Don't Start Something

Have you ever had one of those days when you should never have got out of bed? Well I have and it happened about a week ago.

It began as a perfectly normal day, I rolled over and kissed my wife on the cheek before slipping out and heading for the en-suite and my morning ablutions. These over, I quickly slipped into my suit and headed for the kitchen and breakfast. Rosa, our maid had this waiting for me, along with the morning paper for me to scan while eating. A quick glance at the business pages as I sipped my coffee, nothing unusual in it, our shares were holding steady on the strength of our profit announcement yesterday. All was looking good.

I slipped into our bedroom and gave Emma, my wife of seven years, a good-bye kiss and told her 'I love you', getting the usual mumbled reply that I have given up trying to understand, and headed for the garage and my car.

My work car was the latest Jaguar, and I eased it into the early morning traffic, nodding briefly to the regulars as I did so. It was all so polite in this part of the world, most of us were friends as well as business acquaintances, meeting on a regular basis at board meetings, social and sporting events. Nothing to get excited about yet.

I arrived at the office to the usual buzz of the business at hand, heading straight for my part of the world. I was met by Peta, my P.A. and a cup of coffee. 'You'll need this, Mr Preston wants to see you and something is wrong."

"Any ideas?" I asked as I sipped.

"Rumours abound, but I pay no attention to them." She wasn't her usual bright and cheerful self this morning and I was beginning to worry.

I grabbed the files that I had been working on and headed for the halls of power, the corner office.

As I entered, Rhonda, his P.A. buzzed and then told me to go straight in.

"Ah, Ewan, take a seat." I sat. There was a distinct pause. "This is hard for me son," He was my Father-in-Law and has called me that since I married his daughter. "This is difficult for me, but I'm afraid that I have to let you go."

"What?" Wow, talk about a shock. I never saw this coming, not in a million years did I suspect this was about to happen. "What possible reason can you have for firing me? I was under the impression that you were perfectly satisfied with my work performance."

"I am, and that's what has made this difficult for me. You see. . . . . . Oh fuck it, pardon the language, but I have no choice. The decision has been taken out of my hands, you see, Emma wants a divorce, and it would be most uncomfortable for you to stay in this company after that happens."

"Why was I not aware of this little bit of news?"

"I wasn't until yesterday. Ewan, I wish that I had the cojones to stand up to the women in my family, but being the coward that I am, I just can't. She who must be obeyed, that's my wife, has a controlling interest in this company that she inherited from her father, my former boss, and if I don't do as she tells me, I'll find myself in the same predicament as you're in. I enjoy the lifestyle too much to give up on it at this late stage in my life. If you must know, I have only a few more years before I'll be put out to pasture, and when that happens, they won't see me for dust. I'll have enough salted away to last me for the rest of my miserable life. It's times like this when I wish that I could piss off right now."

"How long have I got?" I was thinking that I would be given at least two weeks' notice so that I could put feelers out for a new position.

"You will have one hour to clear your desk. I gather that removalists are removing your things from your home as we speak. They are being taken to an apartment that the ladies have magnanimously given you. I have the keys here." He tossed them over the desk to me. "The address is on the tag." I looked at it, at least it was in a good location.

"I feel that I should warn you that I will be seeking legal advice over this."

"If it's money that you're worried about, I've been told that you are being handsomely compensated." He tossed an envelope over the desk. I opened it. I found a printed copy of an electronic fund transfer, and while I wouldn't call it a handsome compensation, it would suffice for the time being.

"This should get me a good lawyer." I stood to leave.

"Ewan, please, take some time to think this through. Don't start something that is only going to get you hurt. I should tell you that I am as pissed off as you are about this, you are a good man, you have qualities rare in this world, and I fought as hard as I could to keep you, even suggesting that a transfer overseas to one of our offshore locations would be a better outcome, but that was shot down in flames. I will tell you this though, if there is any way that I can help you without them knowing about it, I will. If you look inside the envelope you will see a pre-paid mobile number, of a phone that they don't know about."

