{"id":610,"date":"2026-01-22T06:13:01","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T06:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/?p=610"},"modified":"2026-01-22T06:13:01","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T06:13:01","slug":"the-cane-of-wealth-novel-chapter-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/the-cane-of-wealth-novel-chapter-2\/","title":{"rendered":"THE CANE OF WEALTH Novel Chapter 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
VOLUME 2<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
MANDLA<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
On a typical Tuesday morning, he knew he\u2019d find Mbatha with barely a customer in sight. As he walks into Mbatha\u2019s tavern he is flanked by Boli his body guard and driver, and Funani the assistant. Two of his other detail stand guard at the gate. Funani is his wing man, the knowledge behind Mandla the man and therefore can\u2019t be left behind.<\/div>\n
As he had thought, Mbatha is in company of his wife and few of the lousy drunkard sharing a bottle of black label by the corner. His aura announces him before he makes appearance. Maybe it\u2019s the cane in his hand. There is something about the sound that cane of his makes as it comes in contact with foreign grounds. It makes a commanding sounds that consumes the room and brings it to a standstill with each stamp sound he makes as he walks.<\/div>\n
By the time he makes face, the room is clouded by heaviness and some of the drunkards become sober while some swallow nothingness down their throats.<\/div>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s his wife, her name is Joyce\u201d Funani with an ipad clutched under his arms whisper to his boss. The boy is honestly the brains behind Mandla the notorious gangster. Funani\u2019s job is to know who is who and what Mandla needs to know. And so far the poor guy is doing an impeccable job.<\/div>\n
Funani keeps his post by his boss as they near the table where Mbatha and Joyce stands. He must always be present but not too far or too close.<\/div>\n
\u201cShandu, Joyce\u201d Mandla acknowledges the two who are just as stoned as their customers,<\/div>\n
\u201cMhmm\u2026\u2026.Mntungwa\u201d Mbatha offers his sweaty hand for a shake but Mandla just stares at the hand until he drops it,<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat\u2026what can I do for you Mntungwa?\u201d Mbatha clears his throat,<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat can you do for me?\u201d Mandla chuckles,<\/div>\n
\u201cLook at my shoes. What am I wearing?\u201d Mbatha and Joyce both drop their eyes to his feet. He is wearing some terrible brown formal shoes with all kinds of details on them,<\/div>\n
\u201cEhh you\u2019re wearing\u2026..Ehhh\u2026.\u201d Mbatha doesn\u2019t know what kind of shoes that is,<\/div>\n
\u201cThis is Louis Vuitton, LV! You think I\u2019d put on my extremely expensive shoes that can buy this Drink-o-Pop spaza shop of yours for you to ask me what you can do for me? Mbatha what the hell am I doing in your drink-o-pop spaza?\u201d he asks, his tone calmer than the sea but the fury in him cannot be missed,<\/div>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re here to collect Mntungwa\u201d Mbatha say,<\/div>\n
A smile finally graces Mandla\u2019s handsome face,<\/div>\n
\u201cNow you\u2019re talking Shandu. And why am I the one collecting when I have Ndaba and Tsotetsi whom you\u2019re supposed to be making payment to?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBecause I\u2019m two months behind with the payment\u201d Mbatha,<\/div>\n
\u201cHaaa! Fantastic news. I like it when people are up to speed. Now give me a bottle of one of your most expensive drink-o-pops so we can talk business\u201d he finally grabs a chair and sits,<\/div>\n
Mbatha looks at Joyce to open their expensive bottle but Mandla stops her before she leaves,<\/div>\n
\u201cSit down Joyce. Get one of your waitresses to open the bottle for me\u201d<\/div>\n
Joyce nods to their waitress who wasn\u2019t far from the scene to do as Mandla demands.<\/div>\n
As the three gather around a round table, Mbatha and Joyce share nervous glances. They wait for Mandla to have a glass of his Johnnie walker blue label scotch on two rocks.<\/div>\n
\u201cAt least you have some real alcohol in this drink-o-pop establishment\u201d he puts the glass down on the table after enjoying his liquor.<\/div>\n
\u201cNow business. Do you have my money Shandu?\u201d he leans across the table and stare at the two opposite to him,<\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll have everything by month end\u201d Mbatha say,<\/div>\n
\u201cThat doesn\u2019t work for me. I want something or rather someone today and you\u2019re going to give her to me. Whether you like it or not\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSomeone? What are you talking about Mandla?\u201d Mbatha frowns,<\/div>\n
\u201cWell, I hear you have a very beautiful daughter and I have a handsome handicap son who sees in darkness so\u2026..\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSO WHAT?\u201d Mbatha barks,<\/div>\n
