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There was a glimmer on the carpet in the ensuite as I entered. A reflection of light from the sun, just starting to make its way through the blinds. It didn’t blind, it just attracted my attention. I looked down to see what was there. I was barefoot and didn’t want to step on glass or anything. Caroline hadn’t mentioned that she had dropped anything in the bathroom, but who knew?

I didn’t see it at first, as without the light shining on it, it was almost the same color as the carpet, but finally I found it. A tiny circle of foil had fallen on the floor, and had reflected the light into my eyes as I had come into the bathroom. I picked it up.

It was the backing of a strip of pills, the little circle of foil that gets pressed out when you pop a pill out of the strip. Most times it stays attached to the strip, but occasionally, as in this case, it separates and falls to the floor.

I examined it. On one side it was blank, but on the other side it had a marking. ‘Tue’

Since it was Wednesday, I presumed that had meant Tuesday, yesterday’s pill. That meant that the pills had to be taken daily. I knew I wasn’t taking any medication, I was thirty-five and fit as a flea, and so was my wife, Caroline. We had both recently undergone our yearly medicals and were both pronounced fit and healthy so why was there a pill cover in my bathroom.

I knew there were a number of pills that you had to take daily, but the one that sprang immediately to mind, was the contraceptive pill. Caroline was not on the contraceptive pill, or at least I thought she wasn’t, since I had had a vasectomy two years ago following the birth of our second, and last child. She had had no trouble with cramps or period pain, being one of the lucky women that sailed through her monthly with no trouble whatsoever. So why the pills?

I had to admit that my first thought was that she might have some kind of illness that she didn’t want to tell me about. My thoughts went to very dark places for a few minutes, but once again I remembered the physicals, and the fact we had shown each other the reports. We were both clear.

If the little circle of foil was in here, then it was likely that the tablets were in here too. I closed and locked the door, Caroline was still in bed, and I began to search.

It took me some time to find them, but I did eventually. They were buried at the bottom of a box of tampons, in an aspirin box. When I pulled the strip of pills out, I recognised them immediately as the ones she used to take before I had my ‘snip’ and even before that, between our kids while we were not trying.

Why was she back on the pill? I had only one answer available to that question, she was having sex with someone who could possibly make her pregnant. She was cheating on me.

Caroline and I had been together for nine years. I had just finished university, training as an engineer, and she worked as a PA. We had met in a bar, and although we hadn’t exactly hit it off immediately there had been enough of an interest for her to accept my invitation to dinner.

Caroline was tall, just about an inch short of my five feet ten. She was a former athlete, and maintained an athletic physique, with a lean frame and a small chest. Her ass, by far my favourite part of her, was to die for.

We had ‘courted’ for about a year, and then we got married when I was twenty-six. Our two children were five and two, and I had had the operation to prevent any further accidents. Two was our limit, we had the perfect set James came first and then Sonia later on. I had the perfect family – or so I thought.

Caroline had returned to work, having taken maternity leave for each of the children, loth to leave a job she loved. We had an au-pair, who came in to look after the children during the day, and then went home at night. She was costing almost as much as Caroline was earning, but Caroline didn’t care about that. She just wanted to be out of the house and working at the job she loved. I worked with a couple of buddies, having set up an engineering firm between us. We would never be rich, but we were all very comfortable.

I tidied the bathroom, put her pills back where I had found them and decided I needed to think. There was no point in confronting her now. I needed a plan, I needed proof. What would happen after that? I had no idea. Let’s get all the facts first and then see where that leads us.

I went to work as usual and considered my options. Firstly, I wanted to know who, and when. Also, how long. Was it someone at work, heaven forbid the cliché, her boss? Is it the person she has been PA’ing for since we met? That led me to the next horrible question. Were the kids even mine?

All this time, I had not allowed emotion to get involved. I knew it would come, that I would feel the loss, the betrayal, the hurt and anger. First though, I needed to know if it was real. I was working a problem and I didn’t yet have enough facts to draw any kinds of conclusion.

I hit the internet.

First job, I needed some DNA testing kits. Testing the children would be - ahem – childs play. I often put them to bed before Caroline got home so that could be done easily. I also ordered some surveillance equipment. A couple of small voice recorders that I could secrete in her car and her bag, and a few tiny cameras that I would hide around the house. I doubted she was doing it there, given the au-paire and the fact she was rarely there when I wasn’t, at least I didn’t think she was.

I needed access to her phone. I knew of a cloning tool that I could basically get a copy of her phone, receive all her messages and emails, and even listen in on her calls. I needed to buy another phone for that purpose.

It took a few days for everything to arrive. During that time, I watched carefully. Caroline did nothing out of the ordinary. Our sex life was pretty standard, once or twice a week, usually at the weekend when we were both lay in bed late. I never smelled anything suspect on her nor did she ever dive into the shower as soon as she got home. Nothing had changed. So, either she wasn’t having an affair, or she was exceptionally careful, or she had been having an affair for so long that it had become second nature.

Friday morning the packages arrived. I had had them sent to my office, so there would be no questions. I had the DNA kits, the voice recorders, several cameras and the mobile phone and cloning kit. I was ready to go.

That afternoon, I left the office early. When I got home the au-pair was just feeding the kids their dinner, prior to getting them ready for bed. I left her to that task while I went and hid the cameras. One in the bathroom, one in the living room, and one in the bedroom with a good view of the bed.

I heard the children splashing in the bath and went to help get them ready for bed. I took Sonia, and left the au-pair with James. I swabbed Sonia’s cheek and pocketed the swab. Then I laid her down and read to her until she dozed off.

James was still awake when I looked in, the au-pair still reading to him. I offered to take over and let her go home, and she gratefully accepted. His swab took no time at all, and less than twenty minutes later he too was fast asleep.

I packaged the swabs up, along with a swab taken from my own cheek, and placed them in the mailbox. The postman would take them in the morning. The service promised that the results would be available online within 48 business hours. So, Wednesday latest.

Caroline came home exactly on time, and we went through our usual routine. She told me about her day, and I told her about mine, neither really listening to the other. We ate dinner and then she went for a shower.

I took that opportunity to plant the recorders in her car and bag and clone her cell phone. I checked the clone to see if there were any incriminating texts or emails, but there were none. Either she was extremely careful, or she was not cheating. I couldn’t make my mind up.

The weekend passed as it usually did. We had sex on both mornings, before the kids woke. It had become almost a ritual, almost even a chore. I went down on her, until she came, then we fucked until I came. If we managed it all the way to the ‘money shot’ before one or other of the kids woke up – we counted that a win. It was about a fifty percent hit rate. Since she always went first, she nearly always won.

She had no calls or texts over the weekend, and since we spent all our time together, I had no opportunity to see if she was taking the tablets, although I did check the strip, and the relevant days were going missing. Since there was only her and I in the house over the weekend, and I wasn’t taking them, it was a fair conclusion that she was.

Monday, I told her I would be working from home. She went off to the office, and I took the opportunity to take out the flash drive from all the camera’s and check them. The bathroom Camera confirmed that she was, indeed, taking the tablets, but the real surprise was on the bedroom camera.

