Voices

Chapter 20

"Is he okay?" Simon Solomon asked in a panicked voice.

"He's more than okay," Savanna responded. " Physically anyways" she added.

Simon Solomon looked at her puzzled. He had no idea what that meant but Savanna's tone suggested that something was terribly wrong.

Savanna sighed heavily before she continued. "I think he has been beating his wife".

Simon's eyes widened at Savanna's revelation and he finished his drink in one gulp. His eyes were focused on the glass in his hand and for a few seconds, it seemed like he was in a trance.

"Did you hear me?" Savanna questioned.

He nodded his head in response. "I need another," he said and raised the glass.

Savanna asked the waiter for another drink, and as soon as Simon received it, he drank the entire thing in a few seconds.

"I knew this would happen," he finally said.

"What do you mean?"

"Rachel, my ex-wife, she tried to electrocute me when we were married. Karl witnessed the entire thing. She was a very controlling woman, abusive, both verbally and physically".

Savanna stared at the man in front of her. His demeanour had drastically changed and his hands began to shake.

" I had to get away from her before she killed me. As a man, I couldn't live like that. She was a power-hungry bitch who would stop at nothing to get her way. I always hoped Karl would be better".

"Well, I hate to be the one to disappoint you".

"It's all my fault," Simon said regretfully. "I made many mistakes as a businessman and got into some legal woes. I had to put the company's in Karl's name. Rachel stepped in and dealt with the operations. I basically handed Karl the keys to power with his mother as the captain".

He looked up at Savanna with guilt in his eyes.

Savanna smiled at him. "I was in love with your son Mr. Solomon, I thought that we would have been together for the rest of our lives. Now, I'm happy that things turned out the way it did for us because maybe you would have attended his funeral already."

Savanna reached across the table and took his hand in hers.

"No woman should leave in fear, not for themselves or their children. No woman should have to suffer through any type of abuse" She gently squeezed his hand and stood up. "My people will take care of you, thank you for coming to see me".

"Are you ready to go?" Karl asked Tamra as she kissed and squeezed Zyon for the millionth time.

"Let's go kid," Tamra said to Zyon ignoring Karl.

Karl swung Tamra's bag over his shoulder as he pushed the wheelchair out of the room and down the hallway. As soon as they got to the car Karl placed Zyon in his car seat and helped Tamra inside. He stretched across and fastened her seatbelt. She watched him keenly and rolled her eyes at his behaviour.

The ride to Karl's house was extremely uncomfortable and mostly silent. Tamra stared out the window most of the time except the few times she looked back to ensure that Zyon was okay. As soon as they got there Karl spoke.

"I hired the sitter to stay full-time, just for now, until your arm gets better".

When they entered, a shout of surprise echoed through the room to welcome Tamra home. Tamra was surprised that Karl had arranged something like this. She never expected any form of gathering upon returning to this hell. Karl wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into him.

"Smile baby, everyone is watching" he whispered in her ear as he placed light kisses on her neck and shoulder.

"He is one disturbed fuck!" Her inner voice screamed and the image of Karl getting hit by a truck invaded her mind which caused a smile to appear on her face.

" I'm happy you're okay Mrs. Solomon" the sitter came over and said followed by a few more people.

Karl took this as the perfect time to disappear upstairs. When he got to the master bedroom he closed the door behind him and called Rachel. After two rings, Rachel answered the phone.

"She's here," Karl said.

"That's good news," Rachel responded. "Make her as comfortable as possible, we don't need anyone else asking questions. She cannot end up in the hospital again, do you understand me?".

"Yes, mother I understand".

"Get your damn temper in check" Rachel added then disconnected the call.

Karl closed his eyes and lay on the bed with his hands behind his head. Things were bad, they spiralled out of control and he didn't even know how it got to this.

A memory of Tamra laughing invaded his thoughts. When was the last time he heard her laugh? He couldn't remember. Now, whenever he looked at her all he could see was sadness. She had become a shell, a ghost of a person and nothing like the woman he met in that parking lot years ago. The only thing that seemed to give her happiness was Zyon. He was the only thing holding her together, the only thing that has kept her grounded.

But how many times did you threaten to take that away? His conscience pointed out.

Flashback

"What the hell were you thinking?!" Rachel shouted at Simon.

"I am so sorry honey, I don't know how I let this happen. I thought I was making a good decision for our family".

Karl peeked through the office door as his mother shoved and slapped his father across the face. Simon held Rachel's hand but that didn't prevent her from landing more blows to him as he watched her kick Simon in the balls. He releases her hand immediately.

"You are fucking stupid! What are we going to do if you lose this company?!" she shouted again.

"I'll figure something out" Simon assured her as he groaned and gripped himself to ease the pain from Rachel's kick.

"Well you better" Rachel said then stormed out of the office.

Karl lay on his back with his hands behind his head and earphones as he stared up at the ceiling. As the music blasted through the earphones it was not enough to drown out the image of his mother and his father earlier which was now imprinted in his mind. He has always admired his father. He was a strong, hardworking man who wanted nothing but the best for his family. How could his mother treat him this way? She was nothing short of disrespectful and Karl knew that women were not supposed to treat their men this way. He had always heard then men were supposed to be the predators; not the prey and didn't the bible say that wives were supposed to submit to their husbands? Karl closed his eyes at the thought and allowed the music to drown out his thoughts.

The sound of cheers from the living room brought Karl back to the present. He was now having a headache. He decided to ignore it as he returned downstairs. Tamra's friends were now there and as usual, Taylor gave him one of her deadly looks as soon as he entered the room in full view. She watched as she whispered something in Ava's ear then took her vape pen from her pocket. Karl scoffed. She better not be smoking in my fucking house, he thought to himself but like the genius she was, he watched as she went through the main door.

Ava was still talking to Tamra so he decided against going over to make trouble. Instead, he walked to the kitchen to have himself a beer knowing that later he would have Tamra all to himself.