Chronicles of a high profile gigolo.

I stood up and sat down at least twice before Yvette walked in. I was standing when she finally did come in. She jumped at me, throwing her arms around my neck; her relief was apparent, and in spite of myself, I held her to myself. It had been less than a week since I saw her but it felt like forever. I had missed her , she after all had been a source of constant balance in my life and it had been a while since there had been any balance in my life.

“Baby, I’m so sorry, I really am,” She was planting kisses all over my face; “Have you had something to eat? Did Florence treat you well? I came as fast as I could. Come, sit down, we have to talk.” I took my seat once again, and she walked towards the mini bar, “I am getting a drink, I’ll get you one too, you need it.”
She walked back towards me, and handed me a large vodka, no ice no chaser nothing, the smile was gone. For lack of an appropriate ice breaker I asked where her sister was; “She’s gone Faruk.” She dragged a side stool and sat right opposite me before she spoke again.
“She had to leave, her safety is very key, I don’t want to risk more lives than necessary.”
“But you risked my mum’s.” The anger was building up again.

She raised a finger indicating that I be quiet, I had never seen Yvette this way, so hard, so in control, yet it was still her that sat opposite me, the Yvette, my Yvette. I shut my mouth but my scowl at least remained in place to show my displeasure.
“Faruk, it’s dangerous people we are dealing with here and they’d kill us all if they could without batting an eye lid; your mum, your dad, Florence, you, me. The only thing we’ve got going for us is that the love of money is more important to them than the thirst for human life. This is the only leverage we’ve got right now. Now I need you to tell me how Pope got your mum and what he’s asking for. Of course I know it’s money but how much?”
“He wants all his money and the profit he was supposed to make Yvette, you know there is no way I can raise this kind of money.”

She looked thoughtful as she spoke “Faruk, we do have the money.”
“Where and how? Chief Jacob and yourself wiped everything off.”
“Yes we did and no we didn’t, when he told me his plan and what my cut was, I was all for it and you were really just a mark but that first time I told you I loved you, I really meant it, I crossed a line I’ve never crossed all my life. I’ve always been a chess piece on the chess board of life, this body and face never really gave me much of a choice. First time I did a job, it was for my uncle, my mum found out because I had so much money and I was uncontrollable. I was drunk one night and I bragged about what I did to get the money, she called me a prostitute, I told her I was bigger than that, I was a con artist , she killed my uncle the following day, she’s never coming out of jail. That was another life; that was America. This life, the jobs, this is why we came back home Florence and I. It was either that or we joined mum in jail for some jobs we later pulled off.”

She took her drink in two big gulps before speaking again. “Our first con job was chief Jacob, we pulled it off successfully and took off, next time he saw me was at a party, I tried to take off, but he was all cool and stuff, he sat me down and told me he’d been looking for us, not to get his money back apparently, but so we could do business together. His proposition made sense and I opted for it, Florence opted out, one; because she had found some other gig that was paying off and two because she didn’t think it was wise to put all our eggs in one basket. I agreed with her. This is how my thing with Jacob began. He sent me to a finishing school first, I had to be polished to be able to really get at the kind of people he was targeting, he was not planning to run scams in the sense that I understood it,  what he needed was information and the power to be able to undermine people who are in the same business as he is. I am free to make as much money as I can from this scheme but what he needs is paramount. This has so far worked well Faruk but then he set me onto you and by God I fell for you and I fell hard. I wanted you to myself but you were such a dic head that you couldn’t see this. But it paid off because things probably wouldn’t  have turned out this way.”

