Cali got into the apartment around 9:30 Monday morning and took a Zoom call from Noah soon after. He explained that one of his clients had an office in Orange County and needed an audit because the central office suspected issues with their office manager. Noah was flying one of his accountants in to do an audit. He explained that he wanted Cali to be involved, as it would be good work experience for her. He also wanted her to run the guy around, in a rental car he'd booked. And went on to explain that it would be ready for pickup at SIXT car rentals that afternoon. 

Cali had immediately offered to use her car. But Noah said that Jarel had told him she drove an old Dodge, and replied, "You can't go turning up at one of my clients in that," and added. "Jarel says he plans to buy you a new company car when he gets back."

He then explained that he had forwarded her some files for her to read and asked her to see if she could spot any discrepancies. Cali felt that Noah was testing her. And when she opened the files a short time later, she saw that she was well out of her depth. It had been a couple of years since she'd gone through Excel files like these.

Worried she might look inept, Cali called Nash and asked if they could meet for lunch. Nash was over the moon; he couldn't remember the last time they had had lunch together. And when he sat opposite her at Taco Bell, she could see he was all puffed-up and feeling self-important about being asked to help her.

It didn't take Nash long to get her up to speed. But they both concluded that to prove anything, they would need a few of the previous years' accounts.

"If you can get those, bring them home tonight, and we'll go over them."

When she got back to her office at the apartment, she called Noah and asked him to send some of the earlier accounts. He seemed impressed that she was up with the play and had picked up on that.

After dinner, Cali sat with Nash, and they perused the returns from the last five years that Noah had supplied. It didn't take Nash long to see the trend that had alerted the accountants. Profits had declined over the five years, whereas turnover was up. He explained to Cali that he'd seen this trend before, and that it usually pointed to someone with their hand in the till. 

"People get greedy, and each year they don't get caught, they think they can take a bit more." He stated.

They went to bed around 11:00, and, for a change, Nash showed passion and enthusiasm. Their lovemaking reminded Cali of how it had been in the early years of their marriage. She surmised that much of Nash's problem in the last year stemmed from his being a poor provider. But the next morning, when she made a tentative advance, Nash acted all strange again and hurriedly departed for work.

——

Cali had picked up a Mazda CX-5 the day before. At 9:30 am, she left for the airport, parked her car, and went into the arrivals hall with a board to await her pickup. A handsome fifty-year-old white guy approached her and, pointing at her board, announced, "I'm Gordon Baxter." Cali was surprised for a second. She had expected the guy would be black.

Silently, she berated herself for being prejudiced. But quickly forgave herself when she noticed Gordon perving on her tits. On the walk to the car, she felt his eyes boring into her ass, and cringed at a sexist comment he made.

Once settled, and before she started the car, Cali turned to him, "I've been hit on all my life, and found the best way to react is directly. So if you don't want me to kick you in the balls and poke you in the eye, I suggest you keep your eyes above my tits and stop your childish innuendos. Do you understand me?"

Gordon looked taken aback, obviously not many women had ever stood up to him. But her last four weeks around Jarel, a man who would engender fear in the toughest of guys, had given Cali a new strength around the opposite sex. And she did not want to have another guy trying to take advantage of her.

To give him his due, Gordon apologised and said they should get to the client's office. For the next two days, they worked well together. She was aware he was still stealing glances whenever he thought she wasn't looking, but there were no more sexist innuendoes, so she learnt a lot and ignored his sneaky looks.  

By Thursday morning, they had had the manager and his accountant removed from the premises and all the locks changed. She had Gordon back at the airport just before midday, for his flight back to Chicago. Noah had spoken to her several times over the two days and, in their final conversation, had promised her a healthy bonus for her efforts.

After dropping off the rental car, Cali caught a taxi home. Over a late lunch, Cali had her first moment in three days to think. And the first thing that came to mind was that her period hadn't arrived. It should have arrived on Wednesday. She was always as regular as clockwork. So after lunch, she drove to a pharmacy and bought a pregnancy test kit. When she got back to the house, Pat was waiting for her. She invited herself in for a coffee, saying she wanted to talk about the weekend in Vegas. Pat said she'd been looking out for her all week, and Cali had to explain what she had been up to. Then she went on to explain that she had not had her period and had just been out to buy a pregnancy test. 

Pat didn't react the way Cali expected, but she ignored it because she was so excited. However, when the test came back positive, she bounced around the room, unable to contain her joy. Pat brought her back to earth with a question, "How are you going to explain the pregnancy to Nash?"

