A Fateful Contract

Prologue

The rain lashed down and thunder rolled loudly in the night sky. A man knocked on the door. Why was anyone out in this tempest was a mystery.

"Who hell is that?" Michael said with understandable incredulity

"Leave it" Felicity said with annoyance. "They'll go away eventually"

"No, I'll tell them to piss off. Why the hell are they out on a night like this?"

Michael opened the front door to see a well-dressed man under an umbrella. Considering the weather that night he was surprisingly calm. He wasn't cowering under the umbrella, instead the rain seemed to be cowering from him.

"Good evening," the man smiled politely.

Michael looked at the man with disdain at first then when he observed the scene in front of him properly a more confused look crossed his face.

"Can I help you?" asked.

The man looked pleasant enough but one look at his face told that he would not be able to remember or describe it afterwards. The man seemed strange and made feel a little uneasy but not enough to worry him. Had met plenty of men that were strange or made him uneasy but never both.

"Actually," the man said, "it is I that can help you," and the man, without waiting for an invitation, confidently walked in to the house.

Again, there was this strangeness about this man. But what was it?

The man politely removed his shoes and hung up his expensive raincoat. The man entered the lounge,

"You have a beautiful house," he commented. "Would you mind making us all a cup of tea?" he requested of Felicity with an air of expectation than hope.

Despite this affront and intolerable rudeness Felicity stood up and went to the kitchen to do want the man asked. Why was she doing this? Who the hell does this man think he his?

When she returned the man politely thanked her for the tea and mischievously said,

"Hell indeed."

A cold chill went down Felicity's spine. How did he know what she was thinking? The man gave a small laugh at her reaction as he took a sip.

"Now then" the man said getting down to business. "I understand that you have a bit of a problem? I can make that problem go away."

"What on earth are you talking about?" said Michael with anger welling inside. This man comes in to his house, disrespects his wife then presumes he has the problem.

"You are being investigated for some financial misdemeanours are you not? You committed a crime few years ago, did you not?"

Michael went cold though he tried not to show it. Misdemeanour didn't cover it. There was insider dealing in a massive scale. Michael and Felicity made millions from it.

The man smiled,

"I can make this problem of yours go away. Of course, there will be a price. Once you sign the contract your problem will go away."

"And how will you make it go away?" said suspiciously. "We're not going to replace a crime with a blackmailer."

"No, no, no" the man said shaking his head. "I don't do anything as dirty as blackmail. What I do is deals and you are people that like to do deals, right? Do not worry about the how, just be assured that I always keep my side of a deal"

With this the man removed a contract from his pocket and gave it to the Michael. Michael read the contract.

"Are you serious?" Michael asked with incredulity. "If you make this go away, we have to marry our daughter to your son?"

"Yes" replied the man. "That is the price for my help. I'm afraid it is non-negotiable."

"Who in their right mind would agree to this?"

"You would be surprised" the man answered.

"Do you mind if myself and my husband discuss this in private before we agree?" Felicity asked.

"Of course, I will stay here and finish this delicious tea."

Michael and Felicity went into the next room.

"Do you believe him?" Felicity asked.

"It is strange but I do. He is odd but I do believe he can do what he says. There is nothing to prove that he can but......."

"I feel the same." Felicity agreed. "We have nothing to lose. If he doesn't do what he says we are still in the same place as before. We never planned to have children anyway. We're career people so the risk is all his. We don't even know if he has a son."

"True, so we will agree then?"

Felicity nodded.

"We will give him a week then proceed to do what we agreed."

Michael and Felicity returned to the living room.

"Ok, you have a deal"

"Excellent, just sign the contract here. I will need your signature too, Felicity. I know you're not the trophy wife you want people to believe." It was true. Felicity was more ruthless than Michael. She had a love of money and the high life. Marrying a high-flying politician with the qualities to get to the top would give her that. She could have been successful in politics too if she was inclined to do so. Many people underestimated her and paid for it.

"We don't have to sign in blood, do we?" Michael said half joking.

"No," the man replied laughing. "A pen is just fine"

And both signed the contract and the man afterward.

"Thank you very much. It has been a pleasure" the man said standing up. "I will be on my way. No need to see me out. Your problem will be resolved by the morning"

With that the man left as mysteriously as he arrived.

Early the following morning the phone rang,

"Mr Nugent", the voice on the other end said. "It is Nigel from Jones, Lyle and Freeman. I have some good news. The financial regulator has contacted me and have confirmed that the investigation into your past business dealings has found that there is no case to answer."

"That is good news." Michael smiled, weeks of stress flowing from his shoulders. "Thank you for letting me know. Have a good day."

"My pleasure Mr Nugent. We will forward on the investigation findings for your records and have a good day yourself."

"What happened?" Felicity asked.

"The investigation, they found no case to answer."

"That is wonderful news. Now we can progress with your political career once we settle a few scores."

"I agree. I suppose we now have to have a daughter."

"Don't you find it a little convenient?" Felicity said with suspicions on the forefront of her mind. "We sign the contract, then it all went away."

"He did say that it would all go away in the morning and it did." Michael said surprisingly innocently.

"Oh!" Felicity said mockingly, kissing Michael. "It is lucky I'm here. He knew the financial regulator's findings. So, I don't see that he has done anything. We owe him nothing. Anyway, demanding our children marry, what kind of sick mind puts that in a deal. We are not planning to have children anyway. What is done is done so I think we should celebrate. I will book a table at a restaurant for tonight. I'll call the driver. We are having champagne."