“What way? ” I asked “Nothing is working out as far as I can see. Things are absolutely fucked up from where I am sitting.”
“No they worked out, we have more money than we can ever spend and we certainly can grow it. What we can do with this money is limitless.”
“How are we supposed to get it back from Chief Jacob? He certainly doesn’t strike me as someone who is stupid enough to give you his account details like I did, after all he is a master at this game you guys are playing.”
“No he isn’t but I set plans in motion the moment I realized I had to have you. But I had to make sure that I could get you. That you loved me.“

She sighed, “Why is it difficult for you to show love baby, all you see is the money.”
“Well I could say the same about you Yvette, this is why we met remember?”
“Would you have given us a shot if you didn’t think I had money to throw around? Contacts to make available…?”
“Would you have given us a shot if I wasn’t a mark?”
“Probably not Faruk, you would have just been that playboy to me. Look we’re past all that now, we have each other and our whole lives ahead of us, we’re still young, let’s leave all these old people behind, let’s make magic.”
“Look Yvette, I think it’s a beautiful dream and all but we have real problems here. You have told me it will be sorted but you have said nothing concrete. If there is a plan here let’s discuss it, you can dream all you want later.”

“Shut up Faruk,” her voice was calm, cold even; “I am your only chance here I am in control from here on. I didn’t choose to love you but here we are. I have tried to be detached, believe me I have because trust me you are sometimes the worst kind of asshole. You really thought flaunting all you affairs or whatever you chose to call them would not get to me? How stupid are you?”
“Babe…”
“I’m not done Faruk, I need to get it out, all of these have been bottled up for too long. I tried to love you, hoped you would see it, I hoped I could simply save you from this mess, tell you about it, get you to leave the country with me. But if I had told you, you would have felt it was some stupid fairy godmother somewhere saving you ass as usual, you would have felt untouchable and you would have moved on from me. So it eventually came to me and so I improvised, stick with the plan, take the money from you, and then when you’ve seen what could really happen to you, I’d show you I was your only choice, your only way out. Then when every other thing falls in place, take the money from Chief Jacobs as well, I would have let this play along a bit further so you could really see it, the big picture. Fate has however sped things up. Fortunately the rest of the plan is just a few clicks away.”

I took a long swig, I was still confused, still not sure how this would work, I knew now from what had happened to me that she could take the money from Jacob just like that but then what? Chief Jacob was no small fry, I was certain he mess us up in a dozen ways without losing sleep. Yvette certainly had to be just one of his pawns and I wasn’t sure what other forms the other pawns could come in but I was not ready to find out. Not again.
“You’re scared?” she didn’t wait for my response; “Good, you should be, but not of Chief Jacob,or Pope, or any of these other old idiots, your greatest fear from here on should be me. I’m taking over from here on, and if you mess up just once, just once Faruk, I swear it will be the death of you. And yes I am talking about women. You and I were in this for the money and from here on, that will not be a problem. I will take care of it. It is our money, we have worked for it, me more than you but it is still our money we will have equal access to it. I will be the best wife ever to you, the best mother for our kids…”

“Wife?” I spluttered, she had said this at the exact moment I took another swig. I was drinking from the bottle now.
“Yes wife, you think I’m taking the biggest risk of my life just so we can date? Faruk really how stupid are you? I knew there was no way you would agree to get married to me, hell to anyone in the next ten years. Not because you did not know somewhere inside that I was the one for you but because you were blinded by money, power and influence but all you have made plans for is the money. There is more to life than that Faruk and it took me knowing you to see this. That’s all I want now and if this is the only way I can make it happen, I’m sorry but then so be it. I’m sure you’ll come around to seeing it my way.”

“Can we sort out my mum first Yvette? We can discuss this later please.”
“There is nothing else to discuss Faruk, we will sort her out but only when we are about to leave, we are running out of time, so we need to move fast.”
“Leave? Where to? You haven’t told me everything here.”
“I’ve picked a South American Island, your documents are ready, we will transfer the money at the airport. If we don’t leave immediately, every other idiot involved in this will see kidnapping your mum as the way out.”
“Here call Pope and tell him, he’ll have his money by the deadline.” She handed me my phone.

Stay tuned for episode 12 next week Friday. Share, Like and Leave a comment below. Also Subscribe to receive newsletters of when your favourite stories are available to read. Thanks.