“Damn bra!” Travis chuckled as he looked on at the two.
“Whatever,” Darrius mumbled jokingly.
“I will be in the kitchen working on some stuff, just call me if you need me,” Lizeth said as she walked out the living room towards the kitchen.
Lizeth walked into the kitchen with a sigh of relief. She thought she was caught. She thought that Darrius was still out on his morning run when she was in his office looking around for something earlier that day and she came across a note that read:
What goes around, comes around Darrius
This note led her to believe that something was going on that he was not telling, or trying to keep from her. Either way, she wanted to know what was going on and it was clear he was not talking about it.
Lizeth managed to get his suitcase open and that was when she discovered pictures of him and other women and more letters along with emails. What the hell? Many emotions and thoughts were running through her head. He was cheating on her with multiple women. The more she looked at the pictures the angrier she became. She had to hold her tears in as she looked at the pictures. She was just about to take all of them when she heard Darrius and someone talking downstairs. Lizeth wanted answers, but she did not want to bring it to Darrius’ attention that she knew so she decided to go and visit Martha today before she went into work to get answers on both the notes and emails, in addition to the women in the pictures. With Darrius distracted by his brother, this would be the perfect time.
“Damn man I can’t believe you’re going through all this,” Travis said in response to Darrius finally telling him about what was going on at work.
“Yeah, it’s just getting out of control,” Darrius said, shaking his head.“I have a person looking into it though,” he added.
“That’s good. Do you have any idea who it could be?” Travis asked.
“At this point I don’t have a clue,” Darrius said.
“Can I ask you a question?” Travis said, sounding more serious than before.
“Sure man, ask me anything,” Darrius said.
“What made you want to mess around on your wife.?” Travis asked.
“To be honest, I don’t really know. At the time I didn’t care and I felt it was okay,” Darrius admitted.
“Cheating on your wife is never okay,” Travis scolded.
“It’s not like she is going to find out,” Darrius said.
“Well looks like she may,” Travis said.
“I doubt it. She works now, she’s too busy,” Darrius said.
“You come off like it’s not that big of a deal,” Travis said.
“How, and why you pressing this man?” Darrius said, now getting upset.
“You’re doing the same shit dad did to mom and you should know better!” Travis yelled.
Darrius felt like he was just punched in the stomach. All he could see was flashes of his childhood appearing and none of them looked as if his mother was hurting or his father had cheated.
“Watch your damn mouth. Our father did not cheat on our mother!” Darrius said as he stood to his feet.
“Really? They said you wouldn’t remember being that you had to go to a therapist because you couldn’t handle it then,” Travis said as he stood and walked towards Darrius.
“Is this the reason you came, so you could tell me some bullshit?” Darrius asked.
“No, I came because I needed to talk to you on why you haven’t heard from me in a while,” Travis said, now sounding sad.
“Travis what’s going on man? I knew something was up from the moment you were on the phone,” Darrius said, quickly calming down. Both men sat back down and Darrius looked at his brother whose eyes began to water. Travis looked down at the floor and stated to talk.
“I really screwed things up in my marriage,” Travis said.
“What?” Darrius asked, stunned.
“Let me finish,” Travis said.
“Everything was good in the beginning. We got along and I was happy with her. Somehow along the way I found myself wanting the company of other women. It was good and I loved it. She did not know and at some point, I did not care. I got so caught up in it that I failed to even notice my wife was leaving me. Hell, when I realized it she was already gone,” Travis said with tears now coming from his eyes.
“Man I am so sorry, I didn’t know you were dealing with this,” Darrius said.
“Well, there is more,” Travis said through sniffs. “After she left everything just kind of hit me all at once. I started drinking, and then gambling became an issue for me,” Travis confessed, now sobbing. “I lost everything!” Travis said in between sobs.
“Hey man, it’s going to be alright,” Darrius said as he hugged his brother.
“No man, it’s not going to be alright,” Travis said as he pushed away from Darrius and got up from the seat. “Don’t you see, we are cursed!” Travis shouted out.
“What do you mean cursed?” Darrius said jokingly.
“You think this shit funny?” Travis said.
“No man, but you sounding crazy as hell. You messed up, so what?” Darrius shrugged.
“Crazy? Not at all. My ex-wife is expecting a child,” Travis said.
“That’s good to hear man, congrats,” Darrius said.
Travis just stood in silence and turned his head away from him. “It’s not mine,” Travis said softly.
“I am so sorry bra,” Darrius said.
“I just don’t want you to go through what I went through man,” Travis said. “You may not believe me about dad, but I didn’t know about you cheating on your wife until now, and you just found out about what I did to mine. So, if that is not enough to prove to you, just go and visit the folks. We just repeating the same shit he did to mom,” Travis said.
“Enough with that, our actions are our own, not dad’s,” Darrius said.
“Maybe you’re right, but one thing I know is I allowed my pride and the fact that I am a man get in the way of what was most important,” Travis said as he turned back around to face Darrius.
