Addicted To Greed
Authors: Catherine Putsche
First Published in Austria 2012 by RJP Books LTD,
Copyright Catherine Rose Putsche 2012.
The right of Catherine Rose Putsche to be identified as the
author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with
the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
copyright owner.
All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any
resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely
coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library.
Greed is the inordinate desire to possess wealth, goods, or
objects of abstract value with the intention to keep it for one's
self, far beyond the dictates of basic survival and comfort. It is
applied to a markedly high desire for and pursuit of wealth,
status, and power.
As a secular psychological concept, greed is, similarly, an
inordinate desire to acquire or possess more than one needs. It is
typically used to criticize those who seek excessive material
wealth, although it may apply to the need to feel more
excessively moral, social, or otherwise better than someone else.
"Greed is a sin against God” Thomas Aquinas
Dedications
For Rudi, my wonderful husband and beautiful daily inspiration:
www.josef-p.webs.com.
Zena, Jamie, and Jean, without you the pages would have been
empty, thank you. A big thank you to Rainer Constant Kubisko,
www.kubisko.at for reading the first copy and offering
invaluable feedback.
granddaughter Tia, this book is in your memory.
Acknowledgements
This was a tough book to write I would like to say thank you to
all my friends and family, I know it can’t be easy living with a
writer and I know it wasn’t easy putting up with me while I
wrote this book, Rudolf Josef Putsche, for the great advice,
support, encouragement and foreign representation. Jean Mary
Thompson, support, encouragement and childhood inspirations.
Zena Louise Clayden Walker, support, encouragement and
illustration. Rainer Constant Kubisko, for proof reading and
positive feedback. Jamie Robert Thompson, for being the only
little boy who grew up with three nagging women and came out
on top.
As he lay on his old Victorian bed, hand carved by his own
grandfather many years ago he knew he was dying. Giving in to
his death was proving difficult; he didn’t want to die yet, why
now? Why when he had so much to put right and little time to
do so. He searched around the room for some answers, scanning
his favorite bookcases where he not only kept his own private
works; he also kept his personal journals from over the six
decades of his life. His eyes began to fill up as he remembered
the births of all his dear children, his journals were endless
memorials of his life and nobody knew about them, only
himself. What would he do with them now? Would the children
be interested in reading them? Written in his own hand? Or
would it be best for him to just leave them in the past as they
didn’t belong in the future, as they would reveal all his secrets,
the prospect of this troubled him immensely. However the
journals held a lot of answers the children were once curious
about and he felt he owed it to them. Maybe they would
understand why he did what he did and it would give them some
clarity, if not what really did he have to lose? He wouldn’t be
here to witness their reactions however good or bad they maybe.
He hoped for their forgiveness one day, even in the event of his
death. While mulling this over his beautiful wife entered, along
with his private nurse. He immediately lost his trail of thoughts
as he noticed the expression on his wife’s face, a cold heartless
look of disapproval.
as if she was reading every one of his thoughts. . .
Thinking back on how he met her he shivered, the guilt came
surging back to him.
Why had I looked at her? I was a happily
married man.
Felicity, his second wife had lured him in slowly at first. He
remembered meeting her at one of his client’s engagement party
over in New York, where he was hoping for his architectural
work to become hugely successful. She began to pay a lot of
attention towards his work at first and proved to be a valuable
contact as she worked in real estate. Felicity was young,
beautiful, and ambitious and shared the same opinion on
European architecture as he did.
He was amazed by her beauty, passion, and intelligence. He
couldn’t resist the urge to ask her out to dinner the following
week and she simply accepted. Twice he thought about calling
her up to cancel, in hindsight he wished he had.
They met at the L'Atelier de Joel Rubicon
for dinner. He arrived
early, nervous, and hesitant at first. After his second cocktail he
began to loosen up and that’s when she arrived dressed in a
black ankle length cocktail dress, her blonde hair neatly tied up
into a French pleat. He noticed that her delicate beauty caught
the attention of all the diners as they looked on in awe of her.
Felicity was almost six feet tall of slender build and walked with
an elegance he associated to his late mother.
He suddenly found himself mesmerised by her beauty as she
approached him. He almost forgot his manners as she stood at
his table waiting to be seated. Once he rose to the occasion she
asked,
Momentarily breaking eye contact for a few moments to take a
deep breath he replied, “Yeah, but it was over a decade ago.”
“You know what I love most about Paris?”
She didn’t wait for a reply she carried on, as if she was talking
to an old friend.
“The sheer beauty of the place
and the ability to walk until
dawn. I’ve spent most my life there, staying up all night
wondering from café to café. I could spend all day reading at
this great brasserie Le Balzar. I had an apartment on Rue Des
Ecoles, which I shared with a college friend.”
and gently whispered in to his ear.
“And that’s the last glass of champagne I’m
having tonight. I’m
told I have a tendency to talk a lot when under the influence of
alcohol.”
“Go on encore un verre.” he said pouring the rest of the bottle of
champagne into her glass.”
Wilhelm let out a small chuckle admiring the tone of her subtle
French accent.
“I’d be delighted to join you.”
