Phoebe got home with the intention of locking herself up in her room and crying her eyes out. Life had not been fair to her at all. Just when she thought that her lot was about to change, Jason's ex wife resurfaced. It would not have been a problem if he had shown any animosity towards her or if her relationship with him had been a committed one. Then she would have exercised full tights over him and hastened their wedding and Rebecca would have found that she was late in trying to come back into his life except she wanted to be the other woman.

That seemed not to be enough, Richard had also resurfaced with his selfish demands and threats.

How was she going to overcome this?

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she did not see the person sitting on her doorstep.

She nearly bumped into him but missed her step as she caught sight if a shadow on the doorstep too late but he caught her and she ended up in his arms.

He kissed her thoroughly before setting her on her feet again.

'You'd better be careful where you step'. he said smiling.

Phoebe looked flushed. She had not known who was kissing her but she had responded all the same because she had not cared. She had just wanted to escape the feeling of desperation that was eating her up. Though she may have instinctively known that it was the stranger with whom she had had a marvellous one night stand.

'Who has done this to you? Why are you so distracted and anxious?'

She wanted to hide the whole issue from him but she didn't have anyone to confide in and did not want to disturb Carol with her problems. Carol must have her own issues to deal with.

She burst into tears.

The stranger took the keys from her and opened the door and ushered her gently in before going in after her.

In the distance, a pair of eyes watched them go in together.

He sat her down and got her a glass of water.

'You cannot tell me it's nothing. What is the problem be ause I do not need to be a fortune teller to know that something has got you so worked up that you seem confused.

Phoebe looked at him and saw that he was really handsome or maybe it was just that she was seeing beauty everywhere Richard was not present. He had really polluted the night for her.

'It is just me ex boyfriend's, she started trying for a neutral tone.

'Yes, what about him?'

'You know it is really none of your business. Why are you so concerned?'

'I know we are just strangers to each other. But that does not mean that I like people maltreating women'.

'Says the guy who picked up a woman and spent the night with her though he didn't know a thing about her'.

The man looked at Phoebe for a long time.

'I am Romeo. What is yours?'

'I preferred it when you were just a nameless stranger to me, you know!'

'What exactly do you want? You just a caused me of taking you the other night without even knowing anything about you and here I am trying to remedy the situation and you are still objecting'.

Phoebe burst into tears. She did not know if it was her hormones a ting up or if she was reacting to her lot in life. If only Jason or some of the other single wealthy male friends she had could act half as concerned as this stranger she did not want to have anything to do with anymore, then she would be very happy and consider herself lucky indeed.

'He wants me to get him $4m to keep his mouth shut concerning what he knows about me'. she blurted.

'And what is his thing he knows about you that is worth such an outrageous sum of money?'

'He saw me linked with Jason Campbell in the papers and assumed that we were having a thing and if I didn't want him coming between us and ruining my reputation before him, then I would have to give him that amount'.

'I know that it is none of my business but are you romantically involved with the man? Jason, I mean?'

'We are in an open relationship. Each of us is free to have other partners or see other people if we so desire. He has been weary of women since he broke off with his wife who eloped with his best friend. So he does not want any attachments'.

'But you would have wanted your relationship with him to be different, more involved!' he stated in a matter of fact manner.

Phoebe looked at him shocked. How had he been able to read her so effortlessly?

'I can see that you are surprised. Don't be. I have been with you for just a night but I could tell that you are not a bad sort at all. So, he does not want any attachments' but you want it but you would rather be with him till he realizes that he wants you for more than sexual gratification but for keeps?

There is a danger in it because he may still be secretly in love with his ex wife and if she comes back, then you will have wasted your time.

Secondly, he may already have someone else in mind. Though if that is the case, he would have stopped seeing you. Because a man who loves another would want to be with his love always and with no other especially if the love is strong and if it is novel.

But you have to be careful. If he does not love you till now, what is the probability he would love you later? And do you love him or the idea of being with him?'

'Not that it is any business of yours but I do not love him but I would like to be his wife'.

'And what plans are you making towards that?'

'I had thought of something but his ex wife suddenly resurfaced and the way he acted was as though he still had feelings for him. I had just come from a date with him the night I met you, where he met his ex wife again after their divorce and I was really sad and broken by what I felt was his residual feelings for her. He should despise her for what she had done. There should be no soft spot left in him for her'.

'Are you sure you have not fallen in love with this Jason guy? Because you sound very much like a woman in love'.

he said looking at her broodingly.

'I am not in love with him. I am just frustrated. All my plans seem not to be working and now, my villain ex boyfriend is blackmailing me!'

'That was why I needed to know if you are in love with Jason or not because if you are not, then what ever the fool wants to reveal should not affect you'.

'If you are not in love with Jason, then whatever your foolish ex boyfriend has to reveal about you should not affect you at all. Jason was not expecting you not to have had a past now, was he?'

'No. But Richard, that's the fool's name. He cooked up the story'.