On Saturday evening, while I was cooking dinner, she had gone for a shower. I saw her in the bedroom using a phone to text someone. There had been nothing on the phone I cloned, so she must have a second phone. It certainly hadn’t been in her bag, so where was it?

I watched what she did with it when she finished texting. She went over to the aircon duct and releasing the catch, opened it, stashing the phone inside. Immediately I went and checked the duct and found that there was no phone there. She must hide it there when she is at home. But take it with her when she leaves. I needed access to that phone.

That was the first piece of concrete evidence that she was up to something, although I still didn’t know what. Indications were that she was cheating, but it was not certain. I watched the footage of her getting dressed that morning and saw her remove the phone from the aircon unit and slip it into her bag, before leaving for the day. I needed that phone.

That night when she came home, I watched her carefully. She carelessly dropped her bag in the hallway and continued with her usual night-time routine. After dinner she went for a shower and I looked in her bag. The phone was not there. She must have taken it with her, and hidden it in the aircon unit when she went up. What she didn’t realise, or didn’t care, was that the other side of that vent, opened into Sonia’s room.

Quietly, listening for the shower, I crept into my daughter’s bedroom and opened the vent from her side. There was the phone. I grabbed it and took it to my office, cloning it to the new phone in a matter of a couple of minutes. I returned it and had just about closed the vent when I heard my wife come out of the shower. I went and sat by Sonia’s bed and was stroking her hair when my wife came in.

“Something the matter?” she asked quietly. I shook my head.

“I like to come and sit with one or other of them from time to time,” I whispered. “Just to remind myself how lucky I am to have two such wonderful kids.”

She smiled. “You old softie,” she said. “Come on, let’s go before you wake her.”

I didn’t get to look at the clone of the phone, until the next day. That was when my world collapsed.

The sound of the intercom from my secretary failed to penetrate as I sat in my office chair staring at the cloned phone, tears streaming down my face. Eventually she must have gotten tired of trying and she knocked briefly before entering my office. She poked her head around the door and saw me.

Michelle, my secretary was a no-nonsense woman who dressed far older than she was. I would put her at somewhere between thirty and forty, she was slim with red hair and green eyes. She always dressed conservatively in clothes that wouldn’t have been out of place on someone much older. Our relationship had always been one hundred percent professional. I had never even so much as raised an eyebrow in her direction, although I had seen the result when someone did. It wasn’t pretty. I had had to have words with one of my business partners, who was known as a bit of an office lothario. He had been flirting with her, since he couldn’t stand the thought of a woman that wouldn’t fall for his charms. She had told me in no uncertain terms that if he didn’t quit, she would, and would sue the company not only for constructive dismissal but sexual harassment. She told me that the only reason she hadn’t already done so, was that I had always treated her with respect and had never done anything I shouldn’t.

My business partner was incensed and wanted to sack her immediately. He gave us an ultimatum. Either she went - or he did. And that was how I ended up owning sixty percent of the company instead of the forty percent I had started with. I was one partner down.

On seeing me, Michelle immediately withdrew, obviously to deal with whatever it was she had been trying to call me about. I heard voices in my outer office, and then it went quiet. Michelle returned to my office, closed and locked the door. Then she came over, and pulling the chair from around the other side of my desk, sat facing me a couple of feet away.

She pulled some tissues out of that place where women always seem to have a supply, and handed them to me. I took them blindly and began to wipe at my eyes.

“Tell me.” Was all she said.

I showed her the phone.

There were text messages to and from Caroline. The other party wasn’t identified, no names were used, but they told a tale of clandestine meetings, and sex that seemed to have been going on forever. Whoever it was knew her well, spoke about things that only I should have known about, the little mole on the inside of her thigh, the cute little squeak she made when she came, there were other details that only a lover would know and not just a casual lover. A long-term lover. I was never mentioned in any of the texts, it was as if I didn’t exist. There was no ‘is he out of the way?’ or ‘he said or did this or that.’ I was just absent. Not even an afterthought.

“Do you know who?” she asked still all business. I shook my head.

“How did you find out?” she queried. I told her about finding the little silver tab on the bathroom floor, then the pills. The tale just poured out. All the time I spoke she just sat and looked at me. I realised after a while that she was holding my hand. That was the first time, I thought, that we had ever actually touched.

“You need more information,” she said. “The DNA for the children will be back on Wednesday. Can you hold it together until then?”

“I don’t know,” I said. She nodded.

“Our manufacturers in Portland need to see you urgently,” she said. “I have you booked on the next flight. You’ll be back on Thursday.”

“I can’t think about that just now,” I said.

“That’s what you are going to tell Caroline,” she said.

She took my phone and tapped out a text message and sent it to Caroline.

_There’s been a mess up in Portland, have to go and sort it out. Be back Thursday – Love you.

There was an almost instant reply.

¬_Ok – let me know you get there ok, see you when you get back.

She looked at the phone for a second her lip curling, then gave me back my phone and took out her own.

“Lorraine,” she said “Michelle. Yes thanks. You free this afternoon anytime? Perfect. See you then.”

“Go get yourself cleaned up,” she said to me all business.

The tone of voice and the fact I was almost trained by her to do as she told me, in the office, meant I did exactly that. It was actually good not to have to think. To defer decisions and plans to someone else.

When I came out of the bathroom, she was holding my jacket.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“You have an appointment with an old friend of mine,” she said.

I just went along.

Lorraine, it turned out, was Michelle’s best friend, and also a divorce lawyer. She had apparently handled Michelle’s divorce when she had found her husband dallying with one of his co-workers.

Michelle explained the situation to Lorraine while I looked on, almost in a fugue state. It wasn’t happening to me. Lorraine had obviously seen this many times in her career. Once she had as many of the facts as we had, she brought her attention to me.

“Gary,” she said. That wasn’t me, she was talking to someone else. I felt a sting in my cheek. Michelle had slapped me. I was shocked into wakefulness. I saw shock and amusement in Lorraine’s eyes, but it faded quickly when she looked at me.

“Gary?” she asked. I nodded.

“Have you any idea what you want to do about this?”

My engineers brain woke up at that. Plans – that was what it was good for.

“Kill them both,” I said.

I had expected shocked exclamations from Michelle at least but surprisingly she actually grinned.

“Okay,” said Lorraine. “I understand that. But sadly, that is not an option. You see it happens to be against the law. However, we do have some legal options. Shall we run through those?”

“Before I begin,” she said. “I am just laying out your options. I am not advocating for any, just yet. That may come later. Your first option is to do nothing. She doesn’t know you know, from what I understand you seemed to have a perfectly happy life before and that doesn’t have to change. Keep on keeping on – play ignorant.

“Second, amicable divorce. File for irreconcilable differences, split your company, house, 401k. She earns less than you so you will probably have to pay support for her for a few years at least, and for the children until they graduate high school.

