy League college?" Sophie asked, stunned, but she didn't get any response.

"Thursday is just three days away, I can't raise this grandmother, I don't have such an amount," Sophie said almost in tears.

"Then you should better break up with your little delivery boyfriend and marry Maxwell," Agatha said, wiping her mouth. She was done with her breakfast.

"If I were you, Sophie. I would marry Maxwell. It's not as if you have anything to lose at all. Besides, even if you don't marry Maxwell, you won't still marry Timothy. That would never happen, and you will end up dying old and alone because with your face and body, it would be hard to get a groom I would approve of, do you better take the offer while I am still being nice to you or rather pretending to be" Agatha said, and with that, she left the dining table alongside her son Carlos, who was also done with his meal.

"Here comes the bride. Here comes the crippled bride," Beatrice sang, and Mandy burst into laughter.

"But grandmother, I love Timothy. You can't do this to me," Mandy said, mimicking Sophie.

"Wow, but I must say Sophie. I totally underestimated you. Five years old relationship gosh, how did he put up with your face? He must have been embarrassed," Beatrice mocked.

"What relationship mother, he is obviously some creep trying to marry his way into wealth, but unfortunately for him, his rich illegitimate heiress is about to become a crippled man's bride," Mandy said and they both burst into laughter.

"Oh, Saturday is going to be a day to remember, I need to go shopping and pick the best outfit," Beatrice said, standing up.

"Yeah, let me join you too," Mandy said, and they both walked out of the conversatory while laughing loudly at Sophie.

Sophie watched without saying a word as they both laughed and made fun of her. Now she knew why she was invited to the family breakfast for the first time, Agatha wanted to hand her down Mandy's arranged marriage just as she had handed her every of Mandy's leftovers.

Sophie stared at the bank statement over and over again. Raising a million dollars would probably take her two years of working a 24-hour nonstop job. How the hell would she be able to five million on less than three days.

Borrowing wasn't even an option for her since she had no friends, even if she did have friends, borrowing five billion dollars to her would be impossible, and she can't opt for a bank loan since she had no substantial collateral for such a loan. The bank won't even listen to her, Five billion was a lot.

She left the dining table with a lost appetite. She wasn't able to grab enough bite before Agatha started bombarding her with questions about her love life and informing her about the families decision to marry her off to a crippled man just to save Mandy

Although Agatha didn't spell it out but Sophie knew they were doing all these things because Mandy didn't want to marry Maxwell. This wouldn't be the first or the second or even the tenth time the family would force her into doing something she didn't want to do because of Mandy. Everyone cared about Mandy, and as long as she was okay and comfortable, they didn't care about who was getting hurt or in pain.

Sophie left the house immediately and headed straight to Lionheart Logistics. She needed to talk to Timothy and know if he could offer a better solution to the problem, but on getting there, she was informed by one of his colleagues that Timothy had been summoned into the directors office, something that rarely ever happens.

"What happened? Why the long face? " Sophie asked. She had been waiting for him for the last forty-five minutes and was already getting impatient before he saw him walking in like a complete shadow of himself.

Timothy sat down on the bench, and without saying anything, he handed her over the envelope in his hand.

"What's this?" Sophie asked to no one in particular as she tore upon the envelope.

"A company downsizing?' Sophie froze at the spot.

"Yes, I have just been fired," Timothy said, trying so hard to hold himself from breaking down in tears.

Working as a delivery man in Lionheart Logistics might look like a degrading job, even for Timothy, who graduated from college, but since he had no power or connection, he had to take whatever lemon life threw at him hoping to make lemonade out of it and for the last couple of years, he has been making the make lemonade he could, taking care if his parents and two sisters whom were all dependant on him.

"Why would they be downsizing when we are short of drivers for the delivery vans," one of the coworkers asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I overheard the chief saying they would hire more drivers. It makes no sense that they are suddenly downsizing by firing just one person," another said.

Sophie immediately understood what was going on. She needed no soothsayer to tell her that it was all Agatha's doing. She must have fired Timothy to frustrate her into getting married to Maxwell.

