'Terry, my dearest friend,

I know you must be working on a very tight schedule or in a formal gathering that has made you unable to pick my calls. I understand that but I want to plead with you to give me a call as soon as you are free of your engagements or better still come to the house. I have something very important to talk to you about. It involves Rebecca.

I am eagerly expecting your call.

Thanks.'

After writing that, he felt a little relieved. He had dismissed all the help for the day. Those who lived with him had retired to their quarters, those who came from their homes had gone back home in obedience to his instructions.

He paced back and forth in the living room. But he could not help his restlessness. He went into his study but he felt claustrophobic and rushed out. He paced the garden but was impatient. He dialled Terry's number again but this time it was switched off.

'What is happening?'

He could bear the suspense no longer so, he brought out the letter, the maid had given him as a last souvenir from Rebecca and tore it open.

He wondered why he was so scared to read the letter. Maybe it was because reading the letter would make her decision to leave him final but at least he would be spared the agony of not knowing why she had done what she had done.

He had wanted to read it when Terry got there but he would have to do it himself afterall it was meant for him alone and not for all the men in Lake District.

The contents of the letter was a shock to him. He nearly had a heart seizure. It read:

'Dear Jason,

I have decided to leave you for good. I can endure it no longer.

The fact is that I was never in love with you. I had married you because of the material things I knew your wealth would get me.

I had thought that it was enough until I started having feelings for Terry.

Yes, the same Terry you know. Your best friend. As me stayed together even when you were there, we found that there was a strong chemistry between us.

We tried to ignore it. Afterall, we could not do this to a husband and a best friend. If it were someone else or would have been quite easy.

We fought the attraction we felt for each other for your sake but it was no use.

On one occasion, Terry had come to see you and tell you everything and probably move away from Lake District but you were not in but I was.

He didn't want to tell me what the problem was but I was able to get him to confess the reason for his visit to me.

I could not bear it. I had decided that I was not going to fight my feelings for him anymore and he was here to reveal all to you and abandon me here.

I could not endure it so I hugged him, begging him not to go anywhere because I was going to end my life if he did.

The contact was really innocent, I promise but the current it generated between us was anything but.

How it happened was beyond our comprehension but we found that we could not take our hands off each other.

It was a steamy encounter that led us to being intimate with each other. We could not help it and afterwards, we knew that we could not continue pretending that there was nothing between us.

I could not bear your you h after that. I now knew the difference between love and lust which was what I had had for you.

I could not go back existing the way I had been. I had to start living and Terry brought me alive. Being with him made me realise what I had been missing these years.I had never been on love before but now that I had experienced it, I was not going to allow it be taken away from me at any cause.

You could not understand the change in my behaviour, naturally. You were just too trusting. If you weren't, you would have been able to read the signs but I am sure that you did not once suspect me of infidelity nor your friend at that.

I had not meant to keep you on the dark because I was not ashamed of my love. That was why I spoke about divorce but Terry was feeling guilty and remorseful and asked us to wait a bit before revealing our relationship to you. He was sure that you would be heartbroken because he felt that you really loved me. I know that as well. I was sorry that you did and that our actions would hurt you but I could not do anything about that . I could not sacrifice my happiness for someone else.

You are rich, handsome and kind. I believe that you will find another woman who really deserves you. Someone who would love you the way that you deserve to be loved and not just for your money.

Terry may not be as rich as you are but at least I am happy with him and I find fulfillment in his company.

My lawyers will draw the divorce papers and mail or send it to you for signature. I hope that you will be gracious enough to oblige me by signing them without delay because we need to get married immediately.

There would be no need delaying the signing of the divorce papers as it would do none of us any good. I would rather continue to live with Terry as his mistress than come back to you. This is not being heartless. It is just to let you know that I shall not change my mind.

Let's end this as quickly as possible so that we can all go on with our individual lives.

You are a good man and I wish you the best. But I am not the woman for you and neither are you the man for me. I have just realised that.

Best wishes.

Rebecca'.

Jason felt an intense pain in his heart. He felt faint. He was sure that he was having a seizure.

