Author's note: One of the core themes of this story is the subject of being born intersex. If you are not interested in such a subject then please move on.
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Chapter 1
Jade O'Connor Anders was in the prime of her life. At twenty-seven she was strikingly beautiful and seemed to have it all. She was a top literary agent in a successful company, had been married for four wonderful years to a handsome and successful man, and was entertaining the idea of having a baby.
Having come from a somewhat odd mix of Irish and Asian stock, she was five feet seven with well proportioned curves that caused men and women alike to suddenly take notice in a way that made them all tingle uncomfortably. Her straight jet-black hair and slightly Asian eyes gave her an exotic quality that was irresistible. Those alluring eyes were what had drawn Michael Anders to her in the first place.
Jade was in her third year of college when she and Michael met. He was twenty five, three years her senior. They had a whirl wind romance, became engaged and shortly thereafter they were married. Michael found success in real estate and with a few well placed investments; they had managed to become financially comfortable.
Counting what Jade contributed to the finances they could be considered wealthy having a nice three bedroom house, each their own car, a vacation cottage and a small boat.
Though the romance was missing of late, the sex was still good though somewhat infrequent. Thinking about it on occasion, Jade just thought it was because of the demanding schedule they both kept. How wrong she was.
Arriving at her office promptly at eight, Jade was greeted by her assistant Greg. He was a handsome and dedicated young man of twenty two with a sharp intellect and unnerving wit. He was also openly and quite flamingly gay.
After a frustrating meeting, Jade was prepping for her main event of the day, an afternoon contract renewal for one of the company's major clients. Going through her files she realized that the all important contract was not with her. Thinking back, Jade realized that the contract was sitting at home on her desk.
Cursing herself for the mistake, she quickly had Greg clear her schedule for the hour it would take to run home and return with the file.
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The first oddity Jade noticed was that her husband's car was in the drive way. She didn't really think much about it because she usually left before him and thought that maybe he was carpooling.
The second hint was that the front door was locked but the alarm was off. Still Jade didn't see a problem. Perhaps he had left in a hurry so he didn't remember to turn it on.
Jade hurried across the living room to her office door. As her hand grasped the doorknob she froze. There was the distinct sound of her husband's voice floating through the halls.
Her office forgotten, Jade slowly moved to the back of the house to where the bedrooms were located. As she got closer, she could distinctly hear Michael's voice.
"Fuck yeah...That's it...Harder...Do it harder."
The bedroom door was opened slightly and as Jade peeked inside she felt the bile rise in her throat. There, reflected in the vanity's mirror was Michael on his hands and knees on their bed and a blonde woman with a strap-on, fucking him in the ass.
As Jade forced herself to look away, her rage was rising. She had a temper, a gift from her Irish heritage but it was also tempered by the lessons learned from her Japanese grandfather.
She took a couple of steps back from the door. Breathing deeply she listened as her grandfather's voice passed through her head. She was reminded of her own inner strength, her personal honor and her independence.
She did not need to cause a scene; she would not shame herself in front of them by losing it. There would be time enough for that later. She blocked out Michael's voice and focused on her breathing. Then she concentrated on organizing her thoughts.
Killing him and his bitch was out of the question. Homicide was not the answer no matter how justifiable. Divorce was the only viable option but first, a little insurance was needed.
Steeling herself, Jade retrieved her smart phone from her pocket and set it to video record mode. She silently tipped the door open and aimed it at the couple, taking about a minute of footage. They were so into what they were doing that they didn't even notice her.
After getting as much proof as she needed she could have just left, but her pride demanded that she have her say. She secured the phone back in her jacket pocket then walked into the bedroom.
Her face was a mask of calm as she stood watching them.
"Having a good time Michael?" she asked her voice cold as a winter storm. The blonde screamed, nearly pulled out too quickly, and scrambled to cover herself as Michael turned pale.
"Ja—Ja—Jade," he stuttered, unable to think of anything to say.
"Don't bother Michael. There's nothing you could say. I want you gone by the time I get home from work. Take only what you own, you will be served with the divorce papers by the end of the week."
"Jade." He tried again but she was having none of it.
"Save it. I really don't care; after this I will not see you again. Contact Paula if you have anything to say."
With that Jade turned on her heel, she walked out the bedroom, out the house and left. The reason for coming home suddenly forgotten, she drove on auto pilot to Paula Kline's office. It wasn't until she was sitting on Paula's small sofa that she began to cry.
Chapter 2
Paula Kline was a successful attorney who specialized in family law. She had been Jade's closest friend since college and loved the woman as the sister she never had.
She was accustomed to Jade being a strong individual; in all the years they had been friends she had never seen her fazed by anything. To see her weeping and trembling was disconcerting and Paula's heart broke.
She held her friend in her arms but was at a loss for how to help. All Jade had managed to say, was that she found out Michael was cheating on her.
It took a full half hour before Jade had calmed enough to speak. She was curled up on Paula's small office sofa, her head in Paula's lap, her eyes swollen and red.
"Are you feeling a little better now?" Paula asked. Jade nodded and croaked out a yes. She sat up and wiped her face. Paula got up and went to her cabinet. She poured a large scotch and wordlessly handed it to Jade.
Jade downed it in one gulp and hissed as it went down her throat. When Paula sat back down, Jade saw the large wet spot on the front of her blouse where Jade had buried her face while she cried.
"I'm sorry, your blouse," Jade said. Paula waved her apology away.
"I didn't mean to break down like that."
"Oh don't apologize, you needed it. Are you okay enough to tell me what happened?"
"Oh Paula, that bastard," Jade started, her voice becoming hard.
"I left a contract at home and went to get it. I walked into my house and found him and his bitch whore in my bed and they were, God, they were..." she couldn't go on.
"Oh, honey, I'm so sorry." Paula said sympathetically, sensing what Jade had walked in on. Though she had never been married nor had a lover cheat on her, she had had many cases where one spouse had cheated on the other and saw all the hurt and pain it caused.
