Alpha Billionaire Series

CHARLES

I laid my head back on the back of the chair, closing my eyes against the stress I was under. Peter, my campaign manager and semi-close friend, droned on about my ranking in the polls. Everyone else in the room— campaign volunteers, donors, supports, and even my parents— probably sat listening attentively to his speech, but I just wanted to eat. My stomach growled loudly, and I heard Nina snicker. I didn’t care.

“So, the best thing we can do is follow our research.” Peter had some sort of power-point presentation up on the whiteboard, the lights dimmed but not off all the way. He knew what he was doing, which is why I hired him. He put the last three Maryland governors into office, and with his help I was a shoo-in for the Maryland US senate seat that was up for vote next fall.

My father was a judge, probably the most honest and fair man I knew. From the time I was very young, I wanted to be like him. He'd built his career on integrity and faithfulness, married to my mother now for 45 years as proof that the institution of marriage was still intact. I'd be lucky to make it that far. At 32 I was still a bachelor, focused mostly on my career, not the passing fad of relationships where women ended up raking your heart over the coals anyway.

“So, the next steps are here...” Peter was probably irritated that I was not watching him. My eyes still shut to the boring details, I just wanted the race to be over and the result to be decided. Call it a momentary burnout, but the past II months had already been spent rubbing elbows with wealthy party representatives and donors. We hadn't even gotten to the campaign trail, and I wondered if I had made the wrong choice. Maybe being a judge would be easier than being a public representative. Sure, judges got voted in, but not based on their beliefs. This circus of choosing sides was for the birds. I would much rather have been selected based on my ethics and performance. “Chuck...” I felt a hard poke to my ribs and my eyes snapped open, taking in Nina who stared at me. She nodded up 3 Peter and widened her eyes.

Annoyed, I rolled my eyes at her and looked toward Peter as he spoke. The list of things he was going through were items he believed would help me rank up in the polls. So far, my standings were down a bit, which was to be expected. Joseph Mathers, the liberal incumbent, stood a good chance at winning the seat for his fifth consecutive term. I came in on the conservative party ticket, still falling behind my competition in the primaries.

I read through the list: stronger conservative slant, smear campaign, more time on the road—marriage. That last one made me chuckle. Peter had a rich sense of humor which I loved about him. He was always able to lighten the mood in any tense situation with an appropriately placed joke, so I chalked item number four on his list up to helping me relax. We'd hardly talked about my personal life, and he knew I wasn’t dating anyone, so his joke was even funnier. Until he got to that part of his speech.

“And for your consideration, number four here. I believe Charles will stand a much better chance at winning the seat if he is wed.” A round of murmurs interrupted him as he continued to speak, and he had to hush the group just to be heard. “Please, stay quiet so I can explain.”

“Lots of politicians have arranged marriages, or what we call a marriage of convenience in this world. They help the candidate appeal to a broader audience. It paints a picture of wholesomeness, maturity, seriousness, and adds that family value feeling that voters love—"

“Wait. You're serious?” I interrupted. I had to. There was no way he honestly thought I'd get married just to win a political race. I smirked. “I'm not even dating anyone.”

“Charles... please. When the meeting is over?” He raised his eyebrows and clicked the remote to the whiteboard, turning off the presentation.

I pursed my lips and furrowed my brow, displaying my distaste for his campaign ideas. He told me before I hired him II months ago that there would be times when I just had to trust his judgment and experience. At 50, he had been in this game a lot longer than I had, and I'd watched his shark-like performance. He knew what he was doing, but that didn’t mean he was right.

When the meeting drew to a close, he had the support of both of my parents, the lead volunteers for my campaign, and a smattering of donors on every single point, including the marriage idea. I sulked in the corner after seeing my parents out, not willing to back down and give in to his idea. Visit Job ni b .co m to read the complete chapters for free.To marry someone just for political games might have been a widespread practice, but to me it felt deceitful. The entire reason I got into this game was to bring equity and honesty to the field.Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

Peter showed the last of the volunteers out—Nina, who had been the first volunteer to offer her services as my political ally and wife. That wasn’t happening. As soon as he shut the door behind her, I let loose.

“No. It's not happening. I'm not about to put on a fake face for the entire country just to win a political position. I'd rather just wait until I was older and had an actual relationship established. I'm a well-known lawyer and I have a good practice. I don’t need to play games to get ahead.”

Peter pushed chairs aside, making room to move. The room had been so packed there was standing space only, the chairs cluttering much of the open floor. He made his way to the table where I sat, taking a seat diagonal to me. He had turned the lights back up, and I wished he hadn't. My foul mood fit the darker atmosphere much better.

“You want to win? Or you want to be the guy who gave up because he had to play by rules he didn’t like?” Peter raised an eyebrow and leaned back in his chair. His loose tie and open top button spoke of a stressful day, much the same as my disheveled hair did. I could tell he wasn't backing down and that I was in for a fight.

“I'm not even dating.”

“You have two perfectly decent campaign volunteers we could vet and get set up. It doesn’t have to be difficult. Besides, you can think of it like a job you're doing. Just another part of the job. Plus, if you use a volunteer, you can have a contract, prenup, and it will never cost you a dime.”

I huffed out a sigh. “It's not happening, Peter.”

“Alright, then you have to take the hard road. You're morally too aligned with a moderate position. If you begin leaning your platform toward strict conservativism, you'll—"

“No way!” I shot out of my seat. We'd been over this one a dozen times too. To be too far to one side or the other meant compromising my beliefs. “You know I'm not doing that” I leaned over the table menacingly, pressing my palms into the scratched surface of the wood.

“Well then, marriage it is. You can select the person you'd be favorable with, or I can make a list of potential candidates.” Peter stood and grabbed his suit coat and briefcase. “Either way, this is your best option. Otherwise, yo may as well kiss your chances at that seat goodbye. You don't make the seat; you don’t make president either. We'll talk more later, but this has to happen. Even your parents think so. The primaries are in four months, Charles. We don’t have time for games.”

He walked out the door, and I slumped into my chair, scraping a hand across my five o'clock shadow. There had only ever been one woman I'd even consider marrying, and given what happened, I knew she'd never talk to me again. Willow Rain Suthers... I'd almost had everything with her. Until I fucked it up.

I'd kept up with her in the news, though I had entirely lost touch. We hadn't spoken, except once at a business luncheon put on by a mutual friend. We'd said a cordial greeting and nothing more. Not that I hadn't wanted to, but she was on the arm of a prestigious doctor, and I hadnt been in the mood to bicker.

I resumed my posture of reclining in the chair with my head back. Willow was the best thing that ever happened to me, and I had been an idiot for f*****g it up. By now her accounting firm had likely grown, making her a confident, independent business owner. There was no way she'd come back to me, even if I went groveling and crawling on hands and knees to beg her.

Peter was wrong if he thought marriage was going to work. There was no way I could sell it. I had no interest in relationships anymore. I'd all but pledged myself to staying single for life, just to have time to focus on my career. An arrangement may boost me in the polls if I was a good enough actor, but no amount of theater would cover the fact that my heart still belonged to someone else.