Chapter 17
Meridian Estates in Nzuri Hall
Two weeks later…
I’d just come home from a long night, and the only thing on my mind was my wife.
My body felt heavy as I stepped out of the shower, with water sliding down my skin, and heat still clinging to me because my thoughts had done nothing but circle around Treasure from the moment I left the house.
Kay’Lo’s case was tearing our world apart, and every part of me was stretched thin between the need to protect my son and the fear of losing the woman I built my life with.
Treasure had always stood beside me, but this time I had pushed her too far, and I could feel the distance between us every time she looked at me.
I dried myself with slow strokes, trying to calm the storm in my mind, though nothing settled.
I knew she was hurting, and knowing I was the cause made my heart feel heavier than anything I carried in the boardroom or out in the world.
I wrapped the towel around my waist, but I let it fall before I walked out of the bathroom because I didn’t want anything between us tonight.
The bedroom was dark except for the soft light by her side of the bed, and my eyes fell on her shape buried beneath the sheets.
Treasure laid on her side with her back toward me, her white lace gown draping over her curves in a way that made my pulse rise.
Her hair flowed across the pillow, and even from behind, I could see tension in her shoulders.
She wasn’t asleep. I knew my wife. She was awake and quiet, lost in a world of thoughts she had stopped sharing with me.
I climbed into the bed behind her and felt the coolness of her skin before I felt anything else.
I slid my arm around her waist and pulled her back into me with one firm motion, bringing her body against my chest. I pressed my dick between her thighs, letting her feel exactly how much I needed her.
She didn’t speak or move. Yet I could feel the rise of her breath, and I knew part of her still belonged to me, no matter how angry she was.
I kissed the back of her neck, soft at first, then deeper as I pushed her hair to the side.
My lips traced her skin slowly, tasting her sweetness and her pain all at once.
When she let out a light gasp, something inside me loosened because I needed to know she still felt me, even if only for a moment.
I slid my hand down her gown, lifting the lace so I could touch her thigh, and her skin was warm and soft the way it always had been.
I spread her open gently, letting my fingers glide along the inside of her leg as I angled myself closer.
To me, Treasure had never changed. She was the same woman who made me feel like a king when I was nothing but a man trying to build a life.
She was the same woman who held my hand through every triumph and every failure, and knowing I had driven a wedge between us made me want to hold her tighter than I ever had.
I eased my dick inside her from behind, and the moment our bodies connected, both of us released a breath we had been holding.
Her warmth pulled me in, and I rested my hand over her stomach as I moved deeper, letting my other hand rise to cup and massage her breast. I kissed her shoulder.
I kissed her neck. I kissed every place I could reach because I needed her to know I wasn’t letting her go.
Treasure didn’t speak, but her body responded to me with every slow thrust. Her hips pushed back, her breath grew heavier, and her fingers curled into the sheets.
I slid my hand up her chest and held her close, moving inside her with a rhythm that came from years of knowing her body and loving her beyond anything I could explain.
Every stroke was a plea. Every kiss was an apology, and every sound she made felt like forgiveness I didn’t deserve.
I felt my orgasm build until I couldn’t hold it anymore.
I pressed my face into her neck and pushed deeper, cumming with a low groan as I held her tight, wishing I could pour every ounce of my devotion into her body and make her understand that I would destroy the world before I let anything take her from me.
As the pulse of release faded, my dick stayed inside her with my arm wrapped around her waist. I waited for her to turn toward me, or to breathe my name the way she always had. I waited for something soft that told me we were finding our way back.
Instead, she spoke with a voice so calm it cut straight through me.
“Kwame, I’m leaving.”
My eyes snapped open, and confusion rippled through my body so fast I felt my arousal fade completely. I lifted my head from her shoulder, my brows drawing in as I pulled back slightly. “What do you mean you’re leaving?”
Treasure stared forward without blinking, her voice steady but empty. “I’m tired.”
I pulled out of her slowly and shifted her onto her back so I could look at her.
The moment I saw the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes, something inside me cracked.
Treasure didn’t cry easily, and she didn’t break down.
She was strength wrapped in grace and seeing that strength crumble because of me made my chest feel tight.
She looked up at me with a mix of exhaustion and hurt.
“I can’t keep living like this. I can’t keep watching you make decisions for everyone like we’re pieces on a board.
You want to control everything, even when it hurts our son.
You changed his diagnosis without even telling me.
You want everything done your way, even when your way costs us peace. ”
I didn’t speak because I couldn’t because her words were sinking deeper into my skin. Treasure had never talked about leaving me. We had disagreements, and we had arguments. We had moments when our tempers collided, but this was different. This felt final.
She pushed the covers aside and slid out of bed, her lace gown falling around her thighs as she stood. She swept her hair from her shoulders with a shaky hand, and I could feel panic rising inside me, though I fought to keep my voice steady.
“Treasure,” I said as I rose from the bed and reached for her, “why are you doing this? Why now?”
She didn’t answer. She turned to face me, her eyes full of every unsaid thing she carried, then she looked down as if even meeting my gaze hurt her. When she looked back up, something in her expression told me she had already crossed a line internally that she didn’t know how to step back from.
