Dangerous Games

A DAUGHTER IN LAW TO BE FEARED

"Samuel?"

"Yes."

"I know I haven't said this, but I am happy for you." Samuel averted his gaze from his father's face and looked down at his feet as his father spoke. "I am happy to see you're content with a woman that loves you. I am extremely grateful that, in the end, you are with someone who values you."

Suddenly, he felt sick. He barely managed to utter his short reply.

"Thanks, dad."

Would he still feel the same pride when he found that Kali meant nothing to him? The love he admired and was grateful for was nothing more than a farce to keep up appearances. The daughter-in-law he fancied wanted nothing more than to rip their family apart. Samuel had no doubt that she would destroy everything if it meant taking his mother down with it.

"You really like her?"

"I do. She has proven herself to be a levelheaded and well-mannered young woman. Of course, the circumstances of her arrival are not the best, but you both have done so well fighting for your feelings."

"You aren't afraid we wouldn't last?"

"I am. Everyone always worries the love that started a relationship might fade, but that's the risk you take. You have to work on keeping your love and your marriage. Whatever the result is in the end, you'd know you got there of your own free will."

Samuel drained his glass. He glanced outside to see Kali still speaking to his mother. She had pulled her aside after dinner, to talk about something in private. Samuel didn't doubt it was to chastise Kali for her attitude at the table.

"Give me a second."

His father glanced back to where Kali stood with his mother. "Let her be. Your mother might be headstrong, but your wife can hold up just fine."

"Either way, just give me a second."

His father's laugh followed him as he made his way to the garden. He couldn't make out what they were saying, and they didn't appear to be arguing, but he could sense the tension. He grew more suspicious after they dropped the conversation the second he pushed the door open. Kali turned away, and his mother faced him, her face giving nothing away.

"Dad's waiting for you." He stated, standing beside Kali with his attention solely on his mother.

"We were in the middle of a conversation."

"What about?"

"Nothing that primarily concerns you."

"Well, it's my house, my wife and my mother. I hear a lot of 'me' in those terms. What is it that you can't say in front of me?"

"Nothing, I guess. She put on such a wonderful performance tonight. I only wanted to remind her that she was not to get too comfortable in the role of your wife. And to reiterate that I want her to play by my rules."

"Mom, we are married. What more do you want?"

"Nothing. As I promised, this wouldn't be forever."

"Of course not." Kali agreed. "Just until you get what you want, right?" she inched closer. "Which is what, by the way?"

"I'll see you later, honey."

She held his shoulder and pulled him closer to kiss his cheek. She wiped off the lipstick stain before returning to the hall and his father's side. When he looked at Kali, he saw the anger in her eyes as she watched his mother. Afraid she might do something untoward, Samuel stepped into her line of vision and looked into her eyes when she gazed up at him.

"You need to keep a cool head. What was she really telling you."

"Nothing I can repeat without exploding, and your family is still here. I can't wait for this stupid night to end."

She skirted past him, a smile replacing her grim frown as she joined the rest of the family. It didn't take long for them to leave; everyone was strung out from the day. Samuel stayed down to lock the doors after the help left and walked back to his room to find Kali staring into the mirror, frozen in place.

"Are you going to tell me what she said or stand there forever?"

"Honestly, she didn't say anything new to me."

"Then why are you so angry."

"Because I hate her." Kali spat and spun to face him. "I hate her with every inch of my being. It might be shocking, but I am not a hateful person. I am not. With your mother, it's just something I can't help."

"What. Did. She. Say."

"Short of calling me a whore with cheap tricks, nothing new." Kali chortled mirthlessly. "She now believes I am trying to seduce you to stay in the world she loaned to me. What an egotistical fool."

"Seduce me?"

"Cheap plans." Kali scoffed, probably repeating something his mother said. "I don't know if I should be grateful she underestimates me or be insulted. But wait, she should wait and see. When I am done with her, she herself would see just how costly my cheap plans can get."

Samuel took a moment to process what she said. "That's why you were particularly all over me today, right? I thought it but I wasn't sure. Now, I know. You are trying to goad my mother."

"What?"

"You are trying to irk my mother?"

"And if it is? Let's see, what if that is what I want." she challenged, shrugging as she turned back to face the mirror. "If it is my plan, so what?"

Samuel thought of his father. He could see the smile on his face. He'd be broken to learn that the marriage he was proud of was a sham. Even more, to learn of the role his mother played. If Kali exposed his mother's plan, his family could erupt into chaos.

"I don't know what you have planned for her, but let me warn you that I would not sit back and watch you destroy my family. Because that is what will happen when you go after her, someone else in my life, someone I love, would end up hurt. I won't allow that."

"That warning you should give your mother, not to me. If she can behave like this, with you, her son. What stops her from doing something like this, or worse, to any other of your siblings? The woman is cheating on her husband, for Christ's sake."

"I don't know what you think revenge would do for your situation, but it wouldn't change it. This madness of wanting to destroy her is not going to change anything. And I swear if any of your ideas include hurting my family with anything you know about my mother, I would not forgive you."

"Who is asking for your forgiveness!"

Kali spun, her eyes raging with furry, she matched up to him and snatched him closer by the lapels of his jacket.

"What about you? Hypocritical cynic, what about you? Don't you have a plan, or is it to remain married to me your whole life? Are you going to stand back and watch as the woman you love hates you or falls for another man?"

Samuel didn't back away; he was equally as. She wasn't the only one who drew the short end of the stick. He also had to put on a show in front of everyone, in front of even himself. A show he had been putting on since his mother began this cursed game, with his happiness as the highest stakes. He grabbed her by the wrists and tore her hands away from his shirt.

"You know nothing of what I am going through being married to you."

"And you nothing of my feelings. Bastard. Ever since we married, I see how you treat me, how you look at me, even when you are unconscious of it. Because I smile and laugh and flirt you think this is the life I want? No, my love. If you are willing to remain married to me and keep kissing your mother's feet like a good little boy, that's you. Me...I would fight till my last drop of blood to make sure she knows what it feels like to be on my end."

She pushed him aside and rushed out the door, marching away so furiously that he could still hear her clicking heels even when he was sure she was already down the stairs. Frustrated Samuel ripped his jacket off and threw it hard against the bed. He shoved his fingers into his hair and pulled hard at any strand he was able to grab onto as he roared into the empty room.