Chapter 4

Lewis Woodley. He woke up furious. He was feeling what Elsie was used to feeling every morning she woke up all alone on a six by six bed, lonely, sad, angry and regretting. In Swahili they say: mkuki Kwa nguruwe mtamu Kwa na binadamu mchungu. Do unto others what you'd want them to do unto you. Whoever said that should have made a billboard out of it_ spearing a pig for sport is so fun until the same spear pierces the human, it's very painful. There is always no fun in getting others do what we do to them, especially when it’s mean.

Even after he stood her up the previous night Lewis expected her to come home and act as if nothing happened. He did not want to touch her and he also did not anyone else to. Kind of confusing but that’s how he saw it. Call him what you want but Lewis felt like there was nothing wrong with that.

"Good morning everyone!" He said walking downstairs in a pair of grey cotton shorts and a matching grey T-shirt with the words, "Wife can be from the village but car must be Bentley" encrypted on the front in black.

The entire Woodley family was seated in the dining having breakfast. Two sits on the table were empty, his and Elsie's.

"Good morning son, you don't look well" the father of the family George Woodley said, it was not a secret he had a soft spot for his last born the same he had for his three grandchildren.

"Are you okay junior?" Beth asked concerned as Lewis took his rightful seat in silence.

"Where is Elsie?" Joe Woodley, the eldest of the Woodley brothers asked.

He never missed a chance to show how responsible he was and prove to his parents that even in their absence their family and billion dollar estate was in the safest of hands.

"That's what I wanted to ask all of you"

"She didn't come home or what?" Steve asked.

"She rarely stays out late I doubt it" Joe's wife Andy said.

"Then where is she?" Asked Lewis traces of anger in his voice, many said his anger was unmatched and it would have been the end of him.

There was silence on the table. The question was rhetorical. Elsie was his wife and as her husband he had a responsibility of keeping her safe. If not personally then using his billions.

"Have you tried to call her?"

"What kind of a question is that Steve of course I tried to call her even the driver they are not picking up!" Lewis said throwing his arms in the air out of anger.

"Calm down Junior he is just being concerned" George said, "Let's hope she will reach out if she doesn't call the police. Take your tea it's getting cold"

Lewis silently took his tea. George was the final decision maker of the family and his word was taken with a lot of seriousness. In his sixties, he still looked strong and young. The family breakfast continued with a banter that Lewis was not part of. His heart had sank and he felt sick in the pit of his stomach. He could hear them laugh miles away as though he was not on the same table as they were. Fear and regrets set in and he wished he had a reverse button that he could press and go back to the previous day, do things right.

"Hey" Joe shook him out of a rollercoaster of mixed emotional torture he was going through, "let's take a walk"

He jumped to the offer without demur. That was a relief to him. In normal circumstances he would have brushed Joe off claiming he was not fit to be the father of the family and that he needed to wait until their father was no more before taking up his responsibilities.

"She is fine let's stay positive here"

"Man I just want to know she is okay, I feel I bad"

"You have any idea where she can go, her parents or friends"

"Her parents are far away back in fort canon, and her friend Bella I don't know where she stays this is all my fault" Lewis said stopping abruptly at the front porch.

Before Joe could dig deep about how much he knew about her disappearance, Ted his fifteen year old came running towards them carrying his sleek smartphone.

"Dad, this is Aunt Elsie at club Scorpion yesterday night" he said showing them a video on his phone.

"She went clubbing?" Joe asked giving Ted his phone back.

"Yeah, we were to go together but I stood her up"

"Go do your homework Ted!" Joe ordered, he was furious and whatever they were going to talk about next wouldn't have done well with a teenager around, "Are you kidding me Lewis! You know the kind of image or portrays we have our own bar in this huge house what kind of fun do you guys need"

"Am sorry okay, I just wanted to loosen up a bit and have fun"

"And where were you last night that you didn't meet her?"

"That's none of your business stay out of my life if you can't help just leave I'm doing fine on my own I have and will always do!"

Once again the young Woodley was losing respect to his elder brother at the expense of his ego that constantly needed to be messaged without caring who he was talking to. Clearly it was an insatiable monster like death, but this one was feeding on the care and goodwill of people around him while the former feeds on souls. Joe had to be the adult and calm down.

"Am sorry for raising my voice on you, I get it you're not my son, you're my brother and am ashamed of myself"

Lewis seemed unbothered by his apology yet that was not enough to make Joe go away. If Lewis knew the kind of lecture he got from their parents he wouldn't be giving Joe a hard time.

