Fortunes Obsession (17 page)

     Dara again tried to make conversation. " Have you heard what the weather will be tomorrow?  I hope it doesn't rain."

     Mustafa merely nodded his head.  He could not bring himself to talk to her.  As soon as he left her in New Jersey tomorrow, he would attempt to forget her forever.  Life was hard.

Sometimes he thought it was getting too hard.

     When Dara and Mustafa walked into Fahd's apartment, they were followed by the doorman, helping with the packages.  Fahd was attired in a pair of burgundy corduroy slacks and a white sweater and looked relaxed and pleasant.  Dara was anxious for the other two to leave so she could read Fahd's mood.  When they left, he put his arms on her shoulders and kissed her lightly on the lips.

     " My sweet, how good to see you.  I am so looking forward to our evening together. Why don't you sit down and watch some television while I work in the kitchen."

     One of Fahd's hobbies was cooking.  Underneath all of the sinister machinations was an interesting and erudite man.  She thought that the years with him weren't that bad until she met Peter and found out that he was some sort of criminal.  In his present mood, she could almost like him.

     She sat in a comfortable leather chair, remote control in hand and became absorbed in a movie on cable.  Before she knew it, an hour and a half had passed and delicious smells came wafting from the kitchen.  Like most middle easterners, Fahd was fond of cooking dishes made with lamb.  While she was not particularly fond of lamb, he was such a good cook that he made it quite palatable.  She felt totally relaxed as she walked into his modern, high tech kitchen and saw him in a spotless white apron standing at the stove.

     " Can I help," she said. " At least let me start cleaning up."

     He smiled pleasantly. " No, no, my dear.  Everything is well in hand.  The table is already set and dinner is almost ready and in my usual efficient manner, I have been cleaning up as I go along.  You can do one thing though.  Uncork this bottle of wine and let it stand, please.  Like all fine wines it has to breathe until we pour it."

     She took the corkscrew, and as she had done for him many times, expertly removed the cork.  She could see that it was one of the really fine wines from his collection.  She was terribly confused.  Perhaps she was not in his disfavor after all.

     While she was waiting, she walked into the dining room.  The table was set beautifully.  His finest china and silver were there and in front of what surely was her place setting was a bud vase containing a single yellow rose.

     She walked around the familiar apartment and saw, to her surprise, that Mustafa had placed her things in the guest bedroom.  She was tremendously relieved.  This meant that Fahd did not expect to have sex with her after all.  She had always admired this room.  It had a large bed with brass head and footboards and was papered with floral paper.  The oriental rugs on the floor blended perfectly with the paper.  The drapes were of white silk and set off the room perfectly.  There were Egyptian artifacts liberally sprinkled throughout the room, including an almost life size wooden statue of an Egyptian queen, probably Cleopatra or Nefertiti.  She walked back into the living room feeling strangely content.

     " You'd better get dressed," Fahd shouted from the kitchen,

" Dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes."  After Dara left for her room, Fahd took the wine bottle into the dining room and poured two glasses of the rich red wine.  In the glass behind the bud vase, he sprinkled some white powder, a powerful, slow acting sleeping medicine that would put the recipient into a drugged, sleepy stupor in about an hour and a half. He stirred the contents of the glass with a stirring rod until the powder was completely dissolved.  He knew that it had no taste as he had used it before on many occasions.

     Dara stood before the mirror in her black dinner dress. She applied her makeup as she always did, completely abandoning the sickly look she had adapted for their last meeting.  She felt that everything was well in hand and that she didn't have to go through any duplicity this time.  She actually felt good and was looking forward to a good night's sleep in the big, comfortable brass bed.  She stood there, combing her shining blonde tresses and admired herself.

     Fahd brought the food into the dining room and was enjoying the evening.  He felt it was a dry run for the meals he would concoct for Sarita.  He lit two candles in silver candelabras and turned the lights down low.  The setting was perfect for a romantic dinner.  Of course, at this point, it was with the wrong woman.  Not only would the dinner be delicious but what he had planned for later this evening would be doubly delicious. Well, it would for him, anyway.  He couldn't wait.  He felt himself

swell with passion when he thought of it.

     Dara walked into the room.  A Mozart symphony was playing softly on the stereo and her entrance was perfect.  Fahd thought that she was still a fine looking woman but alas, she was a faithless whore and had to be eliminated from his life but first, the coup de grace.

     " This is lovely," she said, How sweet of you to go to all of this trouble for me.  What a pity I can't reciprocate."

     " Oh my darling," Fahd said in his most charming manner, “You are reciprocating just by your presence.” You are so lovely that you grace any room you enter."  With that, he kissed her hand and pulled the chair out for her.  She sat down, feeling comfortable and even hungry.  He had prepared a lamb dish that was made with vegetables and brown rice, that was slightly on the hot side. With it, were sliced mangos and bananas and a marvelous salad with Fahd's own special dressing.

    He raised his wine glass.  " To a wonderful relationship that has made my life exciting and vibrant.  To a beautiful lady."  He drank liberally from his glass and Dara did the same.  As soon as her glass was half full, he filled it again.  The catalytic action of the alcohol with the drug would have the desired effect.

     He made romantic conversation, speaking of the days when they first met and of their early romance.  He conjured up stories that she had long forgotten and they laughed together as they reminisced.  Dara felt very mellow.  It was kind of like

an out of body experience.  She had the feeling she was floating above the room watching them eat dinner.  She had never felt so relaxed.  She was feeling very comfortable with Fahd.  She had the desire to walk over to him and kiss him.  Part of her mind was enslaved by him and the other part knew that she had to get away from him.  She really didn't know how much wine she had imbibed because Fahd kept filling her glass.  She guessed that she was a little drunk from the wine.  The Mozart music sounded like it was coming from outer space.  She could see Fahd smiling at her and his teeth were very white and looked bigger than life.