\u201cEasy cat, don\u2019t be barking at a lion unless you want to burn alive\u201d<\/div>\n
Mbatha heaves a sigh to calm down,<\/div>\n
\u201cGood boy. As I was saying, Ntwenhle will pay your debt by marrying my son\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cGET THE HELL OUT OF HERE, YOU\u2019RE NOT\u2026\u2026\u2026.\u201d Mandla takes out his gun and puts it on the table. And immediately Mbatha scream turn into silent screams,<\/div>\n
\u201cYour daughter is marrying my son and that\u2019s final. Do you have any objections Shandu?\u201d he picks his gun and kisses it,<\/div>\n
Mbatha shakes his head no,<\/div>\n
\u201cGood. Oh, and I\u2019m taking her with today\u201d Mandla adds,<\/div>\n
\u201cMandla please. You can have anything, even this tavern I can give it to you for free but please leave my daughter out of our business\u201d Mbatha begs,<\/div>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know the meaning of please but I\u2019ll try and find out what it means but until then, Ntwenhle is coming with me today. Are you going to get the child, woman?!\u201d he glares at Joyce,<\/div>\n
\u201cYou can take me. Ntwe is just a young lady who is trying to figure life\u201d Joyce offers and the two old men glare at her,<\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just trying to save Ntwe here\u201d she shrugs at her husband. Deep down she knows it\u2019s not just to save Ntwenhle,<\/div>\n
\u201cSchool your bean mfazi I don\u2019t want your strawberry flavoured face anywhere near my son. Are you getting the child or should I get her myself!\u201d Mandla drawls,<\/div>\n
With a sigh Joyce stands up to get Ntwenhle.<\/div>\n
\u201cJoy?\u201d Mbatha calls her before she exits the room,<\/div>\n
When she turns he say \u201cPlease make it look convincing. Don\u2019t tell her the real truth. I\u2019m getting my daughter back by month end\u201d he glares at Mandla as he say the last part,<\/div>\n
\u201cHopefully my Zen would have knocked her up by then\u201d Mandla pours himself another drink.<\/div>\n
–<\/div>\n
–<\/div>\n
NTWENHLE<\/div>\n
My father can\u2019t even look at me and I don\u2019t blame him. I have disappointed him a great deal. I wonder if Bra Mindlos told them the truth. I know this marriage proposal is fake, this man just wants me to pay his money and he is probably just going to sleep with me and get it over with.<\/div>\n
\u201cSo this is the lovely Ntwenhle!\u201d the smirk on Bra Mindlos\u2019 face as I stand before them with my bag clutched tight under my arm\u2026\u2026.<\/div>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not pregnant, are you?\u201d he asks and I pop my eyes. The pig is rude! Really rude! You don\u2019t comment on a woman\u2019s belly and worse part assume she is pregnant,<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat? I pressed a button?\u201d he laughs. I guess my face betrayed me.<\/div>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t worry. I\u2019ll have you checked out and if you\u2019re pregnant I\u2019ll have that thing washed and flushed under the drain. The only seed that should geminate in that big stomach should be a Mabaso seed!\u201d and the arrogant ass8hole stands up, when he grabs his cane I feel a shiver run down my spine. That cane\u2026\u2026\u2026.I don\u2019t know but something about it makes me feel unease.<\/div>\n
The only reason I\u2019m this quiet and letting him run his mouth is because I\u2019m scared of him and I\u2019m still trying to figure out why I feel so uncomfortable with a simple cane.<\/div>\n
\u201cNice doing business with you Shandu\u201d he offers my father a hand but my poor dad just looks at his hand,<\/div>\n
\u201cSuit yourself. You have a second to say goodbye to kaMabaso here\u201d he collects his gun and throw couple of notes on the table \u201cFor the scotch\u201d<\/div>\n
Aunty Joy pulls me in a hug as my father stands \u201cDon\u2019t be scared. Being a Mabaso wife is every woman\u2019s dream in this place\u201d she whispers in my ear and I frown at her as she sets me free. I\u2019m not sure about a Mabaso wife being every woman\u2019s dream but the way she is eyeing Bra Mindlos, she is even showing her cold tooth and her retired used to be slay queen of the 80s skills.<\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry my child, I\u2019m going to get you month end\u201d my father whispers that in my ear as he hugs me and I frown. Why is he speaking like someone who got me in this trouble while I got myself in trouble?<\/div>\n
\u201cTime is up, let\u2019s go Makoti\u201d Bra Mindlos pulls me with my arm. I don\u2019t fight him as he literally drags me out. I have made peace with my fate. The only thing I\u2019m grateful for is that he didn\u2019t hurt my parents.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
The two guards who were standing outside jump into the range rover that was parked outside while bra Mindlos, the young guy and the other one I assume is his driver jump into the one that was parked inside the yard.<\/div>\n
The drive is silent for a while. Bra Mindlos is attending his phone and smiling to it. We are both seated on the back seat but I\u2019m literally glued to my side of the door. The space between us is big enough to fit two people in.<\/div>\n
