Chapter 12

By the time the two pretty men had returned to the office – following multiple detours for water, coffee, the bathroom and 'forgotten' belongings, as if they were two students prolonging their return to class – the mood had significantly shifted for the worse. While the Lore's and Reyes' has been ecstatic at how close their second sons were, the Q Group had struck again, leaving Samuel raging to his parents as he paced back and forth.

Both Joshua and Henry immediately felt guilt bubble within them, they had been childish cowards, avoiding returning to the meeting, only to find something had gone horribly wrong, something far more important than this sham of a marriage.

"Samuel, calm down. Breathe."

"Absolutely not!" the Reyes heir snapped back at his mother, his face lit red in anger. Henry immediately went up to his brother, stopping the pacing, as Joshua silently slipped back into his seat. "What happened?"

"The damned Q Group, of course! They tried to run Meera down! Outside the hospital! She miscarried again last week; she does not need this shit!" Samuel was trembling as his roar of a voice resonated throughout the office, his reaction suddenly making complete sense to everyone.

Up until now, all anyone else had seen was him receiving a short phone call from his wife's bodyguard followed by him revealing the Q Group went after his wife. No one had known the whole story.

Everyone in the Reyes family knew that Samuel and Meera had been trying for children over the past year, however it has come to multiple failure. The wife, whenever finding herself pregnant, would suddenly be ailed with high blood pressure, which in turn would elevate her stress levels dangerously high and resulting in a miscarriage.

Since the couple had started trying, they had succeeded in getting pregnant three times, however the unborn child would never make it to the end of the first trimester. The couple eventually stopped telling their family if Meera was pregnant or on any developments with the treatment; quite the feat when considering they live in Samuel's childhood home with his parents.

In reality, the miscarriage last week brought them to a staggering six miscarries over a 12-month period, and it had taken a heavy toll on both of them.

While the Lore's did not know about Samuel's wife's tragic pregnancy record, they did know the effects a miscarriage could have on someone. Hanna's younger sister having brought her life to an end due to the crippling depression she was faced with when she lost her own unborn child.

The temperature in the room had dropped considerably.

Henry's face, while not dramatically changed, had formed a serious frown. Despite his usually youthful look, at this moment he gave off a feel of cold maturity, not someone anyone would dare to wrong. However, this tough exterior hid just how guilty the young man felt; he should have been here from the beginning instead of parading around to avoid his parents.

"Is she alright?"

"According to Gar, she is mostly unfazed. But you know Meera, she's being tough. I told him to drive her here."

There was a moment of silence as Henry let go of his brother with a nod, stepping back. The silence was quickly broken by an unwavering voice.

"We have to go public with everything today. They are already involving other patients in Penelope's ward and now trying to kill your wife in bare daylight. Unless the Q Group understand the merger is not our desperate retaliation to their expansion, these attacks are not going to stop." Everyone looked to Archer as he spoke, not even giving Henry and Joshua a chance to even question what he had said about the Q Group and Penelope's ward.

The parents immediately understood what he meant: they had to go public with the marriage.

Joshua and Henry were by no means aware that was what Archer has been leading to.

"It will be rushed, but you might be right," Marcus responded with a sigh. John nodded, thinking it over quickly. "We could pretty easily call a surprise conference, and neither board of directors should be a problem as long as we personally contact and inform them of the base of the merger beforehand."

Base? Joshua was suddenly overwhelmed by a foreboding feeling because, as far as he was concerned, there had only been talks of one possible merger so far, and that included him in a gay marriage.

The other man found himself confused, starting to lose what exactly the two families were talking about now, because he did not know of any merger. Unfortunately, of perhaps luckily for his mentality, Henry's imagination was not half of what Joshua's when coming to such insane situations.

"Getting everything set up in not the problem. It will be sorting the story to stop the entire thing looking rushed, are you two up to it?" Hanna directed the question to the two apprehensive man, both going immediately pale.

Both families put it down to the fear of going public with their sexuality, not realising it was the exact opposite.

"Well, we do it have much of a choice, but if it is those two, they can definitely make it work. I trust Henry 100%."

"Same with Joshua, they are both more than capable of conjuring a suitable story."

Both older brothers encouraged their younger sibling, showing both their support but also respect for them. However, instead of putting the men to ease, of course the opposite happened. Henry fell back in shock, thankfully into a chair.

"Alright," Caroline started, her voice authoritative. "Us four will talk to our boards of directors and get an official green light for publication.

"Samuel, Archer, you two spread the word, set up everything needed to stream the press conference on all our company websites and establishments. Make sure all work stops for its duration, everyone's attention needs to be on it. After that, the two of you watch over the mole hunt, it shouldn't take much longer, have the police on standby to have them arrested as soon as found.

"Ramy, Haerin, get everything ready for the press conference, find and set up a suitable venue, call all currently relevant news broadcasters, make sure everything is ready, and one of you be prepared to grab signed papers from the Lore company building. We also need engagement rings."

She finally looked to the two second son's, her voice softening a little, "You two take the office and work out a story that spans over enough time that this doesn't sound as rushed as it is. We can have the dinner on Saturday as a formal meeting between the two families where you two showed interest if you want, so it will just the substance of your relationship you would have to come up with. Are the two of you alright with all of that?"

Caroline's question was returned with two absolutely shocked individuals who could barely grasp the reality of the situation.

She looked back with a sigh, meeting eyes with the other three parents. "It is perfectly alright if the two of you aren't ready for this yet, we understand that. We can come up with another foundation if it troubles you so much. Just say so."

Henry still could not believe that this whole farce had gotten to the point where he was asked to publicly announce his non-existent relationship with another man. That single fact as far beyond him. He was a very happy, very straight man with absolutely no intention in getting into a homosexual relationship, most definitely not with Joshua Lore; he was an undeniably beautiful man, but still a man, let alone the fact they had met a mere two days ago.

Joshua had similar thoughts, thinking everyone had absolutely lost their mind to the stress of the situation with the Q Group. He had no idea what they were thinking, nor why his parent's seemed to think the two were happy with announcing their marriage, the two had not even shown themselves to be remotely friendly – a false assumption, blind to the duo's own behaviour at times – and yet his parents thought they were close enough to be engaged. The entire situation was ridiculous.

However, in that moment, despite finding the entire situation horrifying to the core, the two had an unspoken understanding, leading them to give nothing but silence in response. And it was this silence that allowed everyone else in the room to relax and get on with their jobs, all rushing out to get things done in time.

Only Joshua and Henry were left in the room.

There was a deafening silence in the office, Henry eventually building the guts to turn back to Joshua, him meeting the other's piercing green eyes, the two holding a gaze.

Eventually, Henry spoke.

"They tried to kill your sister, thrice."

"As well as your company, and sister-in-law with it."

They were both suddenly more than aware that the merger had become a matter of life and death, that it had been that way from the moment the Q Group suspected anything, that it had reached a terrifyingly dangerous level.

More terrifying than the prospects of being engaged to a man.

The two could only grimace and mutter in unison.

"We have to get married."