“Third – go nuclear. File for adultery. If the kids are not yours, file for false completion of birth certificate. Go after whoever the other party is sue for alienation of affection if he is the father sue to get all the money you spent on the kids back, if it’s a co-worker sue for non-enforcement of fraternization policy. Pretty much every company has one these days. If the other party is married, give their partner all the information about the affair. If they knew we might have a case against them for something too – if they didn’t then maybe I can represent them in their divorce. Go public, tell everyone, their friends, family co-workers. If she is a member of any societies or church groups tell them too. Take her down as hard as you can. We need to protect your assets, sell your share of the company to an offshore trust re-mortgage the house, take all the equity you can out of it, take the cash along with the money you got from the company, cash out your 401k and have a blow out in Vegas.”

My mind was whirring. I saw instantly what she was saying. Option one was not an option. I was nobody’s willing cuckold. I had been an unwilling, unknowing one for too long. Option two? Not a chance. I had spent too much time building the business and building us the lifestyle we had. She could forget taking half of everything I had, and then continue to let me support her while she was fucking someone else.

“Option three,” I said. “Nuclear.”

Lorraine smiled. “Okay. I’ll start to draw up some paperwork. I would suggest that we start some covert surveillance on your wife and see if we can find out who and when and where. We really need more evidence. Can I keep that phone? You seeing it does you no good.”

I nodded and handed her the phone.

Michelle and I left Lorraine’s office, and she took me to a small, family run hotel. She got me booked in.

“Go take a shower and get some room service,” she said. She had completely taken charge.

I’ll be back with some things for you later.

I acted mechanically. My whole world was falling apart, and I was sat in a hotel room and ordering room service as if I was on a jaunt. It was the only way I could cope with the stress of what was going on. Nine years down the toilet. What really hurt was that I had been totally oblivious to it all. How had I not noticed what she was doing?

Who was it, was it the boss that she had run back to after each child? She had told me that she loved the work and the independence but was that the real reason or what it simply that she couldn’t be away from her lover for so long. I eyed the minibar speculatively and was just about to succumb when Michelle entered the room.

“Don’t even think about it,” she said. “I need you thinking not drowning your sorrows. You need to plan, and you cannot do that if you are looking at the world through the bottom of a bottle.

“Plan?” I asked, morosely. “I tried that. I had a plan, and it was a good one. I had a loving wife and two gorgeous kids, and now look where I am. I have a slut for a wife and don’t even know if the two kids even belong to me. I am the world’s biggest cuckold, my entire life has fallen apart and you want me to plan?”

She looked at me for a few moments. I waited for her to say something, maybe to commiserate with me, maybe even give me a hug. Then she looked at her watch.

“Okay,” she said, all business. “Pity party is over. How many times when we were building the company did you hit a roadblock, did your plans fail?”

“What’s that got to do with…”

“How many?” she insisted.

“I don’t know,” I said. “A whole bunch. There was a time when the patent office ‘lost’ the application for the patent on the inversi-thread, and we got beaten to that deal by Headingly’s. There was a time when the bank tried to foreclose on us early because they were being brought under pressure. There was the time…”

“Okay,” she said. “At what point in all those times did you sit down, and put your head in your hands and give up?”

“That was different,” I said.

“Why?” she asked. “What was so different about those times?”

“I had something to fight for then,” I said. “I had a family who was depending on me. I had…”

“You have a family now,” she said, “who are equally dependant on you. And it’s much bigger than the family you have at home. There are one hundred and forty one people, and their families depending on you to pull through this. None of your partners are capable of keeping the company afloat. You are all engineers, but of the three of you, you are the only businessman. If you go down the company goes down.

“You think that that bitch gives a flying fuck about the families dependant on your company? If she gets half, she will sell it off to the highest bidder, and you will lose control of the business. You know who will buy, and Headingly’s will then own everything you have worked for. Is that what you want?”

I stared at her. She was right. I had worked for too long and too hard to let it all go to whoever gave that whore of a wife of mine the most money. I needed to get everything in order, so I could secure mine and my ‘family’s’ future. If the kids were mine then I would make sure that they were taken care of, but as for Caroline, well she had made her own bed, and she could fuck whoever she felt like in it. I could grieve for that particular relationship once I was certain everything else was in order.

My fug lifted, and powered by anger and determination, I sat down with Michelle and began to make plans. I was going to secure the future of the company and look after the only family I had left.

It was at the point that I made that decision, that everything clicked into place. The hurt was gone, the indecision was gone. I didn’t have any doubts. Michelle saw the change in my expression, and nodded in satisfaction.

“That’s the Gary I need now,” she said. “The one who knows how to plan for the future.”

We spent the rest of the evening making plans on how secure the future of the company. Initially I was for selling my shares in the company to my partners, but Michelle nixed that idea. She was of the opinion that I couldn’t trust them to manage the company, nor to leave its management in my hands once they became majority shareholders. They would run it into the ground. I needed to retain control.

In the end we decided that we could set up an offshore trust, to which I would sell the company at market rates. I would then be retained by same trust as CEO at minimum wage. I would be earning next to nothing. Since the trust was offshore, the courts would have no jurisdiction over its records so the owners of the trust would not be known.

I was now a millionaire, on paper at least, or would be once this was all done. I needed to divest myself of all that capital.

I also needed to cash in my 401k and release all the equity in the house. Although we had been together when we bought the house it was in my sole name since Caroline had not been working at the time we bought it, she had been carrying James and the mortgage advisor told us it would be easier to get the finance in my sole name since she wasn’t earning at that time.

I made a list of the things I needed to do, and texted my lawyer, who dealt with the company legal matters, to make an appointment for the next day.

After Michelle left, I had a shower and went to bed, not expecting to sleep much. I passed out pretty much as soon as my head hit the pillow, and didn’t stir until the alarm on my phone woke me the next day.

There was a message on my phone from Caroline.

_You didn’t let me know you arrived. Is everything ok?

_Sorry, was planning until late. Then fell asleep. Everything is coming together now; I should be back Thursday.

_Good. See you then, Love you. xxx

I didn’t respond to that text. I just couldn’t bring myself to even type those words.

Michelle knocked on my door at just after eight. I had taken another shower and was just contemplating going out for breakfast.

“Breakfast,” she said, indicating that I should follow her. We went to a diner down the street and sat in a booth, eating pancakes and bacon with Maple syrup.

Part of me couldn’t understand why I was behaving in such a way. It was as if my world hadn’t just fallen apart, and my heart ripped out. I rationalised that at some point, when the dust settled, it would all come crashing in on me. I wasn’t looking forward to that, but in the meantime, I had work to do.

“Brian Spencer,” Michelle said, naming my lawyer, “called and said he has a slot at ten to see us. We can go to your bank first and cash your 401k and also release the equity in your house before we go there.”

“I see how consolidating my cash is worth doing,” I said, “But there’s still a record of me having it all, wont the court just order me to pay her half?”

“Only if you still have it.” Michelle said with a grin. “That’s where Vegas comes in. Once you have all that equity you go and spend a week in Vegas and blow the lot. All before you file for divorce. That way when you are assessed by the courts – you will be poor. In debt in fact. The bank will foreclose on your house and your salary will barely be enough for you to live on. That is assuming that the kids are not yours. If they are then you simply put all your 401k in trust for them, for their college funds. Caroline will not be able to touch it. She will then technically be earning more than you. She may well be able to afford the house herself, and could even end up having her pay you maintenance. When do you get the results of the DNA?