After sharing several bottles of champagne he had the distinct
impression where it was all going. He sensed that she would
invite him back to her apartment as she made it plainly obvious
that she couldn’t resist him. What was niggling him the most
however was the fact that he just couldn’t resist her either and
this worried him slightly, giving into his yearning and desires
was all he could think of, nothing else mattered to him more
than this momentary lapse in time. What he wasn’t aware of
was that this very act of adultery was going to not only change
and destroy his life; it was going to shape everyone who was in
it in a way he never imagined.
looking into her stern hateful eyes.
Felicity approached him fiercely pointing with her index finger.
“It’s time for your medicine.”
The nurse anxiously approached him gently pulling up the
sleeve of his dressing gown. He didn’t resist as he knew what
was coming next.
sure he gets an extra dosage for good measure.”
With this Felicity walked towards the door glancing back to see
if the nurse was doing her job efficiently, not satisfied until she
witnessed both injections pierce into her husband’s arm. She
then closed the door and left them alone.
to the nurse
“I need you to do something for me, but it has to remain strictly
confidential between you, me, and Mr Wallace. Felicity is not
to know about this, do you understand?”
compassion and answered.
“Yes sir, I understand. What can I do?”
He pointed towards his journals and gave her strict instructions,
and then he gave her a hand written letter addressed to Mr
Wallace, informing her that this must follow.
“In the event of the journals not reaching Mr Wallace, then you
must deliver this to him in person. Here are his contact details,
there’s a personal number if you can’t reach him in the office.
Are you clear on my instructions?”
have my word.”
He gently squeezed the nurse’s hand.
“
Thanks for you for your help, dedication and support in these
last eight months of my life. I’d like you to accept this as a
token of my gratitude.”
He handed her a large sealed brown envelope, containing a
cheque for 2.5 million dollars along with an exceptional working
reference. He had a feeling that this may change her life for the
better and gave her hand a further squeeze.
Nurse Patterson
’s eyes filled with tears. She knew that these
were her patients last moments and she was dammed if she was
going to leave him in solitude, unlike his ice queen of a wife.
She didn’t like Felicity with a passion and had a deep empathy
for her patient. She considered him to be the perfect gentleman,
never once complaining of his illness, but sensing that he wished
he had more time. She couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of
sadness for this and hoped he would get more time. As a
devoured Catholic she had on many occasions prayed for him.
She would never forget this man’s great displays of courage,
bravery, and generosity. She planned to sit a distance away
from him, to give him his personal space, but to let her presence
be known to him. She would pray in silence, that his passing
would be graceful, painless and without suffering.
“May I sit with you for a while sir?”
He sensed her need to do so and his need of company.
you do can you call for Felicity to come to my bedside?”
“Yes sir
. Can I get you anything else?”
“A neat triple whisky if you wouldn’t mind.”
With this the nurse politely excused herself.
He knew he would have several minutes before she returned.
Reaching for his telephone he dialed his eldest daughter Ella,
hoping she would pick up. After a few rings it went to answer
phone and he thought it best not to leave a message. He repeated
the process with Destiny, his middle daughter and found the
same friendly answering machine. Disappointed and deflated he
thought it best not to try Chase in the event of further rejection.
Without further hesitation he dialed the third most precious
number hoping she would pick up. On the third ring he heard
the once familiar voice of his ex wife who he hadn’t spoke to in
almost ten years.
“
Hello, Jeannie Mansfield speaking.”
Plucking up all his courage he managed an audible whisper.
“Hello Jeannie, its Wilhelm.”
He felt his pulse rising and suddenly found himself speechless.
He half expected her to hang up, but she replied slowly as if in
shock,
“Please Jeannie don’t hang up, I need to let you know just how
sorry I am for all the heartache I put you and the children
through. I truly apologise for what I did to you all. I’ve never
stopped loving you and our children.”
He wondered if she had hung up as there was a deadly silence
on his end of the handset. After a few uncomfortable moments,
he heard the beautiful high intonation of her voice becoming
irritable.
“Wil
helm this is absurd. Why are you saying all this now? Has
something happened? I don’t understand it was so long ago.
What’s going on?”
“I’ve
made a lot of mistakes and I should’ve never turned my
back on you and the children. This I consider to be the biggest
mistake of my life. I was a selfish, ambitious, stupid young
arrogant son of a bitch, who shouldn’t have left you and the
children. I was more interested in making a name for myself
over here in the states than anything else. The price I paid for
this was my family. I just want to let you know that I never
meant to sacrifice you and the children. You were and still are
the love of my life.”
“Oh Wilhelm, please spare me the details. I don’t know what in
God’s names gotten into you. What you did to me and the
children was absolutely unforgivable, however in time I did
forgive you. As you’re aware I’m happily married now. So
whatever you say to me now holds very little significance and
the fact that it was over a decade ago. I think you’re a little too
late.”
“
Please Jeannie hear me out I don’t have long. I was diagnosed
with a brain tumor several years ago. I’ve kept this quiet as I
don’t need self pity. Everything has been done medically to
preserve my life and now the tumor has advanced to the stages
where it’s no longer treatable with medication. I wish I had
more time to explain, however I don’t, and I just want you to
know that I regret the stupid choices that I made in the past. It
may come as a shock to but not all my choices were my own
doing. I agree that I was incredibly stupid to cheat on you with
another woman but things are not what you and the children
think they are and I want you all to know the truth. Please if you
get a chance in the next few days would you drop into Wallace’s
London office? There’s something I’ve have mailed to you as
private and confidential there that I would very much like you to
have.”