Betrayed

Warning:

There is no sex in this story. If you didn't like my other stories you won't like this one.

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Toni barged into Rick's office like she usually did, without knocking and without him telling her to come in. Rick was in the middle of a phone call so he held up one finger to alert her to not interrupt him. She pretty much ignored him though and waltzed around his desk and plopped herself in the middle of his lap. She then proceeded to give him a hug and kissed his cheek.

Rick

Toni is my personal assistant (PA) and I have to tell you she is a walking wet dream. I love her to pieces and certainly enjoyed the attention she was giving me. I begged off of the phone call I was on and kissed her on the cheek as well. Toni is eight and a half months pregnant and about as big as a house. Now though any man would be bragging that he had impregnated her it wasn't me that did it. Don't get me wrong, I have slept with Toni many times but I didn't impregnate her. There are a couple of reasons why it wasn't me.

The first reason is Geno Antonelli, Toni's husband. Geno is about 6'3" tall and weighs around 240 lbs. Geno is also connected if you get my drift. Geno is the production manager for my advertising firm. Geno is also my best friend. Trust me, nobody messes with Toni.

The second reason is that Toni is my adoptive sister. When I was five years old her family adopted me and raised me. I won't go into the details of why I was adopted but my first five years were not so good and I had issues. In the first couple of years with the Castille family I was quite insecure and many nights I would crawl into bed with Toni to feel safe. We were the same age and temperament and we became kindred spirits back then and that continues to this day. So you see I did sleep with her lots of times. I said Geno was my best friend but I guess it is really Toni first and then Geno.

Anyway, let's get back to the story. My name is Richard Castille though everyone calls me Rick or Castille. I own the Castille Ad Agency and as mentioned Toni is my Personal Assistant and Geno is my Production Manager. There are a number of other employees in various job functions as well, I think 25 in total. We are well respected in the business with many very successful ad campaigns in the past and several currently running extremely well. The agency is financially sound so I and all of my employees benefit from that success.

As I mentioned I hung up from my call and kissed Toni on the cheek.

I asked her, "How are you doing babe?"

She smiled her beautiful smile and said, "Oh Ricky, the baby is very active today, feel how much it is moving around. It is moving so much that it is hard to find a comfortable way to stand or sit. I am sure glad this is almost over. I can't wait for little Ricky to join us even though the thought of giving birth does make me a bit nervous. I guess millions have done it in the past so I am sure I can do it too."

I put my hand on her engorged tummy and I felt all of the movements she had been talking about. It was really quite exciting to feel the baby move. They were definitely expecting a boy (I saw the ultrasound myself and there was no mistaking the plumbing in the picture) and they both wanted to honor me by naming him Ricky.

Toni continued, "I just popped in to remind you that I have set up an appointment for you to meet the temp that is going to fill in for me when I go on maternity leave. Be sure you are available at 4:00 p.m. and give us at least a half hour, okay?"

I said, "Toni, I don't know how you could possibly hire someone who can adequately replace you."

She laughed and came back, "Don't get in your head that anybody is replacing me buster. Remember the word TEMP? Remember the words 'fill in'? There will be no replacing happening. Her name is Kate Becker and she seems like to be a very capable young woman. So don't worry, the job will get done."

With that Toni got back off my lap and waddled (yes I did say waddled) cutely back out of my office. God I love how beautiful pregnant women are even though they often don't think so about themselves. I just love the glow I see in their faces I guess. Anyway, Toni was beautiful.

At 4:00 p.m. Toni knocked on my door (fancy that) and when I invited her in she came in with a young woman.

Toni introduced her, "Rick Castille this is Kate Becker, Kate this is Rick Castille the owner of the company."

Of course I stood when they came into my office and extended my hand, "It is nice to meet you. Do you prefer Kate or Miss Becker?"

She responded, "It is nice to meet you too Mr. Castille. I do prefer Ms. Becker."

I smiled and turned to Toni and said, "Well Toni, why don't you waddle your big hippo body out to the lunch room and show Kate how to get me a cup of coffee. Kate, I like it with cream and one teaspoon of sugar."

I saw a flash of lightning in Kate's eyes and laughed inwardly but maintained a straight face outwardly.

Out in the hallway Kate turned to Toni and said, "Mrs. Antonelli I am not sure this is going to work out. I asked to be called Ms. Becker and he persisted in calling me Kate. Then ordering me around already? There seems to be a bit of a personality issue here that I am not sure I can work with. Perhaps you would be best served to find someone else."