“The company said the results should be online sometime today,” I said, picking up my phone. I checked the email the company sent me, and there was a link which I clicked on. I watched as the page began to load but then put my phone down. I wasn’t sure I was ready to see the result yet.

“May I?” asked Michelle and I pushed the phone toward her. She picked it up and looked at the screen, scrolling up a couple of times. I watched her face, looking for clues, trying to anticipate what she might say from her expression. She looked up from the phone.

“The results are not ready yet,” she said. “The tracking says they should be in in the next twelve hours.”

I let out a breath that I hadn’t even known I was holding.

“Come on,” she said getting up. “The bank should be open now.”

Releasing the equity on the house, and cashing in my 401k took a remarkably short time. I closed out all of our savings accounts, including the kids’ college funds, and transferred the money into an account I set up in my sole name. The only account I left alone was the joint account that we used on a daily basis. There was less than ten thousand dollars in that account in any case.

My lawyer stuck a huge oar in our plans, but if it’s possible to do so in a good way – he did.

“You’re forgetting one thing,” he said when we outlined our plan to him. “You have a pre-nup.”

“I do?” I asked surprised. I had no idea.

“It was a condition of the partnership agreement when you started out,” he reminded me. “All partners had to have a pre-nup that would protect the company should any relationships break down. It only covers the company, but she has no claim at all on any company assets. For the purposes of the divorce, you are an employee of the company, and therefore at best she can claim against your salary and 401k. That’s all.

“What I would suggest,” he said, “and I mean no disrespect to your divorce attorney’s plan, is that you use all the capital you released from the house and your 401k and invest in the company. Buy out one of your partners. I know that Robert has been hinting at wanting to cash in. You don’t have enough to do it, but you could take a loan out from the company pension fund to make up the difference. The payments will be taken from your salary which will mean that your income will be much less when you are assessed for assets and since everything else will be tied up in the company it’s untouchable. Your credit rating will take a hit when the bank forecloses on your house, and you’ll lose half of whatever is left in your bank, but other than that – she’ll get nothing. We can make your salary less than hers, so she might even end up paying you support.”

“What would I have to live on, ” I asked, “ if all my salary is tied up in loan payments? I will still need to have somewhere to live and to eat. Not to mention I still have two kids…” I paused, “At least I think…”

“Let’s wait to see about the children,” he said. “Have you decided what to do if they aren’t yours. Are you still going to be in their lives?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “It’s too horrible a thought to consider. I’ll have to wait until I know for definite before I make those kinds of decisions.”

“Don’t forget the other parts of your other attorneys plans,” he reminded me. “I’m prepared to bet you will get enough in a settlement against her company that you can pay off the loan and go back to earning your full salary once it’s all done. Not to mention claiming back expenses from the children’s father if they prove not to be yours. Since that will happen after the divorce, it will not be considered as part of the settlement.”

“Can you approach Robert for me and see if he is interested in selling,” I asked. “I’m not sure I’m capable at the moment.”

He nodded. “I’ll call him, and then let you know.” We shook hands and left his office. I was relieved as we walked out of the building. Plans were starting to come together, which always gave me a sense of immense satisfaction. Then I remembered WHY we were making the plans. My relief disappeared and I felt a hollow ache in my chest.

We were sat in the diner having lunch when I dared to look at my phone again. Once again, I couldn’t bring myself to do more than click on the link in the email before I passed the phone to Michelle.

Again, I watched her face waiting for the reaction to tell me whether I was a father or not.

“I’m so sorry Gary,” she said gently. That was the most, un-business like I had ever seen her.

She passed me the phone and I read the results for myself. Neither of the children were biologically mine, although they did have the same father, it just wasn’t me. The double blow of losing both my children was superseded by the rage I felt at the betrayal. Not only had she passed the two children off as mine, but she had also convinced me to have a vasectomy, meaning that I couldn’t now father children of my own.

“Gary!” Michelle snapped, bringing me back to myself. “Now is not the time, nor is this the place. Hold it together. We will get through this, I promise.”

I took several deep breaths pushing my rage down. I’d really wanted to do someone some severe physical damage. I’d even considered hiring a hitman, and having the bastard that had sired the children that were supposed to be mine, killed. Michelle took control once again and led me out of the diner.

“Lorraine called,” she said. “She wants to see you.” We headed for Lorraine’s office.

+++++

Lorraine looked dour when we entered her office.

“I have a preliminary report from the PI,” she said. “Apparently Caroline, didn’t waste any time. A man came to your house last night and stayed the night. We couldn’t see inside.”

“I have cameras set up inside the house,” I said. “I can go swap out the flash drives and we can see what went on.”

“Okay,” she said. “Go do that now, and then we can plan. I am guessing the information on those drives will be important.”

“The au pair will be there,” I said. “I can’t go back. I am supposed to be out of town on business.”

Lorraine checked her phone. “The au pair is at a play centre with Sophie and James,” she said. “I’ll keep an eye on her and let you know if she leaves.”

My house was about thirty minutes’ drive from Lorraine’s office, and Michelle drove fast. We got there without incident, and I swapped out the flash drives. I took a quick look around the house, but saw nothing untoward.

We then returned to Lorraine’s office. We checked out the flash drives. I chose not to watch the one from the bedroom, I didn’t need to see what went on in there. I identified the man concerned as soon as he walked through the door. As I had suspected it was her boss, the man she had been working for all the time we had been together. Bill Wainwright. The thing that nearly undid me was what happened when he arrived at the house. First, he had his own key, and let himself in.

When he arrived James, looked up and saw him.

“DADDY BILL!!” he exclaimed and ran to hug him. That, undid me. I broke and began to sob. I couldn’t watch any more. Lorraine looked on as I broke down. Michelle, for the first time ever, put her arms around me and held me while I cried.

It took some time, but eventually I pulled myself together.

“You want to take some time?” asked Lorraine and I shook my head. The pain had receded somewhat, and the anger was re-establishing its hold.

“What’s next,” I said.

“I already have a copy of the employment terms and conditions at your wife’s firm. There is a non-fraternization policy, so you have a case against the company for breach of that. Since the person your wife is ‘fraternizing’ with is a senior executive of the firm, there is no way that the company can claim that they didn’t know what was going on.

We explained to Lorraine what my company lawyer had told me, and his advice. She broke out in a huge grin. She picked up the telephone and called him, asking him for copies of the pre-nup and he emailed them to her.

“This is just too perfect,” she said reading the pre-nup. “Scrap everything I said before. Your boy’s plan is exactly right. If your partner wants to divest, then buy him out. Sink everything you have into the company and that immediately puts it out of her reach. We can go after her company for non-enforcement, him for alienation of affection, her for false declaration on a birth certificate and both of them for monies spent on the children so far. The deductible on the medical bills for the births alone is a sizeable sum.

