by Katie Dowe
“Is it about the money?” he had asked her when she told him.
“I have been married to him for over thirty years and I feel that I owe him something,” she had told him miserably. Since the night he had been inside her room and told her what he thought of her, she had been feeling more and more that the marriage was definitely over but how could she leave?
“No,” she told him now, putting aside the wine glass she had in her hand. “I can’t.”
“I can’t go on like this, Mitsui.” Charles came to sit beside her, taking her hands in his. “I am not used to being in a situation like this and it is driving me crazy! I hate sneaking around and that’s what we are doing.”
“I am going to create a scandal in my family, so forgive me if I need a little time,” she told him tearfully. She went home to her unhappy place and left her heart right here with him. She had barely spoken to her son, and whereas they usually have dinner together as a family, that was no longer the case. They were all living separate lives. “I live in a house instead of a home and we are all like strangers passing through. I need a little more time, Charles.” She clung to his hands tightly as if they were lifelines keeping her from going under and maybe they were. “You are the only good thing in my life right now, so I am asking you to bear with me a little bit.”
She had tears in her beautiful soft black eyes and he did not want to contribute to her misery. He lifted her soft delicate hands to his lips and kissed them tenderly. “Take the time,” he murmured. “I am here and not going anywhere.”
She snuggled up to him and rested her head on his shoulders, closing her eyes with a sigh but could not help but think that it was rapidly coming to a climax!
*****
Kimberly gazed at her rings for a long time before putting them back into the velvet jewelry box and snapping the lid shut. She was getting ready to go to work on Monday, the first working day after her wedding. He had left her early this morning to go to the office and said he would be back later. Her husband! She hugged the thought to her. She had never met his parents and his father would not approve of her but right now she did not care.
“Don’t you think that your father is going to start questioning the fact that you are not at home at all?” she had asked him last night.
“I don’t care,” he had told her grimly. “I am your husband and I am not going to be sleeping away from you.”
He had made love to her then and they had clung to each other.
*****
It was late afternoon while she was dealing with a client about her sick puppy when Brian came to tell her that there was someone there to see her. “I will be right there, Brian,” she told him and turned back to the woman as she explained that she had taken the puppy to the vet and there was still no change. “I am wondering if I should change his diet?” the slight, overly anxious woman said to her nervously.
“Maybe you should try that,” she told the woman with a smile, squelching her impatience.
It was another ten minutes before she could get away to attend to the person Brian had told her about. He was standing by her office and he had a commanding figure. Before he turned around, she knew exactly who he was and her heart started hammering inside her chest.
“Ms. Gayle,” he nodded briefly. “I can see why my son is so fascinated.” He looked at her with cool impassionate stare and Kimberly felt as if she had just been touched by ice. “I do not blame him.”
“Mr. Kamato.” She did not hold out her hand and he did not offer. “How may I help you?” She kept her voice cool and collected, careful not to show any fear. Men like him preyed on people who showed that kind of emotion.
“Is there somewhere private we can talk?” he asked looking around at the small cramped space with a sweeping glance.
She indicated her small office reluctantly, not willing to let him into her space.
“We already know who each other are so I will dispense with the formalities. My son fancies himself in love with you.”
“We are in love with each other yes,” she told him coolly.
He laughed shortly, causing her to look at him in surprise. He did not look like Peter, but his son had apparently taken his height from him. His face looked cruel and even when he laughed, it did not change the appearance. His expensive charcoal suit although it fitted him well did not give him the elegance and charm his son exuded.
“Love! Such an overused word, don’t you think?” He had not taken the seat she had indicated and she did not sit either. “Kamato Holdings is a powerful company and we are a powerful family, Ms. Gayle. You own a business, so to speak,” his voice was scathing. “So you have a little idea of what kind of work goes into making a company successful or maybe you don’t,” he said with a dismissive shrug. “I always get my own way and I have told my son to get this thing with you out of his system or do you think you are worth much more than a billion dollar?” His tone was mocking and his eyes swept over her and left her quivering inside.
“I am worth much more than that, Mr. Kamato,” she told him icily. “I love your son and the fact that you have put a monetary value on our love makes me feel sorry for you. This thing that you think we are involved in is going to last so you can either get on board and stop trying to run everybody’s life or you can step aside and let us lead ours.”
He stood there staring at her for so long that she thought about fleeing but she stood her ground. She was not going to show any fear!
“I always win, Ms. Gayle, and I intend to win this one. My son has not a dime to his name and he has been used to being a billionaire and all the trappings of wealth. Let us see if he is willing to take the chance of having that taken from him. We will see how in ‘love’ you both will be then. Have yourself a pleasant afternoon.” With that he left the office, leaving the door open behind him. Kimberly saw when he stopped for a little bit and looked around the store, his bearing one of contempt. Then he looked back at her with a mocking smile before leaving.
