Chapter 5
Darek was pleased with Iza's report. It confirmed his opinion of Helen's husband. Now, it was just a matter of tightening the noose. He would get pictures of them together, maybe even in some intimate moments, and, after that, he would have to figure out how to have Helen find out about it.
That was the hard part because it would hurt Helen. That bothered him. Was this really moral? Wouldn't he eventually have to tell Helen about what he had done and wouldn't he look bad in her eyes? He would have helped break up her marriage. She could always blame him for this. Sure, he may have freed her from a predatory husband, but what had he replaced him with? A scheming lover? Only now that he had gained control over the situation was he beginning to understand the full implication of his actions. Now, it was all too late. Iza had done her job too well. Maybe he could stop her? Maybe he could tell her to forget the second meeting? There was still time. But then what? Helen would be with a husband who, he was now sure, would someday cause her even more pain and, eventually, leave her completely. It seemed Helen was going to be victimized one way or another. If only he could lie. If only he could never tell her of his involvement in all of this. But that's not the kind of guy he was. That lie, that deception, would ruin everything.
Darek spent a difficult week leading up to his next meeting with Iza. Never was he free from thoughts about the future and how to handle it. It was not surprising, then, that the first thing Iza said to him when they met was that he looked tired and, without any hesitation, he told her of his misgivings.
After carefully listening to him, Iza made an observation that gave him some solace. "The difference between you and her husband is that the morality of the situation is destroying you. I can tell you for a fact that it doesn't worry him in the least. He will go out with me and probably try to get me into bed, and he won't even give a thought to her or how finding out about me may hurt her. His only concern is himself and trying not to get caught, not because it will hurt her to find out, but because it will make his life uncomfortable. Darek, you really care for her. That's why you worry so much. I think if she can see that, you will be all right."
It was an angle he had never considered. He appreciated Iza for the observation. He could now work from that platform. Again, he wondered how such an intelligent girl could get into this line of work. "But should I tell Helen about how I managed this whole thing?" He asked her.
Iza smiled at him. "Don't you know that answer already? You're an honest man. The lying would kill you more than anything. If she can see your motivation, that, in fact, you wanted to help her, and if she loves you, she'll understand. Give her time. She may react negatively at first. Later, she should see that you saved her from something far worse. Look, if it would be of any help, I could even talk to her. It seems that this girl needs to be woken up about a few things, things that only one woman could tell another."
"Thanks", said Darek. "I may need some help. Of course, I would pay you for your time."
Iza shook her head. "It's not always about money, you know. Just consider it part of our original contract, okay?"
"But what do you think, Iza?" Darek continued, encouraged by Iza's words. "Should I even go through with this? Should you even meet with him tonight?"
Iza laughed. "And then what would you have against him, that he had a drink with some woman at a bar? Do you think she'd leave him for that?" She waited for this statement to make an impact on Darek. "Look, you said she was in denial. If that's true, then she really needs something that will wake her up."
"So does that mean you'll go to bed with him if that's what he wants? Is that what it will take to wake her up?" Darek asked, almost fearing the answer. His own morality was coming into question. Now, he seemed to be paying a woman to go to bed with someone she didn't even like. "Really", he asked himself, "what kind of a man have I become? How moral am I?"
Iza looked at him and shook her head. "That's the kind of question I'd expect a man to ask. Don't you realize she'd probably forgive him if he went to bed with a woman he hardly knew? He could always claim he was drunk and he didn't know what he was doing."
Darek was confused. "Then what do you suggest?"
Iza studied him closely. "Let me ask you a question. Do you only want this woman because you want to have sex with her?
"Come on, Iza. Why would I go through all of this only to have sex with her? She means far more to me than that. I'm not so superficial."
"Yet, you expect her to be so superficial. Darek, what a woman fears more than her husband having sex with another woman is her husband falling in love with another woman. I'm planning to have him fall in love with me. I doubt if any woman, even one in denial, would stay with a man who told her that he was in love with someone else."
Suddenly, Darek's mind was flooded with questions. "You can make him fall in love with you?"
"Sure. It won't be that difficult."
"And does this mean you think you can make anyone fall in love with you?"
"No. That's not possible. But this kind of guy, I know. He lacks self-confidence and he knows that conquering me will give him some, at least temporarily. All I have to do is remain slightly out of reach. It will drive him crazy. It will obsess him. He will be madly in love with me." She stated unemotionally.
"And that's love? A search for self-confidence?"
"It is for him. It is for many people. But what is love? You're asking the wrong person. I know too much about men to ever fall in love. Let's just call it an occupational hazard."
"So you've never been in love, but you say you understand love", Darek observed.
"You don't have to have a baby to be an obstetrician."
"I understand." Darek remarked. "I was like you once. Actually, I was like you until I met Helen."
"But you told me you two had been friends for years. It wasn't love at first sight?"
"Well, maybe it was, but I had to stop my feelings because I knew she was married."
"And what about that other woman, that Anna, that you told me about?" Iza asked.
"Anna, well, yes, I had affection for her. But, it wasn't like what I feel for Helen. I can't explain it to you if you've never felt it. How would you describe a sneeze to someone who never experienced it? There is a certain depth of understanding that two people have for each other that goes beyond words. It's almost spiritual, and I'm saying this as someone who's not religious. Anyway, you'll know it when you feel it" Darek stated with finality.