“It all depends on whether Robert wants to sell out,” I said. “I guess we have to wait until he comes back with an answer.”

Michelle dropped me back at the Hotel and I went up to the room. I was just about to sit on the bed, when there was a knock on the door. I opened it to find her standing in the hallway.

“Come on,” she said. “You can’t stay here.”

“What?” I asked. “Why?”

“Because you need not to be alone,” she said. “You’ll only brood or attack the mini-bar. I want you where I can keep an eye on you.”

While she had been talking, she had packed up my few things. She grabbed my arm, guiding me out of the room, then checked me out, and took me to her car.

“Where are we going?” I asked, finding I didn’t much care.

“My place,” she said. “I have a spare room you can use.”

“But…” I began. She turned her head and gave me her look. I shut up.

I had never been to Michelle’s house and was surprised to see that it was almost the same size as mine. Ours was over two levels whereas hers only had a single floor. She showed me to a room with an ensuite.

“Shower and change,” she ordered. “Dinner in thirty minutes.”

We ate dinner in silence, I’m guessing it was good, but I didn’t really taste it. My mind was preoccupied with a maelstrom of thoughts that just wouldn’t settle. I was in a rage, but couldn’t find the energy to express it. I was devastated, but couldn’t find the energy to care. All I had energy for right now was to execute my plans. I was on autopilot, my destination set.

I was just contemplating what to do after I had finished eating, when my phone rang. I winced, hoping against hope that it wasn’t Caroline. It wasn’t

“Hi Robert,” I said listlessly.

“Why?” was all he asked. Robert and I had been friends since university. We had trained together ,and it was a project that we had worked on together that had given us the foundation to start the business. I had ended up with more of the company at first because I had more capital to invest than he did.

“Caroline is cheating on me,” I said in a wooden voice. “Has been all along.”

“All along?” he said incredulously. “You mean…”

“Neither of the kids are mine,” I told him. There was silence from the other end of the phone.

“So, you want to tie up all your assets in the company, and hide behind the prenup?” he asked. Either Brian Spencer, our lawyer had explained, or he had a far better understanding of the partnership agreement than I did.

“I want to keep five percent,” he said, “and to stay on the books as a consulting engineer. I’ll discuss the details with HR. The rest is yours.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll get Brian to draw up the paperwork.”

“Gary?” he said after a moment. “I’m really sorry. I know it doesn’t feel like it right now, but it does get easier. I promise. I’ve been almost exactly where you are right now, and it does get easier.”

It was only then that I remembered that he had got divorced about four years previously. I hadn’t known the details, because despite being friends, he was a very private person. I just knew that it hadn’t been pleasant. That was how he’d remembered about the pre-nup. He had used it himself.

¬¬¬¬Next morning Michelle woke me with a cup of coffee.

“Come on,” she said. “We’ve still got a lot to do.”

Our first port of call was to Brian Spencer, the company lawyer. He had already gotten all the paperwork together for my buy out of Robert, and we completed that entire transaction in under thirty minutes. I gave him everything I had taken out of the house, out of my savings and out of my 401k. I also had to take out a loan against the company pension scheme for the balance. Now, on paper at least I was in debt to the tune of about a million dollars. My salary was just about halved, as the payments were deducted before tax.

Then we went to see Lorraine.

I showed her all the paperwork from the business transaction and she was ecstatic.

“This is perfect,” she said. “I’ll file the paperwork today, we should be able to serve on Monday if you want. We’ll serve him, her and the company simultaneously. Where do you want her serving?”

“Wherever it causes her maximum embarrassment,” I said. “If you could do it via billboard at the Superbowl I’d happily pay for that.”

Lorraine laughed. “We’ll serve her at her office,” she said. “Ten a.m. Monday provided the papers clear the courts before then. If I file them today, I should have them back sometime tomorrow afternoon.”

I nodded. “Now what?” I looked at Michelle. She was running things.

“Now,” she said. “We have two more stops before you go back to the office and pretend that you just came back from putting out a fire in Portland. Do you think you will be able to hold it together at home until Monday?”

“I guess I’ll have to,” I said.

“Don’t guess,” she said. “Tell me what you need, to help you hold it together until then.”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Some good news?”

She smiled at me.

“Then let’s go,” She said.

I was surprised when we pulled up outside the medical centre where I had all my physicals, and where I had had my ‘procedure’ that meant that I would now never be a father.

“What are we doing here?” I asked.

“You wanted some good news?” she said. “Come on.”

I followed her into the clinic, and stood back as she went to the reception desk. The receptionist nodded and indicated for us to take a seat. We sat.

Less than two minutes later my Doctor came out and invited me into a consulting room. I looked at Michelle who had made no move to follow.

“Please?” I said, and she nodded and accompanied me.

Doctor Harrington made no comment about my secretary being involved in my consultation. He knew who she was, and that she was not my wife, since he was both mine and Caroline’s doctor. Why I was asking my secretary to come with me, was my business not his.

“Gary,” he said. “I understand that you wanted to ask about reversing your vasectomy.”

My eyes widened. Was that even possible. I looked at Michelle. She had the tiniest of smiles on her face.

“Yes, Is it possible?”

“Certainly,” said Dr. Harrington. “Since your vasectormy was under three years ago, there is something like a ninety five percent success rate for reversal. The operation is a little longer than the original procedure, and involves a general anesthetic, but I’m confident that you will be able to father children again once we are done.”

Once again, my eyes filled with tears. I still had the chance at fatherhood. It would mean surgery but that was a small price to pay if it meant that I could have my own children. I had no idea who I would be having children with, but at least it was possible.

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” said the doctor. “Here is some information about the surgery and the costs. Sadly, it wouldn’t be covered by your insurance. If you want to go ahead, let me know and we can schedule you in for a workup.”

“Thank you, doctor,” Michelle said, getting up, and taking the information from him. “We’ll be in touch.”

I too stood, and allowed her to lead me from the clinic and back toward her car.

“Is that good enough news?” she asked, smiling at me softly.

On an impulse I threw my arms around her and held her to me.

“Thank you,” I said pressing my face into her hair. Then I realised what I had done. I released her instantly and stepped back.

“I am so sorry,” I said. “I…

“Gary,” she said gently. “It’s okay.”

We got into her car.

“One more stop, then back to the office,” she said.

I had been to Bill Wainwrights house a number of times in the years that Caroline had worked for him. He and his wife Stephanie lived in a nice area just outside the city. It was a gated community. They had hosted some company functions here.

“Why…” I asked.

Michelle just got out of the car, and walked to the door of the house. I followed. She didn’t even have to knock, Stephanie had been informed by the guard who had let us into the community that we were on our way over, and she was standing at the door waiting for us.

“Gary,” she said in greeting. “You must be Michelle, his secretary? Was it you that called?”

“It was, and I am,” Michelle answered.

“Come in,” said Stephanie. She led us through to a room that looked like an office, just off the entrance hall. I had never been in this room. Judging by the pictures on the desk and the wall it was Bill’s office but she settled down behind the desk and indicated the chairs opposite. It seemed she thought that this was not a personal call.