My eyes are trained on the cane between his legs. It\u2019s just a cane but I feel a sense of pull to it and the same time I\u2019m not comfortable with it.<\/div>\n
I wonder what he is going to do to me. Stealing Ndaba\u2019s money was the worst mistake of my life.<\/div>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re staring\u201d he say without lifting his eyes from his phone.<\/div>\n
I swallow and look out of the window but soon my eyes are on him again. He is not a sexy man, that I won\u2019t give him. He looks like a typical minister. Tall, money skin tone, thick and that belly of his scares the shit out of me. I can already imagen his jojo pressed on mine\u2026.lord it\u2019s going to be a disaster! Someone is going to suffocate someone. Hopefully I\u2019ll be on top.<\/div>\n
I think my nerves only kick in as realisation hits me that bra Mindlos might have me gang banged by his colleagues. I wouldn\u2019t put that past him. He is known for all kinds of things and\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/div>\n
\u201cHow old are you?\u201d his question catches me off guard.<\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019m\u2026..I\u2019m 24 years old\u201d I stutter,<\/div>\n
\u201cTen years difference, not bad\u201d again he is not even looking at me but his phone. And what does he mean 10 years difference because he looks like he is pushing his 50s or something,<\/div>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not on any contraceptives, are you?\u201d again he is typing away on his phone without even sparing me a look,<\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2026.I\u2019m on pills\u201d I stutter,<\/div>\n
\u201cI can work around that. Funani call Doc and tell him to come see her. She needs to have her tested and give her something to do away with the pills fast\u201d I learn that the young guy on the front is Funani. What baffles me is why this man wants me off my pills. He wants to impregnate me? But why?<\/div>\n
As Funani makes a call to a doctor we drive through the Mabaso mansion that I know very well.<\/div>\n
I have passed here too many times. The house stands out in Ivory Park. It doesn\u2019t belong here but hey\u2026\u2026. Two guards open the huge double gate for us and immediately as the car drives in the yard, I feel a shift that pulls and draws something in me I almost feel like I\u2019m floating.<\/div>\n
I close my eyes and take in a deep breath. When I open my eyes, I know this is the beginning of something I can\u2019t put into words for now.<\/div>\n
For the first time my heart beats out my chest and I want to scream. My eyes grow blurry with tears as we near the huge door on the front. I don\u2019t know what is happing to me but I have never felt so scared in my life.<\/div>\n
\u201cHaibo! Drama queen? You\u2019re only crying now when you have been chilled all along?\u201d Bra Mindlos asks as the car comes to a halt.<\/div>\n
I\u2019m suddenly shaky and nervous, and this is the first time this happens to me. I have been in situations that were supposed to shake me before but I never did. For the first time in my entire life, I\u2019m scared and I know it\u2019s not because I\u2019m walking into the lion\u2019s den. I\u2019m scared because my spirit feels a sense of belonging that I have never felt before. I\u2019m scared because my heart knows, my heart feels the pull and the grounding. Somewhere, somehow, I was meant to cross paths with the Mabasos. I feel it.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cWelcome home Makoti. If you give me what I want, this will be your house\u201d bra Mindlos say as he opens the door for me.<\/div>\n
Again, that cane of his meets the floors in the house and I swear it makes a different sound from the outside grounds.<\/div>\n
My legs suddenly feels heavy but I drag myself in. I\u2019m welcomed by beauty I have never imagined for myself but I\u2019m too drained to take everything in.<\/div>\n
We walk into an enormous dining hall that would take my entire house but I grow heavy and weary with each sound his cane makes as it meets the sparkling floors in the house. I\u2019m suddenly dizzy but I walk beside the man.<\/div>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t you want all of this to be yours?\u201d his voice now sounds so far yet so close,<\/div>\n
\u201cHAI\u2026EY\u2026.NTWENHLE!\u201d I don\u2019t know who or what catches me but those are the last words I hear before my body gives into darkness. My eyes closes looking at that cane\u2026..that cane.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
PLEASE LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE AND INVITE FRIENDS \"\ud83d\ude18\"<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
200+ Comments<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VOLUME 2 MANDLA On a typical Tuesday morning, he knew he\u2019d find Mbatha with barely a customer in sight. As […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-cane-of-wealth-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":624,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610\/revisions\/624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}