No! this could not be happening. It must be a nightmare. He was sure he was going to wake from this soon and find that it had all been one hell of a horrible dream.

What was this? How could Rebecca do this to him? Rebecca who he had loved with all his heart and done all that he could to satisfy.

He thought of Terry. They had been friends from high school and then in college. They had been closer than biological brothers. They had shared everything. Okay, almost everything, except of course their girls.

Terry had been his best man at his wedding.That had been the happiest day of his life. The day he made the woman he loved, his formerly.

He had been happy when Terry and Rebecca had got along very well. It would have grieved him if they had not got along but he did not have that to contend with.

He had tried to be the best husband that he could possibly be. Being very attentive and satisfying her every whim.

Maybe he tried too hard.

To think that he had actually called Terry to come to him so that they could see how they were going to get Rebecca to come back. In his stupidity, he had not realised that Terry was the source of all his problems with his wife all along.

He laughed derisively at himself. 'What a fool, I have been'.

Then he clutched his heart. The pain steered in his heart yet again. It felt like his heart had broken into a million tiny pieces and was breaking into smaller bits even more with each painful realization and as the reality of his situation dawned more and more on him.

Terry who had been like a brother to him,could do this to him?

He was the one responsible for the elevated position he held in the firm he worked with. Terry was a. brilliant lawyer,no doubt about that but he had pulled strings to ensure that he was highly placed. How could he not, Terry was his best friend and the brother he did not have afterall.

But Terry had not honoured that sacred relationship. Maybe it was not as meaningful to Terry as their relationship had been to him.

He had to fall in love and elope with his own wife. He who he had gone to to help bring his wife back to her senses without knowing that he was giving them even more opportunity to betray him and plot his downfall.

Jason was sure he was never going to recover from this.

He was in so much pain that he felt sleeping was going to be a remedy. He got up to enter the room but slumped heavily on the settee.

He was having a severe headache. He was not sure now if he had done the right thing by giving his servants the day off. He had asked them to take the day off. Those of them who lived with him had gone to their quarters behind his building and those who came from their houses had gone back home.

He had tried to be a good and considerate employer but maybe he needed someone to be with him right now because he was sure that he was dying.

But then again, maybe it had been the right decision to have asked them to leave because he was not sure he wanted them to see him in this pitiable state.

He had been crazy in love with Rebecca. Their sex life had been great from his estimation and he had thought that she felt the same way because of the way she had always responded and acted. But now, he realised that she must just have been acting and laughing behind him. She was really a great a tress because he never had an inkling about her thoughts and intentions.

He had been faithful to her, not seeing any other woman's beauty but hers. No woman but Rebecca had meant anything to him. He had tried all he could to keep her satisfied and dated. Sexual, financially and otherwise.

Do where had he got it wrong?

The two most important people in his whole life had betrayed him. They had not just betrayed him but had killed him.

Hurt, betrayal, heartbreak didn't even begin to describe what he was feeling.

How? And by the two people he loved and trusted the most?

What was he going to do now? He called one of the male servants, and Bruno came immediately. He lived in the quarters behind the house.

He asked him to make him a hot cup of coffee and as Bruno was about to leave, the sudden stab of pain again on his heart as he tried to rise from the chair sent him reeling and he fell heavily on the floor.

'Sir, sir what is the matter?' Brino asked in his fright and going to his boss, he tried to lift him but he was really very weighty and fearing the worse because his pulse was really faint, he looked around confused, not knowing what to do.

He was frightened and immediately called for the doctor.

'Doctor, It's the Campbell's residence. please come, my master is dying'. He did not know how else to convey the emergency so that the doctor could come immediately and he actually thought that Jason was dying. He had never seen his boss as weak and helpless as that since he had known him.

The doctor came with his bag of medical kit and helped Bruno to carry Jason to the bed.

Bruno picked the letter he saw lying on the floor and put in his pocket after going through it.

He was filled with rage for the madam who had caused the good master to feel this type of pain that had made him as helpless as this and put him in this state. He did not want any other person to see this letter. So he kept it safe to give back to his boss when he recovers and he sincerely prayed that he does.