I was dismissed. I walked the 'green mile' to my office and a tearful reception from Peta. She followed me into my office and closed the blinds so that no-one could see us, and then she hugged me and kissed me. We had exchanged something a little more personal than air-kisses in the past, but nothing as personal as this. "I have handed in my notice."

"There's no reason for you to give up work just because I've been given the flick."

"There's every reason. It's despicable the way that they've treated you. Rumour has it that the bitch, sorry, Emma, and her mother have been wheeling and dealing behind the scenes, and that a general shake-up is on the cards. The rumours are suggesting that Mr Preston, will be next to go."

"I have to clear my desk immediately, I guess that they won't let me take any files with me, so it will just be the few personal things. If you can find me a suitable carton to put them in, I can take them with me to the apartment that they have so generously provided for me."

"I'll get two cartons. Are they letting you keep your laptop?"

"I guess so, it's mine, bought with my money, they'll have a fight it they try to take it."

"Good." She took a memory card and placed it in my laptop. "This isn't terribly legal, but as soon as the rumours began circulating I began copying stuff that we might be able to use. These are files that you have been working on, plus an evaluation of the company's share movements over the past six months. Maybe there's something in that lot that will give us an idea how we can shaft them."

"I don't want you involved in anything illegal on my behalf."

"Be quiet Ewan, you and I are not going to take this lying down, although lying down together has a certain ring to it." She saw the shocked expression on my face. "One thing that I have noticed about men is that, as long as everything seems to be going fine, they don't look for signs that they aren't. The signs have been there for months, that she has been making plans that don't involve your active participation. You are a good man Ewan, and don't deserve this, and I'm not going to let it happen if I can help it." There was that kiss again, and this time I saw the signs that it wasn't platonic. "I know that this is going to sound really, really weird, but Ewan, I love you, and have for years."

This explains something that I had noticed. At no time, since we had begun working together, had she ever mentioned her personal life, no dates, and no boyfriends. I had noticed it, but felt that it was none of my business. Now she was making it my business. "Don't you think we should take a little time over this?"

"Why, it's not as if we'll be doing anything in the office, after this that is, for people to talk about, and after this I don't care. Now, I'm off to find some cartons." She kissed me again and left.

We had both offices cleared out in just under an hour. There were a few messages of commiseration as we left and walked to her car. My car was no longer mine and I hoped that my real car was waiting for me. If they tried to hang on to that they would have a real fight on their hands.

Talk about a clinical amputation. There was a courier waiting for me to arrive at the apartment, to take my house keys from me and to give me the keys to my car, that was waiting for me in the car park underneath. My stuff was in removalist's cartons in a pile in the centre of the living room. The apartment had been furnished in good taste, I'll give her that, she had taste, after all she had chosen me. And there were the usual appliances for my comfort, such as an espresso machine. This was put to good use even before we began to unpack.

I unpacked my clothes and hung in the closet what needed to be hung, and shoved in drawers, what needed to be shoved in drawers. Peta had put my toiletries in the bathroom and was just coming out when I stood and looked around me at the pile of empty cartons. A quick shove found me on my back on the bed with her on my front, kissing me. "Stop." I ordered between kisses, she of course ignored me so I tried again. "Peta, stop." I pushed her back from me far enough that she couldn't kiss me, or stop me speaking. "Let us just take a step back and consider what is happening here. I have only just found out that my wife doesn't want me anymore, and, if I am to be perfectly honest, I'm going to need some time to get my head around this news. Much as I'd love to have my mind taken off my misery, making love to you is not the way that I think I should be doing it."

"I understand. Take this as a precursor to what could be, when and if, scrub the 'and if', you decide that you want this, want me." She kissed me again, just to let me know that she was serious, and got off me, and the bed.

"I need to do some shopping, there's no food in this place."

"I tell you what, we'll go to the shopping centre and hit the supermarket and any other food place we can find, and while we're there you can take me to a fancy restaurant for lunch. How does that sound?"