“How can I help you?” asked Stephanie looking at me. I sat there staring at her, not able to speak.

“Did you know?” I asked finally.

Stephanie sighed sadly.

“No,” she said. “I suspected, but I never knew. I could never find any proof, nothing I could take to a lawyer, otherwise I would take the fucker for every penny he has.”

“Get in line,” growled Michelle.

“Do you have proof?” Stephanie asked and I nodded.

“Proof that neither of my kids are mine, that they share a father. Video of him and Caroline at my house, of my son calling him da…” I couldn’t finish that sentence. A lump threatened to choke me and once again I was lost.

“Oh, Gary I am so sorry,” she said. “I’ve suspected for years that he and Caroline were… but he was so careful. I had him followed, checked his phone, his emails. I even challenged him about it, but he managed to convince me that I was just being paranoid. The PI I used came up empty.

“I promise you if I had been certain, had any proof, I would have come to you straight away. But I couldn’t destroy what looked like a happy marriage, based on mere suspicion. I needed to be certain, and I never managed to get any evidence.

“What are you going to do.”

I wondered if I should be telling my plans to the wife of my enemy. I didn’t know that she wouldn’t tell him everything the moment he came home. It was probably too late for him to do anything meaningful – but I wanted it to be as big a shock for him as it had been for me.

“The question is, what are you going to do?” I asked. “Now you have proof.”

She smiled a little at that. “I understand,” she said. “And I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t tell me either. If you have the name of a good divorce lawyer, I would appreciate it.”

Michelle pulled a card out of her purse and handed it to her.

“Thank you,” she said. “Will a week be enough time?”

I nodded.

“Perfect,” she said. “I’ll contact…” she held up the card. “And co-ordinate with her.”

She stood. Obviously, our meeting was over.

Michelle and I both stood. Stephanie came over and gave me a brief hug, pecking me on the cheek.

“Once again, I’m so sorry,” she said. “Look after him,” she directed this at Michelle, who had bristled when she had hugged me. “He deserves better than what that bitch did to him.”

We got back to the office and I spent the rest of the day catching up on stuff that I should have been doing while I had been ‘in Portland’

At the end of the day, I went home. Michelle, at her usual time, had knocked on my door, poked her head in and told me she was leaving for the evening. She had gone back to being the professional that she had always been. That too caused me a pang of loss. I had thought that I was starting to get a little closer to her, but that must have just been my imagination.

I bade her goodnight, thanking her for all her help. I worked late at the office, I had a lot of catching up to do.

_What time will you be home? The text from Caroline came in about eight.

¬¬_Probably another hour or two, got some catching up to do after my trip.

_I’ll probably be asleep then, I have an early start in the morning. Love you xxx

Once again I couldn’t bring myself to answer that text. I continued to work until almost eleven. I really wanted her to be asleep when I got home. The less I had to interact with her, the better I would feel about it.

When I arrived home, the house was in darkness. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I looked in on Sonia, and James. They were both asleep, looking as adorable as they always did. I felt a sob welling up in my chest, and had to go hide in the bathroom. I couldn’t let Caroline catch me weeping over children that were not even mine. I had still not decided what to do about the kids.

It was unlikely that either of them would remember me if I just walked away from them. I had no responsibility to them, but I loved them both all the same. How could I abandon them, when less than forty eight hours ago they were MY children, my flesh and blood, and my pride and joy. Now they were just further proof of my slut wife’s infidelity.

I decided to wait and see what transpired. The decision may be taken out of my hands in any case.

I went to bed, doing my utmost not to wake Caroline. It took me an age to fall asleep, and when my alarm woke me the next morning, Caroline was already gone.

The aupair was in the kitchen feeding the children when I entered. I looked at her. She must have known.

There is no way that she didn’t. Was she even now looking at me and laughing at the stupid cuck, who couldn’t even satisfy his wife? Was she aware that the children weren’t even mine. Did she take the children to say goodnight to ‘Daddy Bill’ as she had done so often with me.

My mind wondered and I had visions of her and Caroline in a sordid threesome with Bill Wainwright as the children cried in the next room. I shook my head angrily. She knew, I decided. And come Monday – I was going to take great pleasure in firing her. I would make damn sure the little bitch never worked as an aupair again. I’d tell the agency that…

Wait, what was I doing? I was taking my anger out on someone who had little hope of doing right in that situation. Damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. If she had told me, she would have lost her job. She could have left, I reasoned, but then she seemed also to have feelings for our kids whom she had been looking after since before Sonia was born.

I was lashing out, but probably at the wrong person.

I went to work.

Michelle was already in the office when I arrived. It was as if the previous couple of days had not happened. She was all business, although I noted from my planner that she had cleared my day for what she had labelled ‘marketing.’

I got settled in my office, and she brought in my morning coffee, as she had done every day for the nine years she had worked for me. Then she sat down on the other side of the desk. It was only then that I noted that she had brought herself a coffee too. That was something she had never done before.

“Marketing?” I asked. “Since when do I do marketing?”

She grinned. It was quite an evil grin, and for some reason it gave me a warm feeling inside.”

“We have to plan,” she said, “the last part of Lorraines’ strategy.”

I looked at her, nonplussed. “What?” I said.

“Telling everyone.” said Michelle. “Her friends, family, church groups, volunteer groups, anyone and everyone she interacts with needs to be told how much of a slut she is and what she has been doing.”

“That is not going to paint me in a very good light,” I said. “I’ll be a laughingstock. Cuckold who can’t even keep his wife satisfied, bringing up another man’s bastards!”

“You have to get your story out there,” she said. “If you don’t then Caroline will and believe me that will paint you in a far worse light than that of an unknowing cuckold. How about an abusive husband? or someone who is abusing his kids? People will believe that shit, and when we go nuclear on her she is going to hit back with everything she has got. Get your digs in first, and people will be less likely to believe any counter accusations. There will be some that do, but you can’t help that.”

Michelle put together a ‘media pack’ containing all the proof we had about Caroline’s infidelity. There was the PI’s report, copies of the DNA report showing that I was not the father of my two kids. There were copies of the videos taken at my house, including the one showing James greeting Bill, and footage from inside the bedroom which I had neither seen nor wished to.

Later that morning, I got an email from Lorraine. Apparently she had been provided a sample of Bill’s DNA by Stephanie. She had had it run against the numbers on the DNA test I had gotten and it seemed that he was definitely the father of both of the children.

I paused ‘the children?’ I thought – suddenly I wasn’t thinking of them as My children any more.

We included this new information in the ‘pack’ and got them ready for dispatch.

They would be sent to Caroline’s parents, My parents, Caroline’s brother and sister with whom I was quite close. Electronic copies would be sent out to all her Facebook and LinkedIn contacts, along with anyone else I could think of to send them to.

The ones to our immediate family – I paid a courier company to deliver at ten a.m. on Monday which was the time that the balloon was due to go up.

I only had to get through the weekend.

I had a plan for how to do that too.