The doctor, Dr. Manuel, examined Jason after giving him something that revive him. He was a renowned doctor and Jason had always employed his services. In fact, he was the family doctor of the Campbells.

He checked Jason's eyes, heartbeat, blood pressure as well as other things.

Jason's heartbeat was erratic and his blood pressure was high. He gave him some drugs to bring down the blood pressure.

'Have you been stressing yourself out lately?' the doctor asked.

Bruno looked at his master sympathetically.

'No, my boss has not been stressing himself but a Jezebel in angel's clothing had done this dreadful thing to him', He thought to himself.

Jason sighed. He could not trust his voice so, he just shook his head.

'You will have to take it easy. Your heart isn't very healthy at the moment. Something must have happened to give you a shock But you don't have to say anything if you don't want to but as much as possible do not encourage anxiety or entertain any painful thoughts. Try to forget about anything that makes you anxious or pained.

You will have to take care of your heart and allow it to heal. If you don't, it could lead to paralysis or cardiac arrest which is tantamount to losing one's life because once the heart starts having problems, it is quite difficult to manage it. Except a heart transplant is performed.

So, whatever it is, ask yourself if it is worth your losing your life over'. Dr. Manuel counselled wisely.

Jason nodded to show him that he understood.

Jason listened to him and heard the wisdom on those words but it was easier said than done.

The doctor gave him some drugs and put him to sleep immediately.

Bruno stayed by his boss's side all through. attending to him,and his every need.

Every time, he woke, he looked round to see if Rebecca was back but his head always fell in disappointment. He tried to follow the doctor's advice but found that it was extremely difficult.

Rebecca had been his life. And what had the doctor said again, that he should consider if what was causing him such anxiety and pain was worth losing his life for?

He laughed at himself. What the doctor does not know is that I have already lost my life. I lost my life the moment Rebecca left with for my best friend. There is no more hope'.

Later, the next day, when he was feeling up to it, and his servants were all at their duty posts, he called his office and told the manager to take charge of the firm like he had always done whenever he was not around.

'But what is the problem? We waited for you to come back yesterday but you never did. Is it something serious? Something we should know about?'

'It is a serious matter but it is personal butit is being taken care of. Just take charge of all the operations. I have never found you wanting in the way you handle the firm in my absence. I trust that it would be the same this time as well'.

'You do not have to worry sir. It would be as though you were the one handling it yourself, I promise'.

'Tight then, see you soon'.

After hanging up. He went to the bar for a little drink but everything seemed to remind him of her.

He remembered how they would come to the bar and he would mix her a drink and they would toast to their happy life together.

He wanted to hit something because he could not deny the fact that he would miss her terribly. In fact, he was already missing her something awful.

He took a sip, the dry gin went down his throat hot and scalding.

That was just what he wanted. He wanted to inflict more pain on himself. Maybe, it would help counter the pain he was already feeling and which he could do nothing about.

After a while, he found that he just needed more of the gin and he kept taking.

By lunch time when the cook came to invite him to the dinning table, she found him slumped on a chair drunk.

That started his dinking hobby. He found that he could escape his pain by drinking and felt that if that was how he was going to cope with this betrayal, hurt and bitterness, then he was going to continue.

Jason became a drunk. He was always in a drunken stupor. He was often not aware of his surroundings or what was going on around him.

He always woke with a headache, a hangover but after coffee or lemon juice took care of the hangover and he ate a little,he now eat less than usual and had grown emaciated, he would go into his room to his drink.

It was better for him than dwelling on the pain that seemed not to want to go away.

He felt that the world would blame him for his wife's infidelity and abandonment. They would say that he was not able to keep his wife in check or that he had not been able to satisfy his wife and the poor woman had eloped with a better man who also happened to be his best friend.

Just considering the gossip which must be making the rounds and he was sure the news had spread even through his company and all his employee must know about it.

He didn't think he could face the world and felt that they were right. There must be something he hadn't done right.

Maybe he had not been able to satisfy her sexually despite his sexual prowess. So maybe Terry had been a better man than he. The thought was so painful that he had to drink so as not to dwell too much on it.

He was having psychological trauma and blaming himself for his wife's elopement.