“And what was that?” Darrius asked.
“Making sure my wife stayed happy,” Travis said.
“Well my wife is not going anywhere,” Darrius said.
“Yeah let’s hope so. One of us got to get it right,” Travis responded.
*****
Lizeth sat in her car in front of Darrius’ company thinking of how to go about getting information from Martha without coming off as though she is clueless. I will just go in there and demand answers, Lizeth thought to herself. No that would be too direct. Oh well, nothing like the present, she thought as she got out of her car and started walking towards the building. The good thing about not being seen up here often made it easy for her to be excused as a normal person. Once she was on the elevator, two other people were discussing an email that came out talking about a leak where someone could have obtained personal information.
As she listened to the two on the elevator talk, they began talking about filing a potential lawsuit against the company. So it’s deeper than I thought, Lizeth thought as she listened on. The conversation came to a complete stop once the doors to the elevator opened and the two got off. She wondered if she should follow them. She quickly recanted her thoughts to follow and remained on the elevator because she did not want to risk missing Martha. The elevator doors closed and Lizeth stood back and waited for it to reach the top. The elevator kept going up until it reached its desired floor, the doors opened and Lizeth stepped out. To her surprise, Martha was standing at her desk as if she was already waiting on her. Martha waved her over. Lizeth walked over to Martha who seemed to look as if she was stressed.
“Is everything okay Martha?” Lizeth asked.
“Mrs. Jackson, I have been trying to reach your husband all day,” Martha said, sounding frantic.
“Martha please calm down and tell me what’s going on,” Lizeth said. As Lizeth sat down with Martha she listened to Martha explain everything
that was going on in the office. How she misplaced a file and had to send out the memo to all employees and clients, past and present. She also informed her about all the mysterious emails and letters along with packages that had been coming to the office for Darrius.
After Martha finished telling her this, she looked as if she was relieved, but that moment passed rather quickly once the phone started ringing again. As Martha informed her of all the recent happenings, Lizeth was trying to think of who to call to help save her husband, despite his cheating ways. She started grilling Martha with questions to get to the truth.
“So Martha, who do you think could behind all this?” Lizeth asked.
“I am not sure,” Martha answered.
“Has anyone recently got fired?” Lizeth asked.
“No, no one’s been fired. I would have to handle that paper work,” Martha told her.
“Did he have an argument with someone or upset someone?” Lizeth asked.
“No I don’t think so,” Martha said.
“Okay, well that gets us nowhere!” Lizeth sighed, clearly frustrated.
“Sorry I can’t be more help,” Martha apologized.
“Well who would have access to this information other than you?” Lizeth grilled her.
“No one,” Martha said.
“Well no one got fired, so did anyone get hired here recently?” Lizeth asked.
“Well, no new hires. All we had was an intern who was from the college, but Mr. Jackson all of a sudden chose to end the program with the school,” Martha said.
“Why did he do that?” Lizeth asked curiously.
“According to Mr. Jackson, she was getting too attached here and she was not really working out,” Martha explained. Lizeth felt as if she had just found the piece to the puzzle but was still not sure.
“So do you think she could be behind this?” Lizeth asked.
“Well when she was escorted off the property she didn’t seem at all upset,” Martha said.
“She was escorted off the property?” Lizeth asked.
“Yes, Mr. Jackson thought it best,” Martha said.
“Now that you mention it, she did get to work with me once or twice, but I don’t think that she would do this,” Martha said.
Lizeth was sure that this intern was behind this, and she planned on finding out the truth.
“Martha if I wanted to find an intern or this intern for my company how would I go about doing so?” Lizeth asked.
“Well the college is a good choice, they have such bright students. But if you want to speak with that particular intern I have her information here,” Martha said as she went into her desk and pulled out a folder with ‘Jessica Jones’ printed on it. “You can’t look in it, only I can,” Martha said.
“I understand,” Lizeth nodded.
“That’s weird,” Martha said.
“What?” Lizeth asked.
“Her folder is completely empty,” Martha said. Both women sat in silence looking at one another.
“Well I don’t want to keep you from your work,” Lizeth said, getting up to leave.
“It was nice to talk to you Mrs. Jackson. Again, I am sorry about our mix-up before.”
“Tell you what, if you can keep this conversation between me and you I will forget about that mix-up,” Lizeth said as she smiled.
“My lips are sealed,” Martha promised as she gestured zipping her lips.
Lizeth was not too sure if that was really the case, but she hoped she held up to her word. She did not need her husband to know that she was well aware of what was going on. She could not ask Martha about the women in the pictures being that she was already dealing with so much already. Lizeth entered the elevator and pulled out her cell phone.
“Hi, this is Lizeth Jackson I will need for you to set up a meeting with me and the partners. I have reason to believe that my husband’s business is being sabotaged and I will need their support on this,” Lizeth spoke into her phone.
“Will do,” the voice on the other end said.