Cali didn't understand her question. "Nash will be overjoyed. We've been trying for almost six months."

Pat looked uncomfortable. "Nash hasn't told you then?"

"Told me what?" Cali exclaimed.

"That he's sterile. How are you going to explain to him you are having Jarel's baby?"

"It can't be Jarel's. He used condoms all the time that I was fertile. How would you know Nash is sterile, when he's not told me?"

"Because he got himself tested about three weeks ago and did not know how to tell you. You were so determined to have a baby; he was scared of how you would take the news. The day he found out, he talked to Mike about it, and asked how Mike felt about helping you guys out, and impregnating you. Mike was keen, but said he'd have to run it past me first. I would have been quite okay with the whole deal, except I was a bit miffed at how keen Mike was to bed you. The bastard's not shown much interest in me this year. So I put my foot down and told him, as long as I could sleep with Nash while Mike was doing you, I was okay with the deal. Mike could not handle that. In fact, he hit the roof. So we were stalemated. I told Nash to man up, go home, and talk with you. And because I have heard nothing since, I assumed he had told you."

Cali felt like she had been punched in the gut and thought she was going to faint. She had to sit and take some deep breaths. When her head stopped spinning, things began to make sense. Nash's behaviour over the last month suddenly made sense. His weird behaviour was to do with his anxiety about being sterile. Furthermore, she realised she had probably shut him down whenever he had tried to bring up the tests with her.

Cali looked at her watch and saw it was almost 4:00. Then she turned to Pat, "I need to talk to Jarel and find out what's happened. Don't you dare mention anything to Mike, or anyone, until I've had a chance to work this out. I'll come over and see you tomorrow."

Feeling guilty about what she'd just revealed, Pat tipped her unfinished coffee down the sink and escaped out the door.

When Pat had gone, Cali called Nash and told him about her day: changing the locks and firing the manager and his accountant. Then told him she was not finished and might be home late again. She told him to bring home some takeaways for himself and that she'd get some later.

Nash was fine. He wished her luck and hung up. She then called Jarel. He answered straight away, and when she told him she needed to talk, he said he was at the apartment and would be waiting for her.

The drive to Jarel's was wild. She had cars tooting at her as she made mistakes. Her mind was all over the place. She stepped out of the lift and found Jarel sitting on the couch, wearing only his boxers and with a massive grin on his face.

"You can wipe that fucking grin off your face, you bastard. I'm pregnant. Put some clothes on, we need to talk."

Jarel kept grinning. "I thought you were trying to get pregnant? Why are you so angry?"

"Because I found out less than an hour ago that Nash is sterile. What I don't understand is how I'm pregnant. You used a condom each time we had sex? That's a question!"

"Nash is at work? So who told you he's sterile?" Jarel countered.

Exasperated, Cali snapped back, "Pat, my damn neighbour. Evidently, Nash approached them about her husband, Mike, sleeping with me and knocking me up for him. It now makes sense that he's been bringing up stuff about my sleeping with another guy. But again, how come I'm pregnant?" 

"I planned that, let me get the condoms and show them to you," he said and stood and headed to the bedroom. Moments later, he returned with some packets of condoms. He held them out to Cali and told her to inspect them.

She saw instantly that a series of holes had been punched in the centre of every packet. "Why?' She snapped. "Why would you want to destroy my life?"

"Because I want an heir, a son. And there is no one I'd rather have to mother him. You are beautiful and intelligent."

He saw that Cali was about to explode. "Hear me out. I'm going to try to take out Pablo and some of the other Cartel heads. It's the only way I can escape their grasp. My chances of surviving that are slim. My mother always told me I carry royal Zulu blood. My great-grandfather was Jama kaNdaba, a Zulu king in the eighteenth century. I don't want my line to die out if I don't survive my attempt to escape the clutches of the Cartel."

"Why didn't you pay one of your high-end prostitutes to have a baby with you?'

"Because none of them is half the woman you are, and I want a stable family to bring my son up to be a decent citizen. I had a hankering that Nash might not be potent, seeing as you had been trying for six months. And the way you speak of him, I surmised he might not leave you. And what you have just said about him trying to tee up a surrogate lover makes me believe this may be the case."

"He may wear a white baby, but I doubt he's going to hang around when he learns it's black. I'll have to get an abortion. And you can pay for that."

Jarel shook his head. "I'll not pay for an abortion. But I'll pay for everything to do with the pregnancy and my child's upbringing."