'Really? Then why are you so bothered?'

'It is because the way he said it, he nearly convinced even me. He twisted the whole story to favour him'.

'You are not making much sense. Maybe you should tell me everything'.

'We met when we were still teenagers. I fell in love with him and we grew on each other or so I thought.

After high school, we started co habiting. He didn't have a job and was not really very brilliant at school and so did not want to further his studies. I wanted to,very much. I started working and enrolled part time.

He stayed home and I thought nothing of it when he would come home and say that he had gone round but couldn't find a job.

I footed his bills,bought all the clothes he wore and the food he ate. Everything he needed, I provided because I felt that he loved me just as much as I did him

My friends told me that Richard may not be the man he appeared to be and that they were suspecting some movements he was making but I wouldn't listen.

He made plans with some goons to rape one of my friends to death, Carol is her name who was particularly against his behaviour and had caught him red handed and told me.

He felt that she should not have snitched but she was rescued and is currently married to one of her rescuers.

I set a trap for him and he fell into it. He deceived gullible women and ladies with promises of everlasting love and they foolishly give him their life savings. Slaving for him while he goes about like a pimp.

I had dated my boss when I found that my wage was not enough to take care of his ever increasing demands and wants. I wanted desperately to satisfy him. I did not know he was aware of it. It took me a while to reach that decision but I did it for him but he used it against me at last and now he is saying he would tell the whole world how little virtue I have so that the women would beware of me and the men would lose their respect for me and want nothing to do with me since they would not want their images to be tarnished.

You have seen Jason, he would not want a dent on his name. Any such info about me and he would call it quits and how would I fulfill my dream of being his wife? There is enough competition as it is. I do not need that to disqualify me'.

'But someone who sincerely loves you would never mind any of the rumours whether they are true or false. How can you be happy with Jason even if he marries you when the both of you do not love each other?

If Richard had not come up with this now, it could come up in the future,then what? A divorce?'

Phoebe had not really thought that far but then he would have gained the fame she wanted and would demand a handsome alimony from Jason and be settled for life.

She said as such to Romeo, the stranger who smiled.

'Forget about Jason for a minute. What do you want to do to Richard? Ate you planning on giving him the money?'

'What else can I do though I know that he would definitely come back for more. He is that kind of person'.

Then she looked at Romeo in shock. 'And why am I revealing all these to you? You could turn out to be another Richard and double my troubled', she wailed. How could she have been so foolish in her weakness and fivulged all these things to this stranger?

'I could but I will not. Come here', he said calmly and his eyes were so sincere that Phoebe found herself calming down and moving towards him. Was he hypnotizing her? she thought before she was embraced by him.

'Would you want me to do away with Richard?'

She was shocked, though the thought was really appealing but she did not want to be responsible for the death of any one.

'No. I do not want him to die. I would not be much different from him now would I if I did that?. But I would teach him a great lesson if I could', she said.

'Then you would. I shall help you with that's, he said as he took her lips into his. He had wanted to do this since they had come in.

He just enjoyed kissing her. He wanted her for himself and did not care for Jason or Richard or whatever other names they go by.

Though he was impatient to penetrate and thrust into her,he took his time. Giving her much pleasure. Seducing her and silencing her protests though Phoebe knew that the protest was half hearted. She liked being with this Romeo stranger and his name really became him.

'Romeo', she said tasting the name on her lips and it tasted like honey to her or maybe it was his lips on her that tasted that way.

He heard her say his name in a breathless whisper and felt that she was driven by desire like he was and he felt glad.

He had never felt so good as he did now with any other girl. He always took his sexual prowess for granted.

There must be a first for everyone.

They kissed passionately till they fell on the bed.

He continued to tease her tongue. Then her breast that were now as hard as rock in her desire and dark pink as though filled with the blood that was pumping in her veins.

His tongue stroked her nipples and one hand kneaded her buttocks and caressed her thighs,moving up and down her legs and moving with delibrate slowness up towards her v- region and she moaned, as she arched her waist to accept his hands but he moved his hands away again. The dance continued for a while. He could see that her thighs were now wet with her fluid.

She could stand it no more.

'Take me. Take me now! Please I can't endure any more of this torture'.

She said twisting her waist and causing his hard length to touch her core which was overflowing with her wetness.

He groaned and thrust into her as he captured her nipples with his lips again.

Phoebe thought that she would die of pleasure.It was as though she had dissolved into many tiny pieces of liquid flame.

The pressure built up sooner than she wanted. She had wanted to prolong the whole pleasurable ordeal but Romeo was not helping matters as he continued to tease her breasts and her lips with his mouth and his hands were not idle either.

She also did not want to be out done as her hands moved round his back tracing the line of his spinal cord and holding tight to his buttocks and pressing it deeper into her as she opened her legs wider apart as though she wanted to swallow the whole of him.

