HUMILIATED

Jakes picked up the call and tried to listen carefully to the voice at the other end. "You fool! Do you think you can avoid my calls? Even if you do, I'll get to you wherever you are, and that will be worse for you." 

"What?" Jakes was surprised at the sudden outburst, and he was not sure of who was speaking, though the voice sounded familiar.

"Please whom am I speaking with?" Jakes dared to ask.

"Will you shut your mouth?! Do you think you could go away with my sister the way you did? You made her marry you, and as if that wasn't enough, you introduced her to a life of suffering." Micheal said. 

Micheal was Stephanie's elder brother and he had always hated Jakes; he made life miserable for Jakes when they were together. Michael had once sworn to kill Jakes, and maybe he would have if Jakes had not left the house at the time he did. 

Jakes was dumbfounded at Michael's words, and now he did not know what to say. He wanted to say something, but he retreated.

"Now, listen to me," Micheal continued. "If by tomorrow, Stephanie still stays married to you, she and her baby would be disowned by the Allisons family." 

"What? Is Stephanie pregnant?" Jakes asked himself. He was surprised by Michael's statement and wondered what baby he was referring to. "Is Stephanie hiding something from me?" Jakes asked himself.

Michael continued to rain insults on Jakes. "You know what, if you do everything in this world to get a job, you sure can't get one. Mrs Allison, the Assistant Manager of The Class of Verity and the CEO of The Bevies Place, has demanded that every company in Fitbuck city rejects your application right on sight. So you know what? You're just going to die poor," Michael said, laughing sarcastically. 

Jakes was now very confused, and he looked depressed and frustrated. He kept mute and allowed Micheal to say all that he wanted to say. He felt so weak, not knowing what to do next. "You see why divorcing Stephanie is the best option you have right now. Because if you don't, you will surely die a pauper!" Michael yelled at him, as he hung up the phone.

The last statement Michael made continued to echo in Jake's head. "Because if you don't, you'll surely die a pauper!!!" 

Jakes was now very afraid, and he thought of what next to do. All this while, he never knew that his mother-in-law was the one behind his not getting a job. He froze to a spot looking embittered and weary. He was about to drop his phone into his pocket when he had his phone ring. "What again?!" Jakes muttered under his breath in frustration. 

He thought it was Micheal calling again until he looked at his phone screen. It was Stephanie. He had to adjust himself so that his pain would not reflect in his voice. Stephanie was very sensitive, and she could read Jakes even through his voice. If she perceived that something was wrong with him, she would be very worried and affected.   

"Hello love," Stephanie spoke.

"Babe, what's up?..." 

"I have something very important to tell you about. I was about to break the news to you, but you had rushed out of the house." Stephanie said.

"News?! I hope it's good..." 

"I'm pregnant," Stephanie went straight to the point.

"Are you serious? I was just thinking of calling you to ask what information you were hiding from me because Michael talked about you having a baby." 

" What?" Did Michael call you? And..."

"Yes, he called, "Jakes interrupted. He didn't want to tell her all that Michael said because he knew that she wouldn't be able to handle the information. She would probably be scared and fidgety about the whole thing. Since the last year they got married, he noticed that Stephanie was very emotional. She always fell sick when he told her about any cruel act done against him by her family. Her love for him was genuine, and she had sacrificed many things just to be with him. 

Sometimes, Jakes felt that she loved him more than he loved her, and this surprised him. He felt he had nothing to attract Stephanie to himself, and he felt that she was better than him in every possible way.

"So what did he say?" Stephanie asked enthusiastically. 

"Don't worry about that. It's nothing serious. We'll talk about that later. I'll be home soon. I need to visit the new company I just heard about."Jakes replied, trying to be evasive.

"Yes, dear. I saw the note you dropped on the table. Good luck to you." Stephanie replied as she hung up the phone. 

Jakes began to think about the call he received from his brother-in-law, while he was waiting for a cab by the road. "Why will Stephanie's family want to disown her because of me? The Allisons are so insensitive, Gosh!..." Jakes thought. 

While he was still lost in his thoughts, a Lincoln Limousine pulled over a few metres away from him. Within the twinkling of an eye, three huge-looking men stepped out of the vehicle and pulled a black bag over his head. They looked very scary in their black spectacles and they wore black clothes. They dragged him into the vehicle very forcefully. 

Jakes began to fidget and was now very afraid. Two of the men sat by his side. One on his right-hand side and the other on his left-hand side, while the third man drove the vehicle. Jakes shook uncontrollably, believing that he had been kidnapped. 

"Be calm man!" One of them spoke sarcastically. Jakes began to think about Stephanie and their unborn baby. "What happens to Stephanie, if she hears that I have been kidnapped," he thought. 

He felt so helpless and wished he had not come out of the house at the time he did. But it was too late now. "There's no need crying over spilt milk," he thought. He looked at the two men seating beside him through the corners of his eyes. "Do I know these people? And who could have sent them? Did I offend anyone?" 

Several questions crossed his mind, and he desperately needed answers to them. Jakes thought of his wife's family and the threatening phone call he just received, so he began to suspect the Allisons. He thought about Michael and how the both of them had been enemies since childhood. Michael had been very troublesome and unfriendly to him. 

He always looked for an opportunity to make him unhappy, and he had not seemed to change in any way.

"This must be a well-thought-out plan by the Allisons. They must have sent these men to kidnap me," Jakes thought.  

After a while, the Lincoln limousine parked in front of a building. The men got out of the vehicle and one of them pulled Jakes with him as they moved towards the entrance of the house. Outside the building were beautiful flowers arranged in an orderly manner. The compound was so quiet and Jakes wondered if anyone lived there. 

One of the men opened a big door leading to the living room and ordered Jakes to go in. " Will you raise your feet and get in quickly?" One of the men commanded.

"Sit there," The second man said in an indifferent voice, pointing at one of the sofas in the living room. Jakes wondered the reason why he was brought there, and he looked very bothered. Within a short while, an old man came out of one of the rooms. His hair was all grey, but he looked very smart and handsome. He wore a yellow shirt on black shorts. 

The man looked very furious as he walked into the sitting room, he had watched through the surveillance camera, the way Jakes was been treated since he entered the compound, so he was unhappy with the men.

"How dare you treat our young master this way?! He yelled at them. The men trembled at his voice as they bowed their heads.