"Well, maybe", Iza replied, unable to hide her doubt. To her, what was called love was based on two simple facts: Men want sex and women want security and attention. Throw in a little physical attraction and you have love. Darek may try to explain it as something else, but that is what she felt was truly at the base of all so-called love relationships. Once a man sees his 'true love' getting fatter, or older, or without makeup and wearing an old sweatshirt and sweatpants, his 'love' dies, which means he loses interest in sex. And once a woman doesn't get the attention she used to get, her love dies. It was no surprise to her that most marriages ended in divorce. By her reasoning, marriage should be the exception and not the rule. Society would be much better off.
"Okay, you've asked me some personal questions. Maybe I can ask you something?" Darek ventured.
"Sure, go ahead." Iza was not worried about anything Darek could ask her.
"You say you aren't a prostitute, right?
"Right."
"But you work in a brothel. And that night, when I first met you, you were paraded out in front of us like all of the other girls, and I'm sure they were prostitutes and not escorts. So, who's in denial here?" Darek gave her a direct and challenging look.
Iza sighed and compressed her lips. Darek had asked the right question. She had not wanted to go into this, but now she had no choice. "Maria is my aunt."
"Your aunt?" Darek said raising his voice in surprise.
"Yes. She's the aunt no one in the family wants to talk about."
/> "Yeah, I can see why." Darek said with a slight laugh.
"No, you don't." Iza said, defiantly. "You see, everyone in my family is a strict catholic. Everyone except my aunt. When I was a kid, I always liked her because she was so different, even though I knew the rest of the family didn't have anything good to say about her. I remember one day they were trying to convince her to go to church more often. She listened to them for a while, and then said that her favorite part of the mass was when the priest gave the final prayer, because then she knew she could finally go home. It was exactly what I had always thought but was afraid to admit. I mean, going to church ruined my whole weekend. I didn't see any point in it, except that, if I didn't go, I'd be punished. Was that any reason to want to go to church? Anyway, I liked the way my aunt was so honest. I bet most of my family would have agreed with her, but they were lying to themselves and pretending that going to church was such a wonderful experience. It really made an impression on me. I wanted to be as honest as she was."
"But that doesn't explain why you work in a brothel, even if it is run by your aunt", Darek noted, refusing to be persuaded by her story.
"No, I suppose it doesn't." Iza admitted. "When I came to this town, I knew my aunt lived here, but I didn't go to see her right away. I had heard stories about what she was doing and, quite frankly, I was frightened by the fact that they might be true. I didn't want to believe that my aunt had sunk so low. But, one day, I decided to take a chance. I went to see her and she was so happy to see me. I don't know what I expected, maybe someone who looked like they had hit bottom. But it was just the opposite, she seemed very satisfied with life. She made no apologies.
"Anyway, to make a long story short, I went home one weekend and told my family that I met her. They were furious with me. They said if I ever saw her again they would refuse to pay for my school. This made me angry. What kind of a Christian attitude was that? I told them they could do what they wanted, but that I would see Maria again."
"And?" Darek interrupted, unable to wait for the conclusion of the story. "Did they stop paying for your college?"
"Yes." Iza stated with a shrug. "But I thought I could just get a job and pay for everything myself." She laughed. "Boy, was I naïve. Not only did I not have any money for school, I couldn't pay for the room I rented. So I went to see my aunt. I told her what had happened. She just shook her head in disgust. It didn't surprise her in the least. She said I could stay in one of her rooms and that she could pay me for helping out around the place. Yeah, of course, I was hesitant at first. I mean, what would I tell my friends? What if they saw me coming out of her house? You know? But after a while, a job is a job. Besides, I got to learn a lot about life that I would have never learned otherwise.
"Yeah, I bet." Said Darek, sarcastically. "But don't you think that viewpoint is a little twisted?"
"Maybe, but right now I'm too close to it to know that. It's all normal for me now. Anyway," Iza continued, not wanting to follow that line of thought any further, "one day my aunt had this idea about making me an escort. She didn't push it on me, and she said it didn't involve sex. She said it was pure companionship and nothing more, but that I could probably make in a night what I normally made in a week. The idea intrigued me. I know it seems kind of stupid, but I even thought it would be a good way to make some business contacts. I looked at it as part of my professional development."
"Well, did you make some contacts?" Darek asked, becoming more interested in Iza's story.
"Let's just say I now know some important people in this town. But what I think I learned about most was men and maybe psychology in general. I was sure what I was learning would be of great help in my own career some day."
"But what about that night that I came there with Pavel? Why did you appear with the rest of the girls?" Asked Darek, somewhat doubting if there could be such an easy answer to this question.
"Well, when my aunt heard your idea, she immediately thought about me. I was upstairs studying and she came in to talk to me about it. I agreed to go down and see if you looked like someone I'd like to work with. We didn't have our best girls there that night and her instincts told her you'd choose me for the job. Her instincts are generally on target."
"Did she have any other instincts about me?" Darek asked, curious about what kind of image he had presented.
"Only that she was sure you had never been in such a place before and looked like an honest, if somewhat naïve, man." Iza admitted.
"Well, 50 percent is better than nothing, I suppose." Darek noted, not particularly pleased with the impression he had made.
"Believe me, Darek. There are some things you don't want to be considered sophisticated about." And she gave him a smile to make him feel better.