CHAPTER SEVEN: BEACHES OF NORMANDY.

Beaches of Normandy.

Ares. 

I released a sigh in successful completion of another business deal. The only reason I wasn't even in the slightest bit what people described as happy was because it felt like a futile investment in its intrinsic sense. Throwing away a good million dollars just to milk a woman's emotion into staying with me felt useless. As I could have had her in less than an hour if I just decided to flirt with her for as much a minute…

I hated having to do so much legwork for so little purpose. Yet at the back of my mind, I remembered the greater good it would do for me. Not necessarily her existence, but instead her image. Her standing next to me holding hands would surely send those who doubted me into a frenzy. And it was assured they would be even more suprised at how fast I could do it... In just less than three days left to my existential deadline? And the death of my dreams as well as everything I've ever worked hard for? Yet I pulled through and did what had to be done to prevent it? So fast, and so efficiently?...

I would be the talk of the town and the toast of my business partners. The only one of them with a ring on his finger, even though having to endure being falsely accused of having a loving wife at home. I couldn't care less what fantasies they would hold about the affair, as far as I retained my position as CEO and stomped over the competition, winning sales and monopolising the market. Having every last thing in the shelves, in the supermarkets, and in the stores holding the stamp of Masters Global…

My campaign would be world domination on the market scale, becoming the sole provider of every household and formal need possible and thinkable… I would become a god of merchandise and the deity of commerce… Ares Masters, the man who revolutionised business!

I sat in my office chair, my legs crossed and hands clasped together, relishing the thought in vigour and determined hunger to make it happen. I turned to face the wall to see the image of my father hanging on a wall facing me too. I stared in his eyes and I could see his them staring into mine all the way from the grave, to the painting and now directly at me. In my mind I sat assured knowing he would be suprised at what I had been able to accomplish since he left, and now putting the icing on the cake with this recent excellent move…

As the press and the news and everyone else would surely see me as humble and such a man of community. As the girl in question was basic looking compared to what they would have imagined I would pick. I knew they would paint me as modest, and as a man having so much yet being down to earth and grounded. I would become a beacon of humility in their delusional eyes. Inarguably increasing my likability and trustworthiness in the eyes of potential customers…

This was a pandora box of a good decision, and now I wondered how much virtue I had put out into the world for the universe to have made this task so easy for me? The process so seamless, the coincidence so perfect? A billionaire like myself striking happenstance and running into a hapless woman, desperate in just the manner I required and could always solve? 

Financial… 

It felt like a miracle… even though I never believed in them. It felt like a gift from God, even though I knew, and to me there was only one deity: Money…

My phone rang now but I didn't answer. It rang two more times, and I still didn't. Then the office phone rang and this time I only smirked. As I knew who was calling. I knew who was trying to contact me, and I knew it down to the exact person. I knew it was Judy and I knew he was calling to remind me of my deadline. And it was funny because it didn't matter anymore…

I was already done. Because the moment I would stand up from my desk now and leave, the only thing left to do would be to call him back and ask him to get some organisers to prepare the wedding venue. It was funny because I imagined the shock on his face, and how he would retract with his solemn reminder. As when we had talked previously, he had laughed and joked about having to watch me dust my shelf and pack my things, then be overthrown by some random joe from the board of directors… A sight he remarked would be peak comedy to behold, and even laughable to the ends of the earth. I was disturbed, and with the urgency of the matter, I grew even more angry at the situation.

But now I relished in my last laugh and sat calm in my victory, as it had come faster and more precise than a speeding bullet. As a whole wave of insecurity would wash over everyone the moment I step down the aisle holding the trophy of what they thought was an impossible feat for me. I would walk down looking sharp as always, holding my pleasure piece beside me. To the constant view of gawking eyes staring in disbelief and disappointment in themselves.

I sat now and my phone rang again. The speakers buzzing as I had set it on vibrate. My legs stretched out on the table it rested on and my hands now clasped behind my head, holding it steady in relaxation. As I released a sigh, and one that expressed the acknowledgement of my soon coming D-day…

The day I proved to everyone that they were wrong. The day I proved to myself that marriage could work without emotions attached, and the day that the name Global Masters hit the screens of every TV and smartphone across the globe in a massive live coverage of a wedding that would shake the city. 

The day where assumptions are proved wrong and preconceived notions are boshed. The day where those who thought that marriage was the one thing out of everything I just wouldn't be able to do would shed tears of realisation. The moment no one had been waiting for, but everyone will be shocked to see.

The D-day where it wasn't men, but money that stormed the beaches of Normandy...