She asked Fahd for a large cup of coffee after dinner, hoping it would revive her.  He obliged, and poured her a cup of steaming black brew, which unbeknownst to her, was decaffeinated.

     After dinner, Fahd refused her offer to help with the dishes, telling her that a cleaning woman would be in in the morning to take care of the cleanup.  They sat on the couch and he poured her a snifter of cognac, which she sat and sipped, feeling drowsier by the minute.

     The words slurred as she spoke.  " I'm so drowsy, I hope you don't think me rude but I've got to go to sleep.  I just can't keep my eyes open."

     " Of course", he said tenderly, " You get a good night's sleep.  After all, you have a busy day tomorrow."

     She stood up and staggered across the room and kissed him on top of his bald pate.  Afterwards, she slipped off the black dress and in her underwear, slid beneath the soft quilt on the

brass bed and fell into a drugged sleep.

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     Mustafa pulled the Porsche into Fahd's building and checked it into the garage.  When he walked up the ramp to the street, the two young men were waiting for him in the rented truck.

     When they reached Dara's building, Mustafa took the doorman aside and engaged him in conversation while the two men waited.  The doorman nodded assent and took the envelope Mustafa gave him with a grateful expression.

     While the two assistants assembled the pile of cartons that they had brought with them, Mustafa made a quick check of the apartment to see if everything on the list was there.  They would be taking fur coats, jewelry, artifacts and certain pieces of furniture.  The basic furniture would stay.  Mustafa knew Fahd's routine very well.  Each of the things taken out of the apartment, including the car, would be given to the new girl, little by little, as gifts.  She would think they were bought for her and be eternally grateful.  She would have no way of knowing that they were hers for as long as she was in the master's favor.

After that, they would disappear from her life.  If she was unlucky, like Dara, she would also disappear.  Mustafa tried to imagine the joy in this new  girl's face when she received all of these treasures from Fahd.  When the carton's were assembled, they were wheeled out on hand trucks and dollies and taken to the truck.  Mustafa had put in a hard day, both

physically and mentally and was in a terrible mood.  He drove the boys hard and when they finally finished, well after two in the morning, he drove home and try to fit in a few hours sleep before tomorrow’s trip to New Jersey.

          *******************************************        

     Dara awoke in a stupor.  It was pitch black in the room.

She was on her stomach, a strange position for her as she always slept on her back.  When she attempted to turn over, she felt as if she were tied to something and couldn't move.  She lapsed in and out of her drugged sleep and finally ascertained that she was, indeed, tied by her ankles and wrists, to the brass headboard and foot board.  She also realized that she was totally naked.  She knew that she should be frightened but the drug had her in a kind of trance.  Every time she tried to get her wits about her, she lapsed into sleep again.  Each time she awakened, she was sure she was dreaming.  Or was she awake?  Her thought processes weren't working.  At times, she felt that this was perfectly natural.  She felt like she had always been imprisoned here and that it was a normal place to be.  Strange, for all of the bonds, she had the feeling of being safe and snug.  She closed her eyes again and fell into a drugged sleep and didn't hear the door open or feel Fahd's naked body slipping into the bed.  She was semi awake again and was vaguely aware of him kneeling behind her, stroking her naked buttocks with circular motions of his hands she could hear his heavy breathing and it, too, gave her a

strange, dream like, feeling of security.  Suddenly, his right forearm was underneath her, lifting her to a nearly kneeling position.  In the next split second, he thrust himself into her, anally.  The pain was excruciating, even in her drugged state. He thrust himself into her, again and again.  She tried to scream, but her throat was so dry that no sound would emanate from her.

She still thought she was in the middle of a nightmare.  Her arms and legs were tied with what seemed to be silk scarves and the strong forearm was holding her up.  At the same time, thrust after thrust caused such incredible pain that eventually she became unconscious, sinking further into her drugged stupor.

In her drugged dreams, she heard his heavy breathing magnified many times as if it were coming out of the bottom of a large barrel.

     When she awakened, sunlight was streaming through the window and she was lying, unfettered, comfortably on her back.  The underwear she had worn to bed was on her body.  Thank God, she thought, it was only a nightmare.  She stood up, her head feeling like it was going to split open.  She had a world class headache.

She walked toward the bathroom to get some Advil.  It was then she felt the unbearable rectal pain.  Either it wasn't a nightmare or she had a real pain that caused the nightmare.  She walked back to the bed and peeled down the covers.  There on the white sheets were what appeared to be blood and semen stains.

She started to shake when she realized what happened.  The bastard had drugged her and come in and tied her to the bed.

After a period of time, he had come back in and sodomized her, after which he put back everything the way it was.  He would surely act as if nothing had happened when he saw her this morning.  The man was truly a monster.  She went into the bathroom and inspected herself as best she could.  She seemed to be bruised internally but whatever was bleeding seemed to have stopped.  She felt defiled and humiliated.  She could never tell Peter this story but in her mind, she vowed her own revenge.  She didn't know how but it would happen.  She took three Advil and drew a hot bath.

The bath smarted at first but had a soothing effect.  She would give the pain a few days to disappear.  If it didn't, she would see a physician, embarrassing as it may be.  As she steeped in the hot bath, the Advil took effect and her headache disappeared.

She followed the hot bath with a cold shower and felt very much revived.  Except for the severe rectal pain, she felt she could function on this demanding day.

     She lay on the bed in a terrycloth robe, trying to relax and forget the trauma of the night before, when the door to the bedroom opened.  Fahd walked in, carrying a tray with juice, coffee and croissants.  "  Good morning, my lovely.  I trust you slept well last night.  I have brought you breakfast in bed to help you start your day.  Is everything alright?"