Since I’m an engineer, it took me less than an hour to design and build a small device. It had a motor, and a timer and a battery. I could set it so that the motor would spin, creating a jarring vibration after a certain length of time.

I went home on Friday night, and after the au pair had gone, secreted the device under Sophie’s pillow. It would go off at six the next morning, which is around the time we would normally wake. It would wake Sophie, and therefore our weekend morning chore sex would be off the table.

It worked perfectly. I was woken by Sophie coming into our room, and climbing into bed with us. No sex for us then. I smiled to myself.

I managed to keep myself busy for all of Saturday, doing all of the honey-do jobs that Caroline had been after me doing for months. When she commented on it, I just said that it was about time that I did them since she had been nagging me for so long.

Saturday night when, unusually Caroline had tried to instigate sex, I had feigned being asleep when she came out of the bathroom, and Sunday, her daughter once again came into her room, having been startled out of sleep by my device.

We decided to take the kids out for the day Sunday, and spent the whole day out at the zoo.

There were a couple of occasions during the day when I looked at Caroline, the woman I had loved, the woman whom I thought had loved me, and the two children I had doted on thinking they were mine, and I nearly broke. I bit the inside of my cheek until it bled trying to keep my emotions in check.

But I made it through the weekend.

Monday I was excited. I told Caroline I would be working from home. I wanted to speak to the au pair.

Caroline left for work at her usual time, poking her head into my office to say she was leaving. I pretended to be engrossed in an email and merely grunted in answer to her. I heard her car leave the garage and the door close. I looked at my watch eight fifteen.

The au pair knocked on my office door. She wanted to take the children to the play centre, but I said no, they needed to stay at the house. That surprised her. I had never refused her before, but she merely nodded and went back to the children. I heard James get upset that he wasn’t able to go, he had wanted to.

Just after nine, Michelle arrived at the house. I was surprised but let her in. For the first time since I had known her, I made coffee for her.

We had a teleconference with Lorraine at nine thirty.

“Gary,” Lorraine said. “This is your last chance to stop. I’m not saying you should, I’m just saying that if you have had second thoughts over the weekend then now is the time to say.”

“No,” I said. “No second thoughts.”

“Then I’ll see you on the other side,” said Lorraine. It was on.

I watched my email account, waiting for the confirmation of service emails to come in. At exactly 10am the first arrived, The second about three minutes later, and the third five minutes after that.

Then my phone rang.

It wasn’t Caroline as I thought it would be, it was my mother.

“Gary?” she opened.

“Hi mom,” I said.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“You read the packet I sent?” I asked.

“Yes but…”

“Then you know as much as I do,” I said. “Caroline has been cheating on me, probably my whole married life, with her boss. The kids are not mine. I’m divorcing the bitch.”

“Gary can’t you…”

“No, mom. Listen I have to go, I have other calls coming in.”

I hung up the phone. It instantly rang again. This time it was Caroline.

“Gary,” I didn’t answer, waiting for her to continue.

“We need to talk,” she continued. Still no answer.

“I’m coming home.” She cut the call.

“Caroline is on her way,” I said to Michelle.

“I’ll get out of your way,” she said. I wanted to aske her to stay, but I didn’t know how to. I just looked up at her.

“Call me,” she said. “When you know what is happening.” She left.

Caroline arrived home about twenty minutes later. I heard her car pull up onto the drive. She didn’t even bother to pull into the garage.

I didn’t know what to expect when she entered the house. I didn’t know if she’d come in all guns blazing, or slink in with her tail between her legs. As it was she entered my office and sat down opposite where I sat at the desk.

“Gary I…” she began.

“Not interested!” I said. Cutting her off.

“But…”

“Not interested,” I said.

“Don’t you even want…”

“No,” I said. “I don’t want to hear a fucking word out of your mouth. You lied to me for nine fucking years. Neither of the kids are mine, yet you convinced me to get a vasectomy while you were still taking the pill so you could carry on fucking daddy bill.”

Her eyes widened at that.

“So no, Caroline,” I continued. “I have no interest in what you have to say. My lawyers card is in the packet you got when you were served. If you have anything you think I need to know then talk to her.”

“What about the children?” she asked.

“What children?” I responded. “I don’t have any children, and if it were up to you, would never have any. I would ask why you would do that to me, only I really don’t want to hear another lie. I really have no interest in your excuses, justifications, or reasons. I just want this whole sorry mess to be over with so I can pick up what’s left of my life and move on.”

I called the au pair into the room. I knew she could hear me since my office door was open, and she was only in the next room.

“You’re fired,” I said “Effective immediately. Get your shit and fuck off.”

“What?” she said. “Why?”

“Because you covered for her,” I said pointing at Caroline. “You knew she was fucking her boss, I don’t know if you knew that the kids were his rather than mine, but you certainly knew what was going on. I have video evidence of you talking to Bill about the kids. Get out.”

“Gary,” said Caroline. “You can’t fire her. I pay her wages.” The au pair looked to Caroline a look of gratitude in her eyes.

“Well,” I said. “I have already contacted the agency to tell them that you were complicit in an extra-marital affair, and agreed not to take any action against their company if they took you off their books. So if Caroline here wants to keep you on personally, not only is she going to have to pay you, she will have to take care of all the other stuff like your tax, holidays, pension, sickness, not to mention insurance.”

The au pairs face drained of color. Not only was she losing her job but she was being kicked off her agencies books. That would make it almost impossible for her to get another au pair job. Agencies talked to each other.

“Now get out!” I said, and she fled.

“Did you have to do that?” Caroline said. “She wasn’t to…”

“You’re talking again,” I said. “I told you I didn’t want to hear it. What I do want, is for you to get your stuff, get YOUR kids and fuck off out of my house.”

“This is my house too,” she said.

“Not according to the paperwork,” I said. “It’s in my sole name. So, until the courts determine otherwise, GET THE FUCK OUT!!!”

She jumped a little when I shouted. James came into the room.

“Mommy?” he said, “Sonia fell down.”

Caroline, a stunned expression on her face, and tears wetting her cheeks stood and went to see to her daughter.

I closed my office door and stayed inside while she got some things together. After a few minutes, she came back in, Sonia in her arms.

“Are you going to say goodbye to….”

“Don’t say it,” I said. “She is not my daughter, and he is not my son. Take them to Daddy Bill and let him look after his progeny. They are nothing to do with me.”

“Gary I…”

“GET OUT!!!”

I heard the front door close, and after a few minutes, her car start. It drove off.

I let go of the breath that I had been holding for, it seemed like, forever.

I shattered.

I didn’t hear the door open, and jumped as a pair of arms surrounded me as I broke down, my head in my hands. I looked up to find Michelle holding me. She pulled me close and held me while I sobbed.

It took me a good while to get myself together again. I has just thrown away nine years. My marriage, my children, my life was gone. I really didn’t want to face the world any more.

Michelle once again took charge.

“Come on,” she said. “Lorraine said that it would take about four hours for Caroline to get an emergency occupation order. Since she has the kids, and this is the marital home. She’ll be back. Do you really want to give her the satisfaction of being able to throw you out of your own home?”

