When my brother got the opportunity to travel abroad, he tried to sell his car to raise money. He did everything he could for a month, but no one bought the car. He needed the money urgently, so he took out a loan and promised to pay it back when he got abroad.

But before he finally left, he wrote a “For Sale” sign on the car and brought it to me to sell. My husband was present when my brother said this and left the key with me.

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When my brother left, I started using the car with the “For Sale” sign on it. My husband told me I wasn’t going to places where people would see the car and buy it, so he started taking the car around after I returned from work.

Soon, he was the one driving the car to work, telling me his office was in the middle of the city, where buyers could see. A month later, no one had even called to ask about the price of the car.

My brother would call and ask about the car and how things were going. I would tell him I was still trying to sell it, but in reality, my husband had taken over the car and was using it as his personal vehicle. When he had used the car for over four months without finding a buyer, I asked him to give it back so I could also try selling it.

He asked how I was going to do it, and I told him I would take it to work and back just like I had been doing before. He said no and insisted that no one would buy it from where I worked. I took the keys, and the next morning I drove the car to work. This became an issue. He gave me the silent treatment and accused me of not respecting him because of a car.

I didn’t mind him until he came up with a different suggestion. He said he would drop me off at work, continue to his own workplace, and then close early in the evening to pick me up. I agreed.

One day, he came to pick me up, and I realized the “For Sale” sign was gone.

I asked, “What happened to the For Sale sign?”

He fumbled for several minutes before opening the glove compartment and taking the sign out from there. It hit me immediately. It was the reason no one was buying the car. He had been driving it around town without the “For Sale” sign.

Again, I collected the keys from him and decided to use the car myself.

A week or so later, he told me he wanted to buy the car and wanted to speak to my brother about it. I didn’t believe him. I knew his finances weren’t strong enough to buy the car, but somehow he was able to convince my brother to sell it to him.

He said he was going to make a GHC45,000 down payment and spread the rest of the payment over a year. That meant he was supposed to pay GHC12,000 every month until the balance was cleared.

I knew he couldn’t do it, but somehow my brother trusted him and asked me to give him the car.

My husband ended up giving me GHC35,000 instead of the GHC45,000 he had promised my brother. I sent the money to the man my brother owed.

Every month, my brother would call and ask about the money. Unknown to me, he had also promised the man he owed that he would make monthly payments, so every month the man called him asking for money. My brother was shy about confronting my husband, so he couldn’t call him directly. Instead, he called me and put pressure on me.

One night, I asked my husband when he was going to make another payment.

“It’s been five months since the last payment, and you haven’t even bothered to make another one. What’s happening?”

He told me he was expecting one of his investments to mature and that once it matured, he could even pay all the money at once.

If I asked my husband for housekeeping money, he would tell me, “You expect me to pay what I owe your brother, but you’re always asking me for money for other things.”

If we ran out of electricity and I asked him for money, he would complain that he didn’t have any because he was saving to pay my brother.

One day, we had a serious fight about it. I called him a liar and even asked him to return the car. He said, “Then give me what I paid. If you give it to me today, I’ll give you the keys.”

I spoke to a friend of mine who said he could sell the car. He asked for the particulars and photos of the car. I secretly took the photos and sent them to him. He advertised it online for me.

A few weeks later, he said he had found a buyer and asked me to bring the car the next day. It was a Saturday. I woke up early and drove the car to my friend. I was with him negotiating with the buyer when my husband called.

He said, “You see how you’ll take the car without asking permission? It’s the same way I’ll deal with you when you come asking for money.”

We sat in the car while the buyer took it for a test drive. Right after that, he asked for my bank account details to transfer the money and asked when we could do the change of ownership. When I received the notification, I gave my friend his commission, and went back home.

When my husband saw me, he screamed, “Where’s my car?”

I responded, “I’ve sold it. That’s why I took it out.”

He laughed and then frowned.

“What do you mean you’ve sold it? Is the car yours?”

I responded, “Don’t worry. I will send your money very soon.”

He had used the car for almost a year, so I gave him GHC2,500 and told him that his use of the car had affected its value, so that was all he would get.

He called my brother to ask what was going on. My brother told him he had asked me to sell the car and send him the money. My husband said, “Then she didn’t give me all my money. If I had invested it, don’t you think I would have earned interest?”

He came to tell me the same thing, and I told him that if he had paid the money the way he promised, we would have also earned interest on it, so we should both bear our losses in good faith.

I knew what I was doing would bring problems into my marriage, but it was the best thing to do for my brother, who needed his money urgently, and for my husband, who couldn’t pay what he owed.

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He hasn’t spoken to me for months now because of that. That was expected. He hasn’t given housekeeping money since he stopped talking to me. That was also expected. He doesn’t do anything around the house. I’m not surprised.

I do my best for myself and the kids and leave him out of my plans. Whenever he decides to come around, he will meet me and the kids in the corner waiting for him.

Until then, he can burn the sea, I don’t care. As far as I’m concerned, I did what was best for my brother, who needed his money urgently, and for my husband, who couldn’t pay what he owed.

—Benewaa

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