"Will you marry me when Nash walks out?" Cali yelled.

"Do you want that? Married to a black gangsta. I would not want to inflict that life on you. But it could be viable if I survive the next few months."

Cali paused for a second. "No. I don't love you. I still hate you, and now more than ever."

"But you like the sex." Jarel retaliated.

Cali burst into tears. Jarel took her in his arms and held her tight. She fought him and yelled for him to leave her alone. But Jarel held her tight until she stopped struggling.

"You have ruined my life. Things have been rough for Nash and me. But we would have survived if you hadn't come on the scene and corrupted me," she sobbed.

"I'm sorry I have caused you distress. But not sorry I met you. This past month has been the happiest I have been in twenty years. Go home and talk it out with Nash. Get counselling, take him on a holiday, whatever. I will pay."

Cali lay in his arms for several minutes, and when she calmed, she began to think things through. Finally, she pushed him away, "I want those tapes you took of me. The edited and unedited versions, maybe if I show him those, I can convince him I had no choice."

Jarel rose and went up the hallway. He returned with a thumb drive and the throwaway phone.

"The thumb drive has the complete video of us in your car. The phone has the edited version I showed you at your house. It should be quite obvious what happened."

"I want the tape you took of us at my house that first day."

"I'll give it to you, but not today. I don't think it is a good idea to show Nash that for a while, maybe ever. The appetite and excitement you showed for black cock that afternoon is not something many husbands could take."Cali paused and contemplated what he'd said, "Yes, maybe you're right. But I want it, if only to destroy it. I don't want it falling into anyone else's hands. Have you taken any more video?"

"No, but both Lenny and Jude had their phones out in Vegas. I have no idea what they took. Probably just some photos, and if they did do any filming, it would have been mostly of Nicky and Pat, as they know not to include me in any photos."

As an afterthought, Jarel added, "That's another reason I don't want to give you the video of my first visit to your house. It shows my face. That could be deadly for you if it ever got leaked."

Cali shook her head in disbelief. Realising how naive and stupid she'd been. She stood and went to his bathroom to wash her face. Returning to the lounge, she bid Jarel farewell. He asked if he would see her the next day.

Cali turned and glared at him. "Right now, I never want to see you again. But let's see if I survive my encounter with my husband in twenty minutes." And she headed for the lift.

——

When she walked through the door, Nash was sitting on their settee watching TV, with a box of Pizza on his knee. He looked up, saw she had no food, and offered, "Come and have some Pizza, I've plenty spare here."

"I'm not hungry, I need a drink." She walked over to their liquor cabinet and pulled out their special bottle of Canadian Club.

Pouring two stiff whiskies and dry, she came back and sat opposite him. Nash sussed out that something was very wrong. They'd hardly touched the bottle of Canadian Club, since it was given to them there years before. He slid the Pizza box onto the coffee table, did as Cali indicated, and took a quick slug. His heart rate rose rapidly as he braced for the worst.

Cali snapped, "Do you have something to tell me?"

Nash knew straight away that she knew about his potency test and had a damn good idea who had spilled the beans. "I'm guessing you have spoken to Pat?"

"This afternoon. Pat tells me you have been over there trying to enlist Mike to knock me up. Isn't that something we should have discussed first before you talked to anyone else?"

"I wanted to, but I was scared you would leave me. I only sounded out Mike to see if he would be interested. And I made it very plain that I had not talked to you, nor did I think you would wear it. But he went off and discussed it with Pat, who got her bee in a bonnet, about his wanting to sleep with you. I intended to tell you about my tests, but have never managed to find the right time or the words."

"Why on earth would you think I'd leave you over that? How certain are the tests?" Cali asked.

"The guy in the clinic was pretty definitive. He said my sperm has so few swimmers that it would be a miracle if I got you pregnant."

"Well, I just found out this afternoon that I'm pregnant."

An elated grin spread across Nash's face, and he looked up into Cali's eyes. "So my tests were wrong?"

"I'm afraid not. You had better take another big slug of that whisky, as the baby is not yours."

Nash slumped back on the couch and went silent. Cali watched him closely, trying to read the range of emotions that spread over his face. Finally, he spoke.

"I knew something had changed. Our sex this last month has been so different. Crazy, wild, and unpredictable. You have never been like that before. I know I've been struggling in bed over the last year, and must have seemed disinterested and indifferent to your needs, but I was struggling with my job and our financial issues. And not getting you pregnant. But not in a million years did I think you'd find another lover."

Cali reacted, "I did...