"I can't believe this is happening. My rent is almost due, and I am already two months short on my father's hospital bills, the doctors have been calling and I was hoping to get an advance payment now I am left with a severance payment that isn't enough to pay for my rent not to talk of hospital bills" Timothy lamented.

Sophie felt a pang of pain in her heart. She couldn't believe Timothy was going all through all these things because of her. He was the breadwinner of his family, and they were dependent on his monthly salary for survival.

"Can I talk to you outside Timothy, I think I know why they are doing this to you," Sophie said. Timothy glanced at her stunned.

"What do you mean?' He asked, staring at her. 

"Let's talk privately outside," Sophie said again, and they walked outside somewhere they could be alone.

"So what do you mean by you know why they are doing this to me?" Timothy asked.

Sophie exhaled deeply, not sure how best to put the news to avoid getting him more upset than he was already is. If he had known Agatha was just scouting for information when she asked about her love life, she wouldn't have mentioned Timothy or where he worked.

"Actually, this morning, my grandmother asked me about my boyfriend. I thought she was asking because she cared about me since Mandy was already getting married, so I genuinely told her about us..." Sophie paused, her eyes scanning Timothy's face, studying his facial expression.

"And what did she say or do after you told her?" Timothy asked.

"She got upset and said she wasn't going to approve of our marriage," Sophie said 

"Because I'm poor and not as rich as your family," Timothy asked. 

"Look, just calm down, okay? I would talk to her, and I would resolve this. You would get your job back so don't worry okay," Sophie said intentionally, leaving out the part of her becoming Maxwell's arranged bride, even though she had come there to tell him about it but after she saw his predicament, she figured out it would be best if he doesn't know.

"When? You think she is suddenly going to like me because you talked to her. I can't believe this. Why is she bothered who you marry or not. It's not as if she likes you, why the sudden interest and interference?" Timothy asked angrily.

"Just trust me. You will get your job back soon, okay?" Sophie said. Although Timothy still had some doubt in him on how Sophie planned on pulling it off but he still believed her besides Agatha was her grandmother anyways

Sophie left Lionheart Logistics without accomplishing her initial plans of going there. Timothy was her only hope of raising at least a snippet of the money, but now that he had lost his job and going through financial crisis, Sophie knew it would be selfish of her to ask him for any money.

"Where is grandmother?" Sophie asked the maid immediately she walked into the mansion.

"Good evening, Miss. Madame Agatha is upstairs in her study," the maid said with a light bow.

"Thank you," Sophie turned to leave but suddenly stopped upon hearing Mandy's voice.

"I sent you an emai since morning. Why haven't you responded," Mandy asked, with a frown plastered on her face.

"I was busy trying to pay off my debt, I didn't have time to check emails or respond to them," Sophie said, and Mandy chuckled.

"I have always known you to be naive, Sophie. Do you really think you can pay five billion dollars in three days? What are you, a drug dealer. Even drug dealers can't do that in three days, You are really something else, Sophie," Mandy said in between laughter, but Sophie didn't say a word to her.

"Check that email, and I need at least the plan worksheet by tomorrow morning, do you understand?" Mandy asked, sounded all bossy and rude..

"Yes ma'am," Sophie responded. 

Mandy stared at her from hair to toe, and with a chuckle, she entered her room.

Sophie exhaled deeply before knocking gently on Agatha's study.

"Who is there?" Agatha asked

"It's sophie," Sophie responded. There was silence for a while before Agatha spoke again.

"Come in," 

Sophie gently turned the door knob opening the door. She took in a deep breath before walking into the well arranged study.

Agatha was a lover of books. Even at an old age, she still creates time from her busy schedules just to read and acquire more knowledge.

Sophie's eyes scanned the study, taking in every detail. She wasn't usually allowed here as the study was meant for Agatha and her favorite granddaughter, Mandy. This would be her second time here. The first was years back when Mandy had gotten in trouble in school, Agatha called her up in her study just to scold her.

"And to what do I owe this visit?" Agatha asked, her eyes fixed on the book she was reading.

Sophie closed her eyes, exhaling deeply before she reopened them again.

She looked at Agatha, and with a clenched fist, she muttered, "I will marry him"