Then she walked away…
I watched her disappear through the doorway, my heart pounding in my chest as the silence filled the room. For the first time, the house felt bigger than I could bear, and as the night settled in around me, it finally hit me:
My wife was done, and I had no idea how to get her back…
THE FOLLOWING MORNING…
“Treasure, stop this shit!” I shouted as I followed her down the hall of our mansion, my voice echoing off the marble like it belonged to a man stripped of everything he ever cared about.
She walked with purpose, her suitcase rolling behind her, and every step she took felt like another piece of my life being pulled away from me.
I reached for her arm, but she pulled it back without even looking at me, which hurt worse than if she had cursed me out.
“Kwame, move,” she said calmly, even though I could hear the tremble in her voice. She did not stop walking, and she did not slow down. She kept going as if she had already decided that nothing I said or did could make her stay.
I followed her anyway, determined, frantic, angry, and terrified all at once. “I said stop,” I pressed, trying to control my voice even though everything inside me felt like it was falling apart. “I told you I will do whatever needs to be done. Just stay home and talk to me.”
Treasure didn’t even turn her head. “You talk a lot, Kwame, but you don’t fix shit,” she said. “You make decisions, and you expect me to stand behind them without question. I can’t live like this anymore.”
I moved in front of her, blocking her path, and even then she refused to meet my eyes.
Her silence cut through me with more force than any argument ever could.
“Tell me what you want me to do,” I said, trying to reach her, and trying to understand why the woman who had carried every storm with me suddenly felt like a stranger.
She finally lifted her eyes, and everything in them made my chest tighten. “Fix what you broke with our son,” she said softly. “Fix what you tried to erase. Fix him…Fix yourself.”
Her words hit me with a force I didn’t know how to brace against. I opened my mouth to respond, but nothing came out because I knew she was right.
Changing Kay’Lo’s diagnosis hadn’t just been a mistake. It had been a line I crossed without thinking about the pain it would cause. I did it because I believed I could control the world around us, but I never considered how much of that control came at the expense of the people I loved.
Treasure stepped around me and continued toward the grand staircase. I followed her without hesitation, angry and hurting and far too proud to admit I was scared of losing her. I reached for her suitcase, but she pulled it back with a strength that made my heart sink.
“Treasure, listen to me,” I said as we reached the bottom of the steps. “You are not going anywhere.”
“I’m going exactly where I need to go,” she answered. “I need space, Kwame. I need peace. I cannot breathe in this house anymore, not when everything I love is being controlled or crushed by the man who is supposed to protect us.”
I stepped closer. “I am trying to protect this family.”
“You are trying to protect your pride,” she replied, her voice breaking even though she fought it with everything inside her.
We walked outside together, the mansion lights spilling across the front steps. The morning sun had barely risen, painting the sky in pale blue. A driver stood at the bottom of the stairway beside a sleek black car, waiting quietly.
Treasure walked toward him with her suitcase, and something inside me snapped. I couldn’t explain it, and I could not control it. All I knew was that the sight of her leaving pushed every emotion I had into a place too dark for reason.
I stormed ahead of her, moving so fast the driver flinched when I reached him. “You are not taking my wife anywhere,” I said, my voice low, controlled, and dangerous.
“Sir, I was told—”
I grabbed him by his collar before he could finish, lifting him slightly off the ground and pinning him against the car. His fear was instant, and he stared at me like he already knew his life depended on every word he didn’t say.
Treasure gasped behind me. “Kwame, stop this right now.”
I didn’t even look at her. My eyes were locked on the man in my grip. “If you drive my wife off this property,” I said, “I will kill you. Do you understand that, muthafucka?”
He swallowed hard and nodded quickly, his breath shaking against my hand. I could feel him trembling, and I knew I should have released him sooner, but my anger held on because the idea of losing Treasure felt like death itself.
“Kwame!” Treasure shouted, “let him go before you make this worse!”
Her voice cracked on the last word. That was what finally cut through me. I released the driver and stepped back slowly as he stumbled away from me with his hands up in fear. Then I turned toward Treasure, and all the rage inside me fell apart the moment I saw her face.
She looked broken. Her eyes were swollen, and her lips trembled as she tried to hold her composure, and for the first time in my life, I felt completely powerless. I took a step toward her, but she backed up, and my heart dropped lower than it ever had.
“Treasure,” I said softly, “please do not leave me.”
She closed her eyes, and a tear slid down her cheek. I lifted her hand gently and kissed the back of it the way I always had when we were young and certain of everything. Her fingers trembled under my lips.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I am so sorry. Just tell me how to fix this.”
She looked up at me with so much sadness it almost brought me to my knees. “Kwame, you can’t fix anything if you refuse to see what you broke,” she said. “I love you, but I’m losing myself here. I have to go before there is nothing left of me to save.”
I shook my head. “Do not do this. Do not leave me.”
She stepped away and walked toward the car. Her hands shook as she lifted her suitcase into the trunk. I tried to move toward her, but something in her posture stopped me. She was choosing herself for the first time, and I couldn’t force her back into a place that was crushing her.
Treasure opened the back door, paused for one last look at me, and climbed inside.
The driver hesitated, waiting for my reaction, but I only lifted my hand for him to go.
The car began to roll down the long driveway as I stood barefoot on the steps of the home we built together, watching my wife disappear.
With every inch the car moved, my heart felt heavier. By the time the gates closed behind them, devastation settled in my body like a weight I didn’t know how to carry.
Treasure was gone, and I had no idea how to bring her back.