"Very contrived and very domesticated. Let's do it." I led the way down to the garage under the building to find my real car, a very rare beast, a Citroen SM, a result of the marriage between Citroen and Maserati in the 70's, a marriage also of futuristic technology and Art Deco design. It had cost me a fortune to buy and another to keep it on the road, in some way it was like a human marriage, a fortune to begin with and another to maintain, one had to love it enough to want to make this investment.

"Wow! I never thought that I would ever see one of these in the flesh!" Peta did a quick excited lap of the car before slipping in through the door that I held open for her and settling into the passenger's seat. "These seats are so comfortable. Let's forget about shopping and take her for a spin."

"We can always stop and shop on the way back."

"You're the boss, boss."

Emma had never really liked the SM and couldn't understand my passion for this 40 year old car. What she did understand was that, like a rare painting, its value was in its rarity, she'd read that somewhere. It wasn't new enough for her, and it wasn't what everyone else was driving, and she had to have what everyone else had, to fit in with the 'In' crowd, hence the 'his and hers' Jaguars. This was something that I endured rather than enjoyed.

I was not born into money, my parents were good, hard-working people, who impressed on me the value of hard work and loyalty. I worked harder than I needed to at school, and got good grades as a result. I worked hard at University and got a good degree with honours. I have only had one job in my entire life, beginning as a lower level graduate clerk, and had, by hard work and loyalty, worked my way steadily up the corporate ladder until I had attracted the attention of the CEO and his attractive daughter. Our marriage was one that pleased my boss and Father-in-Law more than his wife who had someone else lined up for Emma. The more that Mr Preston and I got on, the less she liked me, and it was this dislike that had morphed into hatred and her undermining of my life and career. I should have hated her, but didn't for two reasons, the first was that I was taught not to hate, and the second was that she was, after all, the mother of my wife.

I was beginning to rethink my position in the light of today's efforts. Revenge was developing in my mind as an important emotion.

I learned more about Peta on that drive than I had known in the whole five years that we had worked together. She, like me was from a lower socio-economic strata than the Prestons, and had worked hard to get where she was today, up until today. Loyalty was a big thing for her also, and it was this that prompted her to give notice the instant she had heard the news of my demise.

She had no serious relationships in almost four years, since her feelings for me had taken over her life. She flattered me by telling me that she had not met anyone who came close to her idea of the perfect man, me.

"You can't be serious." I said in response to that bit of news. "I'm far from perfect."

"To some women, those of bad taste, you may appear to be less than perfect, but to me you are."

"I have to admit that, up until now, I had looked on you as the perfect P.A., but that was it. For reasons that now appear redundant, I never looked at you in any other way. In time I feel that I will appreciate you differently."

"I can't wait." She said softly from somewhere near my left shoulder. "I can't wait." (Note: This story is set in Australia, we sit on the right hand side to drive.)

We shopped, we ate, and by mid-afternoon we were hard at work going over the files that Peta had 'borrowed' from work. There was nothing of any real importance in them, they were just normal, run of the mill records. But when we began to look at the company share movements we came across something interesting. There had been a two for one share offer from another company for our, I'm going to have to stop saying that, shares. It would appear that a merger was in the offing. I looked up the company in question on the Internet and a name leapt out at me. A man that I had seen having a private conversation with Emma at the Yacht Club a month ago.

I pulled Mr Preston's card from my wallet and dialled his private mobile number. "Mr Preston, Ewan."

"You can call me Martin now that we are in the process of a divorce."

"Okay Martin. Tell me, what do you know of Beresford and Associates?"

"Corporate raiders, wouldn't trust them with a forty foot barge pole. Why do you ask?"

"It would appear that your lovely wife and my lovely soon to be ex, are looking at a merger with them. There have been private share movements between them that is shifting the balance of power to them. I don't know why this is happening, unless your wife is in need of funds for some reason. They have downgraded the value of our company in the process, it's worth much more than the share offer has placed on it."

"I'll do a little research and see if I can find out what's happening."

