Part 5 - Things Will Never Be the Same
Chapter 10 - The Nail in the Coffin
I had a chance to catch up with my wife who'd been quite busy working with and seeing Emanuel. Very few nights would I see her back at our place. I was curious if she had her own room at the compound or if she only stayed in his room. I gathered it was the latter since she would still come home periodically as all her things were still here.
"You're home," I said, happy to see my wife. "I wish you'd called or texted. I could have made a nice dinner. As it is I'm just cooking up some pasta."
"That sounds perfect," she replied.
I guess she doesn't get much traditional Italian cuisine when she's not here.
Once we'd settled down to eat,.,
"So how's things?" I asked trying to sound nonchalant. In reality I missed her a bunch, but I could sense my expression of neediness never helped her to open up or dialogue with me.
"Not bad," she started. "Work's going great. As you've seen we're acquiring new accounts all the time boosting our bottom line."
"This is true. I must admit you've really hit your stride. I get the sense we could retire to Rome in a few short years if we wanted."
The moment I finished my sentence I knew I'd said the wrong thing. Any time I mentioned us in a family sense, alarm bells would go off in Jo's head. Case in point...
"Fabio, I have something important to discuss with you."
Again, trying to sound as nonchalant as I could muster, and failing miserably...
"Sure Honey, what's up?"
"I'm just going to jump right to it. Emanuel has offered me a salaried position which would alter the time I spent on other accounts. Furthermore the pay would dwarf what I'm earning now."
"That's good, I think. How much is he offering?"
"$450,000 per year."
"Jo, that's incredible!" I said. "What's the catch?"
"Why does there have to be a catch?
"Well, you're already doing great work for him. What does he need that you're not already providing?
"TouchΓ©," she replied. "Well, it's two things. First, he wants me to move my base of operations from Rome to Accra, to work from here semi-permanently."
"Makes sense. What's the other thing?"
"He wants me to carry his baby."
The words were essentially the sum of all fears for me. He'd taken my woman. He was likely marginalizing my position within our business. And now he was going to give her the only other thing I couldn't. A child. I couldn't maintain my cool as I started my interrogation.
"Why the fuck does he want that? Doesn't he already have children? Why you?"
"You know why," was all she said.
And I did. It was a power play, plain and simple. It was yet another move to prove to me, our friends, his associates, society at large, he was powerful and could sway anyone his way, even a beautiful Italian blonde like Jo, as well as to emasculate me in front of the world. To humiliate me to my wife.
"What did you say?"
"I said I'd check with you first."
"And?"
"I've already decided."
I remained silent, not wanting to hear what she'd decided, knowing the answer already.
"I've already stopped taking my pills."
"So that's it then?"
"My offer still stands. If you ask for a divorce, I'll sign the papers. You don't have to suffer like this."
A divorce would be death of me. If it was a divorce she wanted, she sure wasn't trying very hard.
"I will always care for you. When life turns bad, I will be there. I'm happy for you, whether you realize it or not."
However, my heart was truly broken. Emanuel had won. He had taken her from me. All I could hope for now was Emanuel to get tired of her and cut ties. It could be a long time. Years. But it's all I had. I left the room to go cry elsewhere.
That night, Jo packed three suitcases. I didn't see her back at our place again.
Chapter 11 - Family Ties
Around two weeks after I moved in with Emanuel, he took me on an oasis retreat with some of his extended family members. There must have been about 40 people in total. We arranged for cabins for all, so those who brought a wife or girlfriend got their own smaller cabin while the unattached generally shared a larger open bay cabin. I was Emanuel's personal guest, so I would stay with him in his personal cabin. I looked forward to some personal time with my man.
That first night, everything went as planned. After a day of hiking and enjoying the peaceful area, Emanuel pumped me with his beautiful hard cock in another attempt to make me pregnant. I didn't mind. I wanted a baby with this Adonis, and to show others that he'd chosen me. It felt holy as it was just him and me, in the nature, missionary position, alone. If him shooting deep in my womb after what was a few weeks of not taking birth control didn't get me pregnant, there was no telling what it would take. I certainly didn't mind the attention.
The next day, another day of hiking, light swimming in a nearby lake, and an evening with a big fire and barbecue. This had been more fun than I could remember in a time. It reminded me of summers back home.
After that event, rather than head back to our cabin, Emanuel said he wanted to go to his adult nephews' cabin. They were going to play cards, have some drinks. I was welcome to join. I figured that would be preferable to going back to our cabin. After all, the internet signal was so bad, and I wasn't tired.
The men, all having reached adulthood some time within the last 10 years or so, were surprised to see me show up, but they didn't seem disappointed. The moment we entered, I could smell the marijuana in the air. Drugs are basically illegal in Ghana, but they weren't inaccessible, especially for someone like Emanuel.
In all there was about 12 of us. We sat around a large coffee table and played Texas Hold 'Em poker. They had chips and everything, and there was the equivalent of a $20 buy-in. Emanuel staked me and we played for the better part of an hour before I ran out of chips.
Emanuel had almost run out of chips not long after. He was all in in a Hail Mary effort to get back on top. He had been bluffing with two pair, implying he had a full house or higher. He wanted his nephew's chips, but his nephew had more.
"I'll raise you for your chips, Jonathon," Emanuel said.
"With what, Uncle? You have no more chips, and your beautiful Jo is also out. What could you possibly have to offer?"
"Jo will take off her shirt," Emanuel said.
"Emanuel, I'm not wearing a bra," she whispered in his ear.
"That never stopped you before," he whispered, smiling back.
"You're on, Uncle. I'm sure we'd all love to see Jo's chest, and it's about to happen."
His nephew pushed his remaining chips in and flipped his cards. "Full house, Uncle."
Emanuel flipped his cards over revealing his two pair.
"Sorry, Honey. A bet's a bet."