*****
She waited until he got home before she told him. He had brought take-out Chinese food and she shared it out on plates. She had showered before he got there and had pulled on a t-shirt and old sweatpants.
“How was work?” he asked her pulling her into his arms. She hugged him tight to her and rested her head on his chest, inhaling the scent of his subtly expensive cologne. Everything about him was expensive and his father as despicable as he had sounded was right; he was used to money and it would be hard for him to do without it.
“Hey.” He eased her away from him to tilt her chin and looked at her. “What’s wrong?”
She moved out of his arms and sat on one of the sofas and indicated for him to do the same. “I had a visitor today,” she told him softly.
“And?” he prompted even though he felt the truth inside him.
“Your father came to visit.” She told him word for word what he had said to her.
“He had no right!”He reached for her hands and held on tightly. “I am going to fix this Kimberly.” His heart was racing and he was desperate about losing her.
“How?” she asked him softly. “He is right, Peter. He is never going to accept me, he all but said that and you are not going to get accustomed to living like this.”
“What are you saying?” he asked her hoarsely.
“I am saying we should be realistic and consider if this is such a good idea.” She had to give him a way out.
“Even if I have to get a job as a busboy or to just work alongside you in the store, I am not leaving,” his voice was soft and determined. “It will not come to that because I have an inheritance from my mother’s parents but I am not letting you go for any reason and I want you to remember that!”
Chapter 8
“You went to her store?” Peter felt like beating the crap out of him and it was due to the fact that he was his father that stopped him. He had not spent the night with his wife, knowing that he had to have it out with him and let
him know that he was not afraid of him. He was having dinner and only looked up at him coolly before continuing to eat the meal set before him.
His mother looked up at him startled. “What’s going on?” she asked in alarm looking from one to the other.
“Ask him,” Peter said looking at his father furiously. He had not seen him at the office for the whole day and assumed he had meetings out but no he was busy harassing his wife.
“What have you done, John?”
“What I am suppose to do.” He pushed away his plate and reached for his glass of wine, leaning back against the chair and staring at his son quizzically. “Our son here fancies himself in love with some black girl.” His tone was amused. “I can’t say I blame him, she is a fine looking piece of flesh.”
Peter saw red and he knew that was exactly what his father wanted. He was spoiling for a fight and he was baiting him but he was not going to rise to it. “Watch it, Gather,” he said forcing his voice to be cool and detached even though he was burning up inside. “Your prejudice is showing. Kimberly is the love of my life and it is killing you that I have stood up to you and gone my own way. I am not satisfied to be boxed in the way you want me to be and it is burning you up.”
“You think you can throw away our family’s tradition just because you think you are in love with some woman?” he sneered, his hand tightening on the stem of the glass. “You are not going to throw away the company you worked so hard to help build just for a woman, Peter, I know you better than that.”
Peter walked around to face him and stared him down. “That’s the problem, Father,” he told him coldly. “You don’t know me very well, do you? I am not satisfied to sit in a loveless marriage for the rest of my life because it is family tradition. I am going to walk away from the company and you are going to watch me doing so.” With that, he turned and went back through the door. Later, they heard his engine as he drove away.
“He is your only son.” Mitsui stared at the man she had been married to for so many years. “Can’t you just let go of what you hold so dear and embrace him? He is your own flesh and blood John and he is in love, why can’t you be happy for him?” She was trembling with despair.
“What do you know?” he asked her cruelly. “You live in some fairy tale world where a man and a woman live happily ever after. It does not work that way, my dear wife. What we have works and it has done so for a long time. These flashes of emotions fade and reality chips in. Your son is going to realize it when the money he has cannot sustain his lifestyle that he has become accustomed to and when he does, I will be right here waiting to rub his face into it.”
“Who are you?” Mitsui felt the meal she had just had churn inside her stomach. How could she have endured being married to this man for so long? And why was she still with him?
“I am a practical businessman who has made a vast amount of money to keep his family in fine style and that’s what it’s all about.” He pushed back his chair and stood up, towering over her. “You would do well to remember that.” He strode from the room and minutes later she heard when he drove out as well.
Mitsui sat there around the dining table as the maid cleared away the dishes. She smiled her thanks and found the strength to get up and go to her suite. She had never felt so alone in her life and she realized that no amount of money and fine lifestyle was worth staying in a marriage like this, it was time to get out!
She called Charles.
“What happened?” he asked her swiftly.
She told him everything.
“Where is he now?” he asked her and she knew he was referring to her husband. “He left, I don’t know where and I don’t care. You are right. I cannot stay, it’s becoming more and more unbearable living here, Charles, and if it was not for you I know I would have gone off my head.”
“What do you want to do?” he asked her gently, his heart going out to her. He felt so helpless but he had to let it be her decision entirely.
“I am going to tell him tonight,” she said tremulously.
