Chapter Eight

Diana reluctantly stepped onto the stage along with her daughter and Zane. She perceived that there was more to this but it was too late to back down now. Meanwhile Zane could not wait to pitch his many ideas to the old man. 

"Diana am I right?" Jose asked in a soft tone causing her to blush. 

"That's right." She replied shyly. 

"So tell me, Diana, where is your husband?"

The question hit her like a tornado wave and Diana was unable to roll her tongue, she blinked back speechless. "He's travelling.." she quickly came up with an excuse. 

"Where exactly did he travel to?" Jose pressed further, his men had done some digging behind her back only to find out that Diana had intentionally crashed a man's business forcing him to marry her then discarded him later, she did the same to Matthew also. What a despicable woman.

"Different places you know, but why are you asking this?" She raised her brows suspiciously.

Jose threw his head back and laughed softly. "Just to know each other a bit, our children could be married, you know."

Diana immediately let go of her suspicion, eager to hear more. He turned to Erica next, "Erica why did you divorce your ex husband?"

"I caught him cheating." She answered immediately, not even remorseful one bit, "he's just a pretender who chases after rich women for money, when I discovered the truth I sent him packing."

Jose shook his head in fake pity, "I'm truly sorry you had to go through that."

"It's okay, I've healed."

His eyes fell upon Zane, the man was eager to be interviewed next and couldn't wait to answer whatever question thrown his way. "Mr Zane Gonzalez."

"Pleasure to meet you sir." He immediately bowed his head.

"How long have you and Erica been together?"

"Two years." He replied without giving much thought. The crowd grasped in horror and Erica pinched him from behind, "are you crazy." She whispered. 

"Erica," Jose breathed into the mic, "when again did you say you divorced your husband?" However, Erica could not say a word and stared around the room in panic. 

When there was no response from any of them, Jose spoke into the mic once more.

"I would like to welcome my son to the stage, put your hands together for my boy." The crowd burst into a loud cheer and Matthew emerged from the curtains. 

Diana had a heart attack at that moment and almost fell. Thankfully, Zane caught her before she hit the floor. The woman struggled to stand on her own and had to lean on him for support. I should have known when I saw them together, they look so alike. I was blinded by my stupidity and how foolish of me she cried in her head.

"There must be a mistake here." Zane argued as Matthew came forward, "he can't possibly be your son, he must be an impostor and arrest him now!"

This must be a stupid prank. Erica raised her hand to hit him like she used to in the past but was held from behind by Irene. "So this is how you have been abusing him, the evidence is right here before our eyes."

She realised she had made a mistake seeing as people now spoke ill of her. "Who said I was going to hit him, I just wanted to touch him…" but nobody believed her, they continued to hurl insults pointing fingers at her.

"Please forgive me." Diana suddenly screamed falling to her knees, she knew her last option was to beg. If Matthew was truly Jose's son like he claimed then it was over for her and her family. They were not even qualified to do business directly with him, their business partners were all his minions. 

"I had no idea he was your son, I would have never tried such a thing if I knew." She pleaded rubbing her palms together with tears streaming down her eyes.

"What exactly are you apologizing for?" Matthew stared down at her with a scowl. 

Diana felt so humiliated but could only swallow her shame, "everything, please forgive me for everything Matthew. I was once your mother in law, at least consider that."

Without being told to by anybody Zane joined her on the floor, there were hundreds of ideas he had yet pitched to Jose. In that moment he suddenly realized how Matthew must have felt back then when he sought funds from him, the tables spun so soon.

"Son, I will leave it up to you to decide." Jose said, handing Matthew the mic before leaving the stage.

Matthew turned to face the crowd, "some of you might know me and not for a good reason all thanks to this wicked woman named Diana. She approached me three years back asking me to marry her daughter in exchange for money. I agreed because I was desperate to save my business, who would've imagined that Diana was the reason why my business was failing in the first place." 

A few shocked sighs filled the air, he felt so betrayed when he heard the news, and to think that Erica was also aware. It was all their plan, "in those three years of marriage, I was humiliated, abused and even cheated on." Merely relieving the memory traumatized him but still he pushed.

"I have asked my father to gather you all here today to expose their wicked deeds, take a good look at their faces. All three of them if you do not want to suffer a loss I suggest you steer clear off their path.  Nothing good will come out of doing business with such people."

"Please don't do this." Diana grabbed his trousers but he kicked her hands away. 

"Tell your partners, spread the news to those who are not here. Terminate whatever contract you have with them, a word is enough for the wise."

"Don't worry sir." A man shouted from the crowd, "I have recorded everything that happened here tonight, immediately I get home I will post it on our billionaires group chat and it will get to everyone's hearing in no time. Unless they relocate to another planet there won't be any more business dealings for them."