The Billionaire's Redemption

Chapter Two

"Your mom and I, and her family have made the agreement for years." His dad said.

"How could you have made the agreement for years without my knowledge, dad?" His emotions were fueled by anger over the news, but he tried to control it from erupting.

"It is what it is, son. Nothing changes, whether you were aware of the arrangement or not. You just have to wed her. You have no choice but to." The way his father talked with composure and confidence infuriated him.

"How could he not see anything wrong with this? An arranged marriage for Christ's sake!" He lamented inwardly.

"Besides, she is beautiful and also a public figure. She will be a good asset to your life due to her influence." His mom cut in for the first time since they started the conversation.

He ignored her and furrowed his brows at her instead, because she had never gone against his father's words—not in his presence before.

"You can both decide to stay in a relationship for months as boyfriend and girlfriend to understand and tolerate each other before getting married." His father chipped in.

"Your father and I didn't know each other when we got married, unlike you. At least you've met her more than twice." His mother added.

"I have no acquaintance with this lady, let alone having any desire towards her, whether sexual or not. How do you expect the relationship to work if I have no iota of affection for her?" He bemoaned.

"The relationship cannot work, not to mention a marriage. A marriage for that matter!" He added, his anger about to outburst as he seemed to be losing control over it.

"Son, it is what it is. You have no say about this; you are going to marry her, and that's final." His father authoritatively said.

"Mom, don't you understand what I mean? Come on, mom, you should understand." He faced his mom, hoping she would understand and go against his husband's view for the first time.

"This has been the tradition for years, Alex. The influential marries the influential, the commoner marries the commoner, and the poor marries his fellow poverty-ridden partner."

The pejorative word about the poor used by his mother compelled the anger to take full control of his body, but he was able to calm himself until he finished his utterance. 

"What do you mean, mom? This is a new generation, and it does not usually work." He tried to convince them.

"It works, and it would continue to work, just like it worked during our predecessors' era. You already know that your mother's marriage to your mom was arranged by our parents. Same as my father's, same as my grandfather's."

His father added that they do that for longevity and to garner more years through the marriages that had been working and which he believed would continue to work.

"When your mother's company, which she inherited from her parents, and mine, which I inherited from my parents, merged together, wasn't there an increase in the sales and the recognition?" He asked him.

Everything now dawned on him. The purpose of the arranged marriage was either for both companies to merge together or to have a better relationship with each other, but he pondered if Emily's parents knew his parents' real intentions about it because their company was more famous than his parents'.

"I expect your perspective about parenting should have changed and improved, but I'm disappointed it hasn't. In fact, it seemed to have worsened! Do you even care about my feelings at all?" He finally let out the pent-up anger that he had been suppressing.

His reaction surprised his parents because he had never raised his voice to them before. He had always been compliant with their instructions and orders, like an infant to his parents.

"You are getting old already. You have everything you can desire on earth, except a woman that you can call yours. Don't—"

"Enough woman!" His father's gaze darted from his wife to his son, and his facial expression morphed into a mask of fury.

The casual posture he had maintained moments before evaporated, replaced by a rigid stance that exuded an aura of barely contained violence.

"Do you think that because you own and control a company, you can do as you like? As much as I'm alive, I gave birth to you, and any decision we make..." He looked at his wife and continued.

"That I make about you is final. You are going to marry Isabella, and that's final!"

"I have never argued with you or gone against you, but as it seems, I would do that for the first time without blinking an eye."

He faced his mom and said, "Mom, you claimed the decision was made because I need a woman in my life? Have you ever cared about things related to my life without having your selfish interests in mind? No! You haven't. If I'm ready to settle down with a woman, I will find one and make that decision voluntarily. You have dictated every damn thing about my life since I was a kid, but you can never dictate or choose a wife for me." He insisted.

Although it wasn't the first time he'd be going against his father's wishes, the only time he did before this refusal was when he wanted him to take over as CEO of his business from him after he finished his master's degree.

Alex refused, stating that he wanted to establish his own company. He finally gave in to his decision after weeks of agitation and arguments about it.

He knew that his father accepted it because he would finally end up controlling the company after his demise. 

If his company hadn't turned out to be successful—if it had gone bankrupt or collapsed, he would have told him to head his company, so it was a win-win situation for him.

"Boy, read my lips; you—are—joking. Emily will be yours, and there's nothing you can do about it. Be ready for her arrival because she will be packing into your house by the weekend." If not for the fact that he was his father, he knew what he would have done to him; the least would have been to punch him on the lips that articulated those ridiculous words.

"You are the one joking. In fact, I'm out of here."

A sudden surge of energy propelled him to his feet as he walked out of them.

He could picture the surprised look on their faces as he left because he had never done that before.

His father kept sending threats at him as he descended on the stairs to his hearing, while his mother kept on calling him, but all their words fell on his deaf ears.

He smirked in satisfaction because he had dreamt of the moment all his life.