This Chapter follows the original Persistent Ch. 02, not the alternative ending.
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Two weeks after Paul was kicked out, Linda was still adjusting to her new single life. She spent most of her time at work and focused on reorganizing her department. She didn't want anyone who wasn't a team member. This term would mean 'working for the benefit of the department' a few months ago for her but at that moment it also consisted of being 'a true follower of their leader' as well.
Since she dodged a bullet - hardly - she was feeling mature enough not to let her career depend on things she couldn't control. She knew the company better; she knew her opponent and she knew how her personnel had to be under her control.
She already spent enough time feeling depressed, feeling guilty for ruining Paul's life but she also managed to see the good side of that.
She couldn't believe how she didn't notice his true colors.
He was a selfish loser, who couldn't even think about standing by his wife for a satisfactory second in her worst days. Feeling guilty of those days didn't change that fact. This wasn't about being a selfish person, even if she was acting like one. This was about realizing that he wasn't a match for her and how he acted in that period, only because of his calculations.
He didn't return to her because he loved her, he decided that he was better with her. She didn't know the reason. He could have thought that walking around with her was a show off for him or she was going somewhere in her career and he didn't want to leave that train. He simply could have thought that any future relationship would be a major step down for him too. It didn't matter for Linda. She knew the reason had nothing to do with sincere love.
As an alternative, he could have told her that he wouldn't be able to live with that and left her. She would have respected him and probably would still be in love with him. But he didn't. Because he was also a wimp.
Thinking those were making it easy for her to move forward.
It didn't take long for her to blame him of her mistake as well.
If he was a stand-up and natural guy, their life and especially sex life wouldn't be that plain. She would have a better equipped personality for such situations. But he preferred not to take any risks, always went along with Linda, just to preserve his flawless attitude and appearance, as well as his stable position as her husband. She couldn't recall any real arguments with him in their past. He was a spineless man, that was his new image for her.
She was aware that she was exaggerating some of those righteous arguments and diluting the parts about her fuck up. But she was determined not to look back, so...
After her emotions settled down, she felt even stronger.
Her image in the company was getting better every week. Nick was still acting weird, different from how he usually was before that vacation and she felt like there was nothing to stop her from doing whatever she wanted.
When she looked back, she realized how she managed to turn things around for her benefit, in such a short time. She was changing, removing all the dead weight from the normal Linda.
She started to naturally consume other people for her survival. It was natural, because most of her actions were not planned.
She was just realizing how selfish she started to act after that trauma.
She needed Paul to recover from her bad days and she sucked out his life energy to recharge hers, without planning. And, after some time, she loved seeing that. Anyone having a selfish agenda about her deserved the same attitude. She wasn't going to be nice to them. That was how she started to look at life, that was her plan. Paul was her first victim before she made that decision.
And, he gave her the practice she needed. He let her find out how this worked. Every time he sacrificed for her, he wanted her more. Every time he lowered himself in her eyes, she treated him worse and he loved her more. He helped her find her new game.
And, Nick. Oh, he was special. Linda wanted him to regret playing games with her. He was the main reason she suffered for months. But she was thankful to him as well. Because she had a thicker skin at the end and she got rid of her burden because of him.
She was cautious about him because he was also dangerous. She managed to keep him in a harmless zone since she returned and there was this mild teasing and seduction which worked both ways. She finally knew that was a strong key in some situations.
He was trying to stay close to her. She was keeping him at a distance without giving him any hope but teasing him with her delicate pins hidden in her conversations.
His mind was constantly occupied with her. She was trying to figure out a way to make him suffer without risking herself. She couldn't see how this was going to be possible yet. She wanted his title. He knew that. But, for the first time, Linda had the upper hand.
The first time he jerked off thinking about the night in that elevator, his soul hurt. He despised guys who masturbated. He always argued that only losers who couldn't find pussy jerked off. His cock deserved warm, soft, wet flesh. Pussy or mouth, not his hands.
As weeks passed, he started jerking off thinking about her more, fantasizing of all the things about her and feeling bad after ejaculating, remembering how he wasted his chances to make all those fantasies reality.
She also masturbated a few times, thinking about the night at the elevator and how she felt. She thought about what could have happened as well. She couldn't shake off that degrading feeling, she didn't want to. It was still very alluring.
But she also started to masturbate fantasizing about Nick suffering or submitting to her. That was hot too. Seeing him surrender to her would be very hot. That wasn't just sexual, that was also primal, as in vengeance. She started to see everything sexual lately.
She wished there was a way to make him suffer while being humiliated and mercilessly fucked by him. This way, she was going to get over with that dirty fantasy as well. Since this was not an option, she preferred to do nothing.
The good thing was, she wasn't in a hurry. Her patience was her best weapon, as it was Nick's before. He was getting crazy seeing her like that.
Linda didn't have a plan, so she wanted to keep him in that state. She didn't tell him that she kicked Paul out because she believed that her being married made Nick want her more and wanting her more meant he could make mistakes easier.
She still couldn't find a way to bring trouble on him with the owners, without staining her own name as well.
Meanwhile, Paul called her a few times for small talk and she didn't go hard on him. Except the time when he asked her to reconsider the break-up. She went ballistic that day. She told him everything she thought about him. And she didn't feel sorry for him when he apologized for everything and hung up.
It was interesting that Linda felt almost zero guilt about anything, not anymore. As if Paul was the one who cheated and he was the one who left her.
That didn't mean she thought she made no mistakes. She was aware that what she did was unforgivable and no decent woman would do it. She accepted that she wasn't decent enough and she made peace with herself. Also, her choice in marriage was wrong and she blamed herself for it.
Almost one month passed like that. Paul called a few times, trying different ways to change her mind before she filed a divorce. Nick increased his calls or office visits, with increasing agitation at first, then trying to act cool, without establishing any success or hope. But he was succeeding without knowing it. Linda wasn't as relaxed as she seemed to be.
She was still thinking about possible sex acts with Nick, still masturbating to those contradicting fantasies. But she never let herself get drawn to those desires. She wasn't the same girl at that vacation, she wasn't losing herself after masturbating.