Back for the job

3 Back for the job

Ethan sat on the chair, resting back comfortably. The house wasn’t that fancy to offer comfort, but Ethan felt he was a man who could take comfort even from the most uncomfortable of situations. He sighed, checking his wrist watch as he waited.

A while later, the men dragged out the man he’d come to specially pay a visit to. The man was struggling, pleading and kicking. His face was a mess, covered with snot and tears and Ethan even caught a stench of urine wafting over from him.

Was it so bad that he’d pissed himself? It was disgusting, but business was business.

The men threw Gideon down and the man scrambled to his knees, sniffling. He held up his hands in a plea. “Ethan, please!”

“Come now,” Ethan said, smiling. The men fell in behind him while a few others stood behind Gideon. “What are you apologising for? I haven’t done or said anything to you yet!”

“I know why you’re here,” Gideon said, shivering. “I want more time, Ethan. There’s no way I could raise that amount in just a few months!”

Ethan was amused. He tapped his chin, crossing his legs. “But, you could spend that amount in a few weeks, right? Besides, I’m hard-pressed on cash right now.”

“Have mercy on me, Ethan,” he said, his eyes darting around. Ethan chuckled when he saw him like that. It was always fun to have them shivering before him, begging for mercy. That thrilled him. It turned him on when people—as poor and slimy as they were—grovelled before him, pleading and shitting on themselves. He anticipated that moment.

Ethan snapped his finger, nodding for one of his men to hit Gideon. The man tumbled like a deflated sack when the nearest man punched his face. When Gideon raised his head again, his nose leaked blood, dripping to the tiles.

“That didn’t look so good,” Ethan said. “You can end this by just paying me what you owe.”

“I’m sorry, Ethan,” Gideon said, trembling from both pain and fear. “I don’t have enough yet. I will work harder and get—”

“That’s exactly why I hate my job,” Ethan said, standing. He gave the man a gentle look. He was famous for the calm expressions. No one could ever get him to snap. At least, no one knew exactly what ticked him off and it was a good thing.

“When you came to me, you cried and pled that I have mercy on you. I did and gave you that loan,” Ethan said and paced around the room. The floor around the man was stained red with sticky blood. Ethan turned to Gideon again. “I gave you the terms and condition and you agreed and signed. Now, I come back here after you’ve been on the run for a month and you still ask for mercy?”

“I wasn’t going to run!”

“But, you did leave your house, didn’t you?”

Gideon nodded. He sniffled and glanced at Ethan who towered over him. “I wanted to get a new job so I could pay back. I’m honest!”

“I can taste your honesty, Gideon, and it isn’t pleasant. I want my money now—right now!”

“Please—”

Ethan crouched in front of Gideon, his eyes slit. “Do you know what makes me angry? Do you know what I hate the most?”

Gideon shook his head. His shoulders were still trembling and Ethan liked the fear in his eyes. It showed who the boss was. It showed who was on top of the food chain, the predator of predators!

Ethan gripped Gideon’s jaw, wrapping his hand around his chin. He jerked his head back, forcing him to look into his eyes. The man grunted in pain, gasping. “I hate being owed, Gideon. I hate it when people owe me and fail to pay. I get really mad when people think they can get away with my money. Do you know how hard I work for that money?”

“Please…” Gideon pled with muffled voice. He was grimacing in pain but dared not try to pry Ethan’s hand off his jaw. The men would give him a beating of his lifetime if he did that.

“No pleading,” Ethan growled. “It makes me mad with rage. I want the money, intact, accounted for. Get it to me now.”

“I…don’t have it now,” he said, his eyes darting about.

Ethan shoved him back and he crashed hard against the floor. He gave a soft cry and rolled over, trembling. Someone handed Ethan a white piece of cloth as he stood. He took it and wiped the blood from his hand then tossed the cloth at Gideon.

He sighed and turned away from the shivering man. “You don’t have the money, right?”

“I’ll pay the moment I have it!”

“Right, right,” Ethan said then signalled for his men to pull Gideon to his feet. “You’ll pay in an interesting way. I’ll cut the money in three. You’ll pay one-third and forget about the rest.”

“Thank you!” Gideon said, bowing weakly.

Ethan raised a finger. “Of course, there’s a price.”

“What is it?”

Ethan cocked his head, a smile plastered on his face. “Boys, cut off Gideon’s arms and burn them right before him. That should make me feel good enough to reduce the amount he owes me.”

“What!” Gideon yelled as the men dragged him away. “No, please. I’ll pay in full!”

But, it was too late. Ethan chuckled as the man’s cries faded. Now, who owed him again? He turned to the man beside him. “Who’s next on the list of debts?”

The man scrolled through his phone then said, “It’s Miss Zara Peacegiver.”

Ethan laughed, thrilled. He loved it when they were women. “Well, well,” he said. “It’s time I pay Miss Mara Charlescare a little visit.”

….

After an entire day of wondering around, Zara found herself back at the gates of Elephant Gardens.

There was no hope for her, was there? She had thought long and hard about it, pondered, turned and tossed in bed and the only solution that came to her was to take the job Aaron had offered—assuming it was still available.

She wasn’t a whore—she kept reminding herself—but what shame was there if she used her body to get what she wanted? What had said body done for her when she hadn’t used it as a bargaining chip?

But, the idea irked her. How could she even consider carrying a man’s child by contract? Wasn’t that…unholy?

But, her sense of reality bit back at her. Daisi needed to do more therapy. If she failed to do the therapies, she’d go back to being lame and worn out. She had to pay for her treatments. Dominic had school and she had to pay too.

The house rent was due and Festus didn’t look like he would give them another month—or two—of grace. She believed him when he said she’d come back to find Dominic and Daisi hugging the pole in the street.

Worst of all, she owed Ethan Field—the most dangerous man she knew. If all the other debts and bills weren’t so pressing then that of Ethan was really important. The deadline had been the previous month.

The only way she could shoulder all that burden was to take the job. There was nothing in the job. All she had to do was get in there, get pregnant, get the half a million dollars, settle her bills and debts, give birth, get the second half of the money then get out of the deal. It sounded easy.

She glanced up at the sky and muttered, “I’m sorry.”

She was sorry for what she was about to do. She was sorry for turning herself to a baby-mama—that was even worse. Mostly, she was sorry for being a failure in life.

With a deep breath, she dialled Aaron’s number, counting off the seconds, praying the job was still available.