We gathered some of my clothes, and all of my important paperwork together. I would have to figure out somewhere to stay, but I loaded up both mine and Michelle’s car with my stuff, and left. Initially we went to the office, where I was served later that day.

Lorraine had called me to expect service. There was not only an occupation order, there was a restraining order meaning I was not allowed within one hundred yards of the house. If I wanted to collect anything I would have to make an appointment and be accompanied by Caroline’s lawyer, at my expense.

Without really knowing what was happening, I found that I had moved into Michelle’s spare room. All my clothing was in the wardrobe, and all of my paperwork was now neatly filed in cabinets at the office.

It had been a week since Caroline had been served. I had spent the time working, and then going back with Michelle to her house to eat, and then sleep. She brought me coffee in the morning, made breakfast and then we travelled into the office together.

Nothing seemed to change between us. She was still all business, and other than the hug when I had broken down at my house the first day, I hadn’t so much as smiled at her. Not that I’d had much to smile about in any case.

Monday morning, we had an appointment with the lawyers of the company that Caroline and Bill worked for. I wasn’t aware of the particulars, but we were apparently suing for an amount that the company could ill afford. They had insurance but that maxed out a million, and we were suing for significantly more than that.

Their lawyers were all business. Lorraine, my lawyer, was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

“What will it take,” asked the lawyer, “To get you to settle on this?”

“Immediate and permeant termination, with loss of pension, of the senior party involved,” said Lorraine, “Also an undertaking to keep Caroline on the payroll for at least three years, and one point five million.”

I wasn’t really listening as they batted things back and forward between them. Eventually they settled on all of the above, but I would only get about seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. That at least would take care of a chunk of the debt I had to the company pension fund.

“All this to be paid after the divorce is finalized,” said Lorraine. They nodded. They understood.

Lorraine stayed with us for our next appointment also. This was with Bill Wainwrights lawyers. I left their office half a million richer.

I now had enough money to pay off the pension fund loan completely, and still have a nice little amount of money in my hand. Or I would have, after the divorce.

My last appointment of the day was with Caroline’s lawyers. Caroline was in the office with them, but didn’t look at me as I entered. Michelle was with me, as was Lorraine.

“This accounting on the divorce petition is ridiculous,” was the opening gambit from Caroline’s lawyer. “Your client is a majority shareholder and CEO of a company that is worth at last estimate somewhere in the region of twenty million dollars. Not to mention the assets in the house, savings, and 401k. I suggest…

“Let me stop you there,” said Lorraine, pulling out a sheaf of papers from her briefcase.

“The company is out of scope for the divorce, as per the pre-nuptual agreement signed by all parties. My client, recently made a significant further investment in the company, which took up the majority of his savings, all of his 401k and a loan taken against the house. He also had to take a loan from the company pension fund. One of the partners wished to divest and it was important that the shares not be allowed to fall into the hands of a competitor who has been attempting to take over the business for some years.

“Since the loan form the pension fund means he now has a reduced salary – he is now paid less than your client, and I will be asking the courts for some kind of maintenance agreement to tide him over while he finds his feet.”

“What about the children?” asked her lawyer.

“There is DNA proof that those children are not his,” said Lorraine, “That she knowingly falsified birth records to show my client as the father with the intent to defraud. Also, and as a separate matter, we are looking into seeking damages for a serious assault, where she knowingly convinced him to have a surgical sterilization which he agreed to , believing he was the father of the children.

“The alternative is that your client sign the divorce petition as is, pack her stuff and leave the marital home in his hands. She will get half the joint account, the balance of which currently stands at nine thousand four hundred and forty three dollars and fifteen cents.”

Her lawyer looked at the paperwork, at the pre-nup and then at Caroline. For the first time, she looked at me.

“Gary, Please,” she said. “I…”

“Nine years,” I said. “Nine fucking years. You lied to me for nine years, day in, day out. You have nothing to say to me that I want to hear.”

Caroline looked at her lawyer and nodded. She signed the papers.

I wasn’t there when she moved out of the house. I just got an email from her Lawyers to say that the restraining order had been rescinded, and the house was now mine. I could move back in at any time.

I considered it, but decided against. Instead I put the house on the market, It didn’t quite meet the outstanding owed to the bank on it, but I made up the difference and the bank went away satisfied.

Two months later, and I was still living in Michelle’s spare room.

After our divorce Caroline had moved in with her parents. Despite all the evidence I had provided they were firmly on her side, and were not talking to me. It was no loss to me.

For some reason Stephanie had not divorced Bill as she had promised. I didn’t know why, and I had no interest in finding out. Since he lost his job with the company, and his pension, they had had to sell the house in the gated community and had moved into a smaller apartment. Bill still had contacts and marketable skills so he managed to find himself a reasonable job, and was making a living, although not the living he had been making.

I didn’t know he and Caroline were still seeing each other, I had not laid eyes on her since that day in her lawyers office, nor was I interested in doing so.

I was sat at my desk at work, when Michelle knocked and came into the room, not waiting for a reply.

“Bill Wainwright is dead,” she said without preamble.

“What?” I said “How?”

“Apparently Stephanie caught him with Caroline again,” she said. “She shot him.”

I sat back in my chair, a huge grin on my face. I tried to remove it, but was unable to.

“Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy,” I said eventually. Michelle laughed.

“Am I evil?” I asked her, “For being happy about it?”

“Not at all,” Michelle said. “That sleazeball got what he deserved. Oh, by the way, this was just delivered.”

She dropped an official looking envelope on my desk. I looked at it with trepidation. We both knew what was in there.

I picked it up and tore it open.

“That’s it,” I said. “I’m finally a free man.”

“Finally,” said Michelle. Then she did the very last thing I would have expected.

She kissed me.

It was not some peck on the cheek, or even the lips, it was a full on, tongue battling, lip locking toe curling kiss.

When she finally released me, I slumped back in my chair breathless, amazed, and as rigid as the mainmast of a tea clipper.

She giggled as she looked down, seeing my obvious arousal.

“For nine years,” she said. “I’ve looked after you. You are the most perfect man I have ever met. Not once did you even look at me wrong, check out my legs or my ass, or cop a feel, and I loved you for it.

“I have waited nine years for you. And now you are free. I know that you have always respected me, and that is a kind of love too. We make a great team. I know you as well as any wife knows her husband, and if you think about it, you know me in the same way.

“Give me a chance to show you that not all women are lying, cheating, conniving bitches. Please?”

I was stunned. I thought back to all the time I had spent with her, before I knew about the cheating. I thought about how I’d felt about her. I’d defended her vehemently against my business partner, to the extent he was kicked out of the business.

I realised then, that I’d had, and still had real feelings for Michelle. I guessed it was impossible to work that closely with someone for so long and not develop something. While I was with Caroline, there was never a need to examine those feelings, to quantify them. But there was definitely a need now.

“Say something?” she said. There was a look of worry on her face. That was the first time I had ever seen her uncertain.

“How many?” I asked.

She looked puzzled.

“How many what?” she asked.

“Children,” I said. “How many children should we have?”

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