“Good. Call me with the details,” Lizeth said as she exited the elevator.
“She must have gone for a run,” Darrius said to Travis as they walked into the kitchen.
“That’s good, got to stay healthy,” Travis said. “So what are your plans for today?” Travis asked.
“I just have to call into work and see what my secretary wanted. She’s been calling me non-stop,” Darrius said, looking down to his phone.
“Maybe it’s important, you should call her back,” Travis advised.
“You’re right, can’t avoid it forever,” Darrius said as his phone started to ring. “I got to take this,” Darrius told Travis, pointing to his phone.
“Man go ahead, I will be alright,” Travis said. Once Darrius left the room Travis could hear him on the phone with who he figured to be his secretary.
Darrius was asking her questions about how many and how long. Then there was a moment of silence, and then he could hear Darrius say that it looked as if they had no choice but to make it public. Travis could tell by his voice that he was frustrated. Darrius soon walked back into the kitchen to join his brother with a look of horror on his face.
“Man, it’s not looking good for my company and at this rate even my marriage might be in trouble,” Darrius said as he dropped his head into his hands.
“Listen to what you just said. You’re about to lose your company and your wife,” Travis said knowingly.
“Travis man, right now is not the time man,” Darrius said, looking up.
“I can’t help that despite all that is going on you still got messed up priorities,” Travis said.
“What are you talking about?” Darrius asked with agitation in his voice.
“You man! Your wife should be the first thing you should be concerned with losing, fuck the business!” Travis said with hostility in his voice.
“I worked hard for my business!” Darrius yelled.
“Well if you worked that damn hard in your marriage maybe this shit wouldn’t be happening,” Travis shot back.
“What the hell you mean by that? I do what I am supposed to in my marriage,” Darrius said angrily as he walked up on his brother.
“First of all bra, you didn’t do what you was supposed to in your marriage, you did what you wanted to,” Travis corrected him as he pushed Darrius back up off him. Darrius was about to hit his brother but he had to calm himself down.
“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. Not my fault I can handle my business better than you, so how about you get out my house!” Darrius yelled.
“Wow! You are really something, I can’t believe you man. Regardless, I will still pray for you cause you’re going to need it,” Travis said, sounding hurt.
Travis walked out of the kitchen to grab his things and Darrius followed behind, quickly regretting the things he said. Travis picked up his suitcase and walked to the door. As he was about to walk out, he stopped and turned around to face Darrius.
“Oh yeah, the purpose of this visit was for me to tell you something you needed to know,” Travis said.
“What is that?” Darrius asked.
“Tell me this, did you know we had another brother?” Travis asked, staring at Darrius before walking out and slamming the door behind him.
Darrius stood staring at the door trying to comprehend what had just transpired with him and his brother. Darrius had so much going on that he refused to accept anything that Travis said. He felt he might be saying those things only because he is down and going through some things. Whatever the reason, Darrius was determined to look past it and focus on what was going on around him; and that was saving his business as well as his marriage.
****
Darrius was still stunned from the information his brother had given him. When Lizeth came home and asked where he was Darrius told her he had to leave for some emergency. Lizeth told him that it was weird because Travis called her and told her about the fight they had.
Darrius never lied to Lizeth, but with so much going on he found himself doing all kinds of things. With all that was going on with his company and being stalked, Darrius started to drink heavier to ease some of the stress, which caused him to end up with random women. He was also visiting the bar more than he was returning home.
At one point he even started staying away from home. He would leave work and end up in a bar and soon wake up in some random woman’s bed. Darrius felt lost as if he was losing control. He was already being threatened by clients that they were going to sue him, along with many of his employees wanting to quit if the situation was not properly handled.
When Darrius got to work today it seemed as if it was a normal workday. He was not getting ugly looks from any of his employees as he did the previous weeks. Once he reached his floor even Martha seemed to be less frantic than before. She even greeted him and informed him that he had a few messages, but none concerning the leak. He was not sure what was happening, but he was going to enjoy this breath of fresh air. Nelson was sitting in his office as he walked in.
“Nelson, how are you doing?” Darrius asked as he walked over to greet him.
“I am okay, I was coming to see how you were?” Nelson said.
“It’s been hell man,” Darrius admitted.
“Well it may get better,” Nelson said.
“Should I close the door?” Darrius asked.
“I will,” Nelson said as he walked over and closed the door.
“You found something?” Darrius asked with relief in his eyes.
“Yes. We have reason to believe that the person behind this is not someone who is working here,” Nelson informed him.
“So who is it?” Darrius asked.
“I don’t want to tell you just yet, I want to be absolutely sure that it is this woman,” Nelson said.
“So it’s a woman?” Darrius asked.
“Yes and that is all I will tell you,” Nelson said firmly. Darrius understood and left it alone. “Just know you will be the first to know once it’s confirmed. So don’t do anything or start trying to guess who it is, just focus on your work,” Nelson said.
Sick Obsession: A Twisted Love Story Page 6