"Let me make some calls I will find her bro" Joe said walking towards the gate.

"Thanks man, I know you will" Lewis said.

Joe turned around to look at his younger brother. He nodded confidently.

****

It was eight in the morning when Elsie came round. She was lying on a massive bed in the middle of an almost all-white room. Black and white curtains covering a large window. On the walls was art of dance. A white closet close to the entrance. It was open and full of track suits and classy sports shoes. A large rectangular mirror in front of a desk with a chair and some books on it. Elsie opened her eyes, her head felt light as she sat up. Frank was nowhere to be seen.

"Ooh shit!" She screamed staring under her sheets, she was naked.

She grabbed her purse from the small table on her bedside looking for her phone. There were more than a dozen missed calls from Lewis. She ignored them and dialed Bella.

"Hey girl am coming over I want you to take me home"

"What do you mean take you home? Where are you?"

"If they ask am with you. I'll explain when I get there bye, I got to go!"

Regrets were starting to sip in her brain as reality dawned on her. She cheated. With a heavy heart Elsie picked herself up and went to take a shower. It was not a sanctuary she was used to, this time, standing under that hot shower she could feel her sins get washed away by every drop of water that made contact with her skin but the stain they left on her heart and her conscience couldn't be washed away easily. Not with any amount of soap and water. She hated herself so much that she wanted to inflict pain on her own body, Elsie sat on the floor of the bathroom, her back on the wall her head tucked between her feet crying her heart out.

"Elsie!" Frank called out getting in the shower with a towel at hand.

"Get away from me;" she screamed dragging her butt on the soapy floor away from him.

"You got to go" he said and continued getting closer to her.

"Ooh now you don't want me anymore, you got what you wanted"

It was arguably the hundredth time he had heard that last bit. Usually while trying to drag the girls he had spent a night with out of his palatial apartment. The fact that she was not the first one to say that gave him the courage to face her.

"No, your driver is here. The guy slept outside the apartment"

To show how different he was from any other one night stand Elsie ever had frank wiped her body dry. Led her back to the bed and applied lotion on her body. He left for one minute and returned with her clothes from the dry cleaner.

"You do this for all your one night stands?" Elsie asked when took the blow dry and started working in her hair.

"No, just the special ones"

"How many do you have?"

"So far I've had one and that's you... look am sorry about all this. I know you feel so bad right now but girl, you needed sex. You almost killed me last night" he said showing nail marks around his neck, they looked as though he was strangling him. There were also a lot others on his back.

"Sorry I forgot to warn you I'm the violent type" she said sounding embarrassed.

"It's okay am not dead, dress up let me get you some coffee" he said wrapping up with her hair.

The anger she had against Frank somehow melted as she looked at herself in the mirror. Although she saw a cheating monster she also saw a beautiful girl who was desperate for a single night of fun that she had the previous night. Her hair was glowing from the jelly and dexterity of franks blow-dry. Elsie dressed up as instructed.

"Here, this will help with your hangover" he said giving her a mug of coffee.

"And my driver?"

"He is having tea in the dining"

"Thank you, I guess I won't get the grand tour after all" she teased.

"Not if you want to do this again"

Did she want to do it again? That was the question she had not asked herself yet. Why did something so wrong always feel so good sometimes?

"No, this is it and if you go with this anywhere to the paparazzi I will make your life miserable frank"

He smiled.

"You look so hot while threatening, I wouldn't do that to you. As a matter of fact my door is always open"

"Am never coming here again, yesterday never happened" she said walking away briskly.

Frank followed her admiring her ass. A few hours back he had it in two huge chunks as he she rode him to Pleasure Island. To him that was just another day in Frank Tazz's Saturday as for Elsie, it was the first bite to a bitter sweet forbidden fruit.

"I guess this is goodbye forever or I can say hi when we meet on the streets?"

"Don't, the moment I get out of this door we never met Frank" she said sounding serious.

"Okay, I can leave with that"

"Let's go!" She ordered the driver who clearly was far from having his fill with the delicious cookies Frank offered him, he carried a handful on his way out.

The truth of the matter was, Elsie was not sure if she could resist him. Even though she was drunk she felt the sex and it was nothing she had experienced before. While this doesn’t mean she thought Frank was better than Lewis, the fact that she was not sure if she could control the urge to sleep with him again was scarier than what Lewis was going to do to her if he found out.