He felt himself drowning in her and soon they both lost the battle to prong the pleasure as they rolled over the edge and found themselves falling into a bottomless pit of unending and unendurable pleasure.

Then the crash and the tortured breathing.

Phoebe did not want to admit it just yet but Romeo was the best lay she had ever had.And she who had just wanted a one night stand with a stranger to help her forget her frustrations was now thinking of ways to make sure he remained her lover.

Jason's feelings for Nancy kept growing though he pretended that that was not the case.E tried to see other women but found that he did not have interest in them.

He travelled alot these days to stay far from Nancy and whenever he was away, he felt like rushing back home to stay in her company.But what was the use since she had started avoiding him like he had the plague. She no longer took her meals with him. She was still very efficient at the office and performed her duties. He had no complaints in that department but she no longer spared any time to stay with him during meals like they used to.

If he asked, she would say that she had had her meal and if he asked her to keep him company while he ate, she would yawn and say how tired she was and he could not do anything about that because of her condition. But he knew it was just a ploy to stay away from him. He felt bad that she no longer cared for his company while he was busy pinning for her and felt worse that she might not trust him anymore and why should she considering how shamelessly he had acted with her on two occasions.

In all these, he had forgotten that it had been quite a while since he last saw Phoebe.

It was her voice, he heard coming from the doorway that reminded him of her.

'Jason, how could you be this mean? You haven't seen me for quite a while and you have not bothered to find out the reason? Are you so unconcerned about me that you would not even bait an eyelid if I died?'

'You cannot die, Phoebe. You are a very strong girl. I realise that you might be busy with some things or people and considering that I do not have sole right over you as per our arrangement, I decided not to disturb you'.

'That might be so but it still hurt that you did not care enough to know what was happening to me', she whined.

Her winning was irritating Jason but he was too good natured to allow it show.

'I am sorry. How have you been? There really isn't any need asking that of you. You are looking so good and younger than when I last saw you. You must have gone on a vacation with someone and had a great time'. he said as he looked at her without interest.

It was true. Phoebe was really looking good. Glowing was the word and she acted like she knew that.

'I forgive you. But I need a favour of you', she said coyly after seating and nestling close to him.

'And what is that?' he asked trying his utmost not to shrug away from her. He could not believe that he was rejecting such a beautiful woman who was throwing herself at him this way.

'I would like you lend me a sum of $4m. I need it for a business I want to set up. As soon as I start making profits, I will definitely give the capital back to you'.

Jason was surprised that she had mentioned that and that sum as well. It was not that it was too much for him but she had not asked for money directly from him that way before.

'Are you in any kind of trouble?'

'No, Silly. I just want to venture into the fashion business and I need more than that as a matter of fact but I could get the others else where is f you would help me with the amount I just asked'.

Jason still hesitated.

'Well, if you think that I shall reimburse you, then there is no need thinking too much about it. Just forget it. I shall find another way of raising all the money I need', she said feigning disappointment.

'Oh no. I normally do not give out money that way without any legal party being involved. I mean afterall, I am a business man but I am happy that you are venturing into business. So I shall give you the money without any lawyer being involved'.

Phoebe was happy but no really very happy because she was getting the money not for herself but for someone who didn't deserve it.

Romeo had decided that she raised the money so that they could use it to trap Richard and bring about his downfall.

She planned to ask for money from her other lovers as well. Richard had actually given her an idea about how to get money from these men.

With Romeo's help, she was sure that she would soon get rid of Richard for good.

Not really kill him because she wouldn't want his blood on her hands but to deal severely with him so that he would never again molest another girl in his entire life.

'You will have to come tomorrow evening for the cheque. I really had a hard day at work today and I would love to be alone, if you do not mind'.Jason said standing and walking upstairs in a dismissal matter that broached no argument.

Phoebe was not angry. In fact she had wondered how she would get the money without having to spend the night with Jason and had been racking her mind for the suitable excuse to give him but there was no need for that as it turned out.

She walked out happily because she had achieved what she had gone to the Campbell's mansion to achieve. It might be a little victorybbit it was a victory all the same.

She was looking forward to another steamy night with Romeo.

She was surprised that she still had not told him her name. She would have to remedy that when he came in that night, she promised herself.

She waited and waited but Romeo did not come. She slept where she was waiting and the next day, she found out that he had not made an entrance at all all through the night.

'What could have happened? I hope he has not chosen this time to walk out on me! Not when we have not dealt with Richard yet'. She thought to herself.

She got ready for the day's activity with the hope that he would come in that night but surprisingly, when she came from collecting the cheque from Jason, he was still not in her house.

She lost hope of seeing him again and he had not really told her of what he planned or how he had planned to deal with Richard.

Now she would have to cook up a plan herself. The day she was to give Richard the money was fast approaching.

He had called two days after his ultimatum and she had asked for more time as Romeo had directed her and Richard had grudgingly extended it to a week. Just three days more.

And Romeo was no where to be seen.

She cursed her luck.