“Do you want me there?” he asked in concern. He knew her husband had never gotten physical with her or she would have told him but from what he had heard of the man, he realized that he was a control freak and loved having things his way. He was not going to take kindly to his son disobeying him and now his wife’s betrayal.
“I can deal with it.” She took a deep breath. “I love you, Charles.”
“I love you too, baby,” he told her softly.
Mitsui hung up the phone and looked around the suite she had called home for the past twenty-something years. She remembered the first place they had lived after they had gotten married. It had been a little apartment above the supermarket. She had spent her time fixing it up and making it look like a home, not that he had noticed. He had been bent on making money and driven on buying as much property as he could. She had never worked because he would not hear of his wife working, he was the man and it was his responsibility! The first time he had had sex with her, he had done it clinically and behaved as if it was a duty and maybe it had been for him. It had been her first time and she had lay there trembling before he came inside the room. He had turned off the lights and gotten on top of her and told her to open her legs. Then he had entered her forcefully and when she had cried out in pain, he had stopped a little then continued, getting his release and then getting off her leaving her dissatisfied. It had been the trend between then from there on and when she had gotten pregnant with their son, he had stopped being with her that way. Mitsui had been so relieved and had prayed that he would never come to her that way again. He never did and she found herself wondering where he was finding his satisfaction, not that she cared. She was just glad he had left her alone.
She had never known it could be so wonderful until she had been with Charles and experiencing that with him she knew that she could never go back to the cold emotionless relationship she was currently in!
*****
He went to see her. He wanted to bury himself inside her and take out his frustrations and anger on her body. He had called and told her to shower and meet him at the door naked because he needed her.
She was waiting by the door for him and as she opened the door, her large breasts were slightly damp and inviting and she was wearing nothing but a pair of black heels. He felt his erection growing. She was his outlet and he was glad he had put her up in an apartment so he could come over and vent his frustrations out on her.
“You look so tired and upset.” She touched his fierce brow tentatively. She was afraid of him and even though she loved the money he spent on her, she hated his forceful and arrogant manner.
“Turn around,” he told her coldly, going behind her and pushing her up against the door.
He released his erection and entered her, pushing inside her to the hilt, ignoring the tiny gasp of pain that escaped her. He grunted as she closed around him and gripping her hips he thrust into her rapidly, his eyes closed in pleasure. He pulled her away from the door and made her go down on her hands and knees and continued thrusting inside her until with a guttural cry he spilled his seed inside her!
*****
Peter got the call while he was in bed with Kimberly. It was a little past midnight and when his phone rang he woke disoriented. He had come home to her angry and pacing until she had calmed him down. They had made love and then fallen asleep. Now his phone was ringing. “Hello?” he cleared his throat to get rid of the sleepiness and wondered who could be calling him at this hour.
“Peter, it’s your mother,” she said unnecessarily. “Your father has been in an accident and I am here at the hospital.”
For a minute, he wondered if he had died and felt the remorse washing over him. Whatever it was between them, he was his father and he had to respect that. “I’ll be right there.”
“Go, it’s okay,” Kimberly said to him softly as he turned to her. “Call me and let me know what happens.”
He kissed her lingeringly and
climbed out of the bed, dragging on some clothes.
She watched him leave and could not help but think that their lives were about to change!
*****
“He is suffering from severe head trauma and he has slipped into a coma,” the doctor was explaining to them. “We are hoping to reduce the swelling of the brain before we operate but we just have to wait and see.”
“What are his chances?” Peter asked him abruptly.
The doctor hesitated briefly, looking from mother to son then he said, “I am not sure yet, he has suffered severe brain damage from the accident, we can only hope for the best.”
They were not allowed to see him so they went back into the waiting room. “What happened, Mother?” he asked as soon as they were seated.
“He was in an accident.” She clasped her hands in front of her fighting the guilt she was feeling. She had decided to tell him she was leaving him the minute he came home and was quite happy about it only to get the call. “He was driving too fast and he hit an embankment and the car overturned with him.”
“I thought he was at home,” he looked at her searchingly, wondering where his father was coming from so late.
“He left right after you did.” She looked at her son. “He was very angry because I stood up for you,” she said with a slow smile. “He stormed out.”
“I bet he did,” Peter said grimly.
“You were with her,” his mother stated.
He looked at her and then made a decision. “We are married. She is my wife,” he said briefly.
Mitsui looked at him in shock. She never thought he would go that far. “I wished you would have told me,” she told him sadly. What a mess!
“We did not want Father to find out and I did not know where I stood with you.” He leaned forward. “I love her, Mother, and I have never loved anyone the way I do her. She is my life and without her, the money, the company means nothing to me.”
She looked at him and for the first time saw the passion and intensity on his face. “I want to meet her,” she told him. She saw the uncertainty on his face and assured him. “I am not your father, Peter, I would never do or say anything to hurt her.”
