Chapter 9 Pandora Box

Finally Dave lifted his head, his eyes were stormy. His eyes searched hers, but he needed not search further because everything she felt for him was written in her eyes.

Brenda could not tell if it was from the kiss or from his anger. But she lifted her head looking into his eyes; the love the passion and everything she felt lay bare for him to see.

Like a nightmare a sinister smile curved his lips, his passion filled eyes of a moment ago became cold, "That was for messing with Dave Campbell." He stepped away from her like she was flea, he needed to get away from. He backed away from her, adjusted his jacket and turned away from her; he opened the door and stepped out closing the door with a bang.

Brenda looked down at her rumpled dress. If David had not stopped, she might have given herself to him, right there in the storage unit of a hotel. She was mortified, so much for dignified Brenda! She thought as she touched her swollen lips. She knew they were swollen because she could feel their heaviness on her face. And the very light mint fragrance from Dave s lips made her wanting for more of him. Tears shimmered in her eyes, she arranged her disheveled state. And hope nobody was in the lobby, when she opened the door to leave. But she had no such luck; because she opened the door and almost every eye in the lobby including those of the waitress were trained on the door as she opened it. She saw them looking at her, but everyone quickly feigned busyness as she stepped out. Brenda gathered the rest of her shattered dignity, raised her head and straightening her spine, she walked proudly to her car.

***

"Congratulations, Mr. Lewis we just got a good buyer." The short investment manager proffered his beefy hand to Desmond.

Desmond visibly relaxed, breathing a sigh of relief; the least he could do was get his finances in order, giving the coming election. The coming months were going to take a toll on his bank accounts which was not buoyant enough to withstand the haul in fact it was beginning to dwindle with each passing day, so much outflow and little or no inflow, which made him come up with the decision to sell some of the shares. He took his proffered hand. "Thank God, and did they take the original offer, or renegotiated?"

"It was the original offer, which was better for you, Mr. Lewis."

"Thank you so much, Clement."

"You are welcome, if you would just sign these documents to indicate the transfer, then we are good."

Desmond took the documents and then scribbled his signature; transferring the sixty percent of his oil well to two different companies at 30 percent shares each, which still left him with 40 percent shares, to be the sole determinant at board of directors meeting; an advice given to him by his Financial Advisor, Which means he could eat his cake and have it. The oil well was the only source of revenue he relied on for now, and prospectively, if he could assume the governorship position, he would have no business worrying about money. Now, all he had to do was put in his best efforts to ensure he assumed the post of governor, because a lot of things were riding on that position. He had been struggling financially, courtesy of his numerous gambling; bad investment he called it, but did a good job of hiding it. He made wrong choices in investment with high stakes, and it s taking a serious toll on his finances and health too, something he was hiding from the general public and his daughter.

He handed back the documents back to Clement. "Thank you once again."

"You are welcome; the transfer should be complete with necessary legalities in approximately, two weeks."

"That s good. I really appreciate your help."

"You don t say, I m, only doing my job. He stood from his chair. I should take my leave now."

"Godspeed" he shook hands with clement and saw him to the door.

He liked conducting affairs like this in the privacy of his home office, away from prying eyes at the law office, a place he rarely visited since the birth of his aspirations. Desmond, swivel his chair to the right and left, resting his back, he sighed. The weight was off his shoulders, now he can settle all his debts and use the rest of the money for campaign purposes, which he saw as another means of investment. He would not leave any stone unturned to win the election. They were still at the primary levels. He had to win that, first. The party needed to see that he was strong enough to represent them in the coming elections.

At age fifty six, Desmond has attained a lot of success and failures in his life, the later seemed to be his lot lately. He had never believed in the word Karma, but his recent experiences were making him doubt his belief. Maybe he was stupid not to have believed that whatever you sow, you must reap. That might just be the circle of life- you know, what goes around comes around. One of the things that drove him to success was leaving a legacy for his daughter. To Brenda he was still her hero, but he knew if his daughter got wing of some things he did in to get his wealth, she would be disappointed or maybe even devastated. The more reason he had to keep these things from his daughter.

Desmond looked back at how far he had come, and thought of things he should have done differently- Gambling, unjust means of acquiring wealth, just to mention a few. But one of them stood out, and that was the time he had used his legal skills to defraud one of his uneducated friend of a contract he won.

And as bad as it may sound, that was the beginning of his wealth. The guilt that always over powered him anytime he thought of it came upon him with the force of an avalanche, but he swept it under, not allowing himself to feel guilty instead, he justified his actions. Thank God it was in the past, his future now is running for the state election. And that s what he was going to do. He might have made bad decisions, but he made a good decision of marrying Brenda s Mum; because of her, his daughter turned out right. He had giving up on remedying his past but he would straighten out his future, which starts by winning the coming primary election.

Desmond straightened up in his chair and put a call through to his Party chairman, he learned about keeping a good relationship with the chairman and members, because they determined his success at the primaries. The primary election was not for another few months and he did not have any stiff competition yet, according to the chairman. That put a big smile on his face after disconnecting from the chairman. He then called his campaign manager to discuss strategies. He also made a mental note to send an appreciation gift to the chairman. Some people might call it a bribe, but not Desmond; he called it gift- appreciation gift. Rumor has it that he was the most eligible of all the candidates; and his generosity might help subvert protocol. "Things are actually going my way," he muttered to the books that lined his shelves. The only thing he had to do, to make him a more compelling candidate is to arrange for his First Lady, which must happen very soon. He doubts if the state would take a Governor without a first lady seriously. Only one person he wanted with him, she loved and understood him enough to take the chance with him, and she was the only one that knew his entire dirty secret- secrete that might rob him of his goals, and a relationship with his daughter. He had to have her in his corner if he was serious about this election, the press has a way of digging dirt, and if they got a whiff, he might be in trouble. He stood and walked to a shelf that housed his old memories, leery of opening the door to past memories. But if he was going to move forward, he had to make peace with the past. He took out the old carton; he placed it gently on the soft rug that covered his library floor; blowing away the tiny dust that settled on the old carton, he opened the dreaded proverbial Pandora box.

***

Dave was livid that he acted like a randy school boy. Why does he feel so out of control whenever Brenda was around him? His intention was to speak sense to her, and maybe seduce her a little and then make her want him more than she already did, but he ended up kissing her senseless, leaving both of them out of breath. If he was to tell the truth to himself, he had wanted to do that so badly since he saw her at the party, so much so that was all he dreamt about when he went to bed at night. He was fooled, because now, he was the one wanting more of her and not the other way round. Dave went to his Bentley one of his newest acquisition; turning on the engine he sat for a while to cool himself, and he was doing a lot of that lately. He decided to cure himself of his lust. He picked his phone to call Rosie.

"Hey beautiful,"

"Hello, handsome. Where have you been? I thought you dropped off the face of the earth."

Dave chuckled. Rosie says the most mundane things.

"You know I miss you Davie" he purred into the phone.

"How about we rectify that? Meet me at the club tonight"

"Okay, that should be fun."

"Should we say 7pm?"

"That s cool"

"See you then"

"See you!" She blew a kiss into the phone before disconnecting.