"Oh, and by the way, I don't normally listen to rumours, but there's one doing the rounds that you are about to get the shove."

"Yeah, I heard a whisper to that effect. Say hello to Peta for me, you've got a good woman there, you could do worse my boy." He ended the call.

"Martin says hello."

"So it's Martin now, is it?"

"Yes. Now where were we?"

"I think that it's about time that we see if you're as good as you look. Come with me." She led the way to my bedroom. My clothes ended up in a pile on the floor alongside hers, and we ended up in a pile on the bed. She seemed to be satisfied with my performance. "Wow, I lost count of the number of times that I came, whatever is Emma thinking of, letting you go?"

"I have to admit that sex hasn't been that good of late, she just didn't seem all that interested."

"More fool her." She kissed me in a way that had me contemplating a long-term relationship with this woman that I've known for years, but who I'm only just getting to know.

It would have been so tempting to stay in bed for the rest of the afternoon, having a bite of restoration food before falling back into this bed, but there was work to be done. Peta flogged the Internet to death all afternoon, making notes of things that needed following up on, while I made several phone calls to business contacts to see what information I could gather. One call was to the company's lawyers to see what they knew, which was next to nothing, it would appear as if she was using another lawyer for her machinations. "I think that you should speak with Martin Preston and arrange with him to find out what he wants to do. He will want to protect the company from this in whatever way that he can. Tell him to contact me after you've spoken, I may have some ideas by then."

"What ideas?" Peta looked up from the screen.

"Nothing concrete just yet, but I'm working on it. Do you have a copy of the Articles of Incorporation for the company?"

"No, but I can get them, give me ten minutes."

"Okay, I'll brew us some coffee in the mean-time."

"Do you remember . .?"

"Two shots of espresso, steamed milk, no sugar?"

"You remembered."

Coffee beside us, we read through the PDF file on the screen. "It would appear as if she can't do what she is doing without changing the articles. Her father must have thought that something like this would happen, otherwise why would he have had that clause inserted?" I said around a mouthful of sticky bun.

"What do you know about her father?" Peta asked.

"Not a lot. Martin is the man to ask."

"Who holds the other shares, the ones that she doesn't own?"

"Martin has some of them, and there is a bundle in some Trust. It's not her Family Trust either."

"So, she has fifty-one percent, but needs seventy-five percent to do what she's doing. Martin has twenty percent and twenty-nine percent are in that Trust. What needs to happen is that we find who controls that and get them onside, so that we can block the transfer of ownership."

"There should be a record of that in the probate documents, do you think that we can access these, or should we just ask Martin?"

"Straight from the horse's mouth would be the easiest I think, don't you?"

I was reaching for my phone as she spoke. "Martin, sorry to bother you again, but I think that it is time that the three of us hold a strategy meeting. We have a fair idea of what is going down, but we need to speak to you about an action plan to counter this. When can we meet?"

"I don't think dinner at a restaurant is in order, the good ladies are too well known in them, and the three of us holding a meeting will get back to them."

"How about you come here, we'll throw something edible together, and you can bring the wine."

"Fair enough. I'll see you at seven."

It was a short enough meeting, an agenda was drawn up and we stuck to it rigidly until we had an action plan. As meetings go, it was carried out with impressive professionalism, but any sense of pride had disappeared as the enormity of the situation sank in.

"I've known all my professional life that she was a conniving bitch, but I never thought that she would sink as low as to go behind my back to separate me from what is rightfully mine. I worked hard to get where I am today, I put up with a lot of bullshit to get where I am today. I can't understand why she should do this." He was looking deep into the empty wine glass.

"I think that we should look deeper into Emma's involvement in this. It could be that it was she that convinced her mother to do this, after all she's a spoilt little princess who is used to always getting her way, even when she chose to marry me." I said.

"You wouldn't believe the tantrums that decision caused. It went on for weeks until the capitulation. There were two people very angry at that, her mother and the man she had chosen." Martin was deep in thought.