AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter One
Daniel
Every time I looked at myself in the mirror, all I saw was a thirty-year-old man looking back at me who wasn’t the real me. I was living a lie of my parents' making. I was married to a woman I couldn’t stand, and who also hated me. So much so that I was sure she was having an affair with the man she had been engaged to not two weeks before marrying me.
To this day, I still remembered the conversation I’d had with my father just over five years ago. It seemed both like forever and only yesterday.
“Daniel, so pleased you could grace us with your presence.”
My father was always the dramatic one. Especially when it came to punctuality. He knew that I worked in the city and couldn’t always get home at the drop of a hat. His controlling nature was one reason why I hadn’t wanted to get involved in the family business. My brother, Simon, was far more suited to be the next CEO of Cooper Enterprises anyway. I was far better off working as a stockbroker in the city than running my father’s company. I was making a lot more money and didn’t have to worry about whether the company would still be running at the end of the year.
I curbed my sarcasm just enough to keep my father happy.
“You know I often have to work late, Father. You cannot just expect me to be at your beck and call like Simon.”
I saw my brother roll his eyes. He knew that since I was the older brother, it should have been me that was running the company. But I was never a businessman; that was always Simon.
“Well, you are here now. I need to speak to you about something. It involves the business. I know you never wanted to work for me, but I expect you to help when it is needed, and it is needed now.”
I looked over at my brother who immediately looked away. This meant whatever they wanted me to do was something that my younger brother wouldn’t do, and I suspected that it was going to change my life in a way I would never forgive him or my parents for.
“As you know, we have a very close relationship with Phillips Engineering Ltd. The problem is that both our companies are struggling at the moment, and we need to find a way to get more investment into the two companies. We have found a way that we can do this, but we need your help.”
I really didn’t like the way this was going, especially just standing around in the hallway of the house.
“Can we at least go and sit down in your office? Standing around here isn’t really the way I would expect you to run your business, especially when it involves me.”
My father gestured to follow him into his study, and both Simon and I duly followed. We all sat down, and my father continued his speech.
“So, as I was saying, we have found a way to get more investment into both our companies. However, we need to align them more closely, without anyone actually taking each other over. I have been speaking with Andrew Phillips and, at his suggestion, have agreed that you should marry his daughter, Katherine.”
I sat there staring at my father as his words sank in. Marry Katherine. Marry a woman I had never met and had no romantic feelings for. In fact, I would never have any romantic feelings for her. I looked over at my brother who just had shame on his face. He knew I was gay. He had accepted it when I came out three years ago. But my parents still would not accept that I was not and would never be attracted to women and that there was no chance in the world that I would ever marry a woman and give them grandchildren. I got up from my seat, unable to contain the anger I was feeling. The adrenaline was coursing through my veins, and my heart almost beat out of my chest. I held my hands into fists at my side, desperate to punch something or someone.
“I will not marry Katherine Phillips, Father. How many times do I have to tell you I am gay? I have no feelings toward women and never will. Why don’t you get Simon to marry her? After all, he is the managing director of the company, and will be CEO when you retire.”
I saw Simon flinch out of the corner of my eye, obviously expecting the barrage that was about to come my way.
“Sit down and shut up, Daniel. You are still my son and will do exactly as I say if you want any inheritance from my estate. I already suggested Simon, as he was the managing director of the company, but Andrew said it would have to be the eldest son. And as for you being gay, don’t make me laugh. It’s just a fad that everyone is going through. It’s hip and cool in the city to be part of the LBGQT-whatever-you-call-it community. My son is not gay and never will be. I’m telling you hell will freeze over before I accept that. Now, unless you want to put your mother in the hospital with a heart attack and probably in her grave from the shock of losing everything, you will do exactly as I say. We haven’t paid all those thousands for your education not to expect something in return.”
I hated that he always used my mother as a bargaining tool against me. If it wasn’t for him, then my mother would have accepted me for what I was, like Simon. I knew that he had tried to convince my dad of what I was, but it was obvious that he would never accept me being gay. I knew I had no choice. If I wanted to keep my mother in my life, then there was only one thing I could do.
“I will do it on one condition: that a contract is drawn up. We will be married for five years only, and there will be no children. After those five years, we will go our separate ways. I will make sure that Katherine is looked after and wants for nothing, and she will get a substantial payment at the end of it. But I expect her to be faithful to me, whether we are sleeping together or not. If I find out that she is having an affair, then the contract will be broken and she will get nothing but a divorce, with no money.”
I saw my father sit there and smile. He was a ruthless businessman and could see the logic in what I was saying.
“You would have made a brilliant CEO, Daniel. I am sure that we can draw up some kind of contract stating that.”
So that was it. I sold my life to my father for the next five years. I’d married Katherine Phillips just over four years ago. She hadn’t wanted the marriage either, but like me, was blackmailed into it. She knew I was gay, but like her, I promised not to pursue any relationship while we were married.However, unlike me, I was positive she was not keeping that promise.
I knew she had been engaged before we were married and had to break it off. Her fiancé had not been very happy about the situation. Kevin Wright had been looking for a way to take over Phillips Engineering Ltd. for a long time and marrying the owner's daughter had been the perfect solution. That was why her father had come up with the idea of me marrying Katherine, to keep Kevin out of the picture. However as far as I could see he was firmly in it.
Katherine thought I was oblivious to the liaisons she had with him almost every other day while I was running my part of the stockbroking business I was a partner in, but I had plenty of video footage of his comings and goings. The problem was that she could quite easily argue that nothing happened between them. I needed to prove her infidelity without a shadow of a doubt to be free.
I wanted to be able to live my own life, not the one that had been concocted for me. Especially now both our fathers were suggesting that we should bring a child into the world. That it would bring them far more business if we did. I didn’t understand how bringing a child into the world would make any difference whatsoever. I didn’t even work for my father's company, and as for Katherine, I think the only work she ever did was to lie on her back while Kevin fucked her.
From the day of our marriage, we had never once slept together. Actually, both of us could have had the marriage annulled at the drop of a hat because it was never actually consummated. We didn’t even sleep in the same bedroom and never had. So, there was no way I could even consider bringing a child into our loveless marriage, and the only way I would consider doing so would have been through some form of artificial insemination, as I would never sleep with her.
All I wanted was to find the man of my dreams, the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, and it would never be Katherine. All of my colleagues at work knew I was gay and couldn’t understand how I could live the life I was living. So, after a long talk with my partner in the business, I made a decision. I was going to do something about it. I couldn’t wait another eight months to have an argument with my parents over a divorce.