Toni laughed and replied, "Relax Kate. I have known Rick for a long time and trust me, this is a test. Just go with the flow and you will see everything will work out just fine."

The two ladies walked back to the lunch room and Kate proceeded to get a cup of black coffee for Rick. Toni smiled at her and said, "What are you doing? Rick said he wanted cream and sugar."

Kate said with a little laugh, "Yes I believe he did say that. I think perhaps two can play his little test game."

As they were walking back to Rick's office they were talking and laughing. Kate placed the coffee in front of Rick and said, "Here is your coffee Mr. Castille."

Rick picked it up and took a taste. A frown formed on his brow. "Well Ms. Becker, this interview is over. It was nice to meet you. Goodbye."

Both Toni and Kate got a shocked look on their faces and both started to say something back but Rick shut them down and waved them out of the office with a "Goodbye ladies."

Just as they got to the door he called out, "By the way Kate, I prefer to be called Rick and not Mr. Castille and just so you know I really do prefer my coffee black. See you tomorrow morning."

When they exited his office both Toni and Kate in unison said, "What a bastard." But, they were laughing as they walked away. Toni said, "You will probably never get used to him. But he does grow on you."

The next morning Kate stuck her head into my office and said, "Good morning Rick, can I get you some coffee?"

I replied laughing, "I will walk back there with you and we can both get some. I figured that if I let you get it there will be cream and sugar in it." They both were laughing as they walked back to the lunch room.

"I think we can briefly discuss the coffee etiquette around here. If you are getting coffee for yourself you can bring me a cup. If I am with clients you should always offer coffee and refills after a while. If you are busy I can get my own coffee and will bring you a cup if you like."

"Kate, I saw something in your eyes yesterday and decided to test you as you know and you passed with flying colors."

"I don't want a meek, ass kissing personal assistant. I want you to be an advisor and to fix things I might screw up. I always want your opinion and I will always consider it. But, once I make a final decision based on all the information I have it will be my decision, it will be final and it will be my responsibility. I am certain we will get along fine Kate. Please don't hold it against me that I jerked you around yesterday. I just wanted to find out what you were made of and I liked what I saw." She just smiled.

I guess it is time to tell you a little about Kate. She is quite tall, perhaps 5'10" and rather rotund, oh hell, she is fat. She also isn't very attractive in the standard sense. Her facial features aren't classic beauty and her hair style doesn't do a thing to enhance her attractiveness. Add to that the unflattering style of clothes she wore and to put it bluntly there aren't many men who would give her a second look.

I on the other hand saw something in her eyes that first day that totally appealed to me and over the course of the next several weeks came to truly think of her as a beautiful person.

Kate was an invaluable personal assistant. Her ideas were wonderful and she enhanced everything she touched. Whenever I had meetings she would attend with me and share her reactions with me afterwards. We attended dinners together and on occasion we even traveled out of town together, always with separate rooms. We were not romantically involved but as the weeks flew by we became great friends. I knew I was falling in love with her but I also knew it wasn't the smartest thing to get romantically involved with an employee.

I was looking forward to the end of Toni's maternity leave because then Kate would be leaving and I felt I would then pursue her romantically. A little stupid I know but that is the way I felt. Anyway, it didn't exactly happen that way since Toni came in after her twelve weeks maternity leave and requested an additional twelve weeks. There was no way I would turn her down so Kate was going to be there for twelve more weeks. On the one hand I was perplexed because of the complications of a workplace romance but of course I was happy she was still going to be around.

What I did decide was that I would have to change my personal beliefs and pursue her romantically even though she did work for me. I guess I justified it a little by saying she was only a TEMP. I asked her to dinner one night without a client involvement and she accepted.

Over the next couple of weeks Kate started to fix herself up a bit more and one day she came into my office and asked if we could have a personal conversation. Of course I said yes and she confided in me.

"Rick, I know you love me and I love you too. I am embarrassed sometimes because of how I look. Truthfully I see how some of the clients look at me wondering why you are with me."

I smiled at her and said, "Kate, you are right, I do love you just the way you are. If you aren't happy with the way you look then do something about it. You know I run almost every day. Join me. We will start you out slow and before you know it you will lose some weight and shape up. We can also go to the gym and work out and that should tone us both up pretty good. As I said, you know I love you just as you are but if you want to improve how you look and feel I am with you baby. Go for it."

"Get some new clothes, get a new hair style, and get a boob job."

When I said that she hit me but we both laughed.

"I am serious Kate, if you want to get a little work done I will give you the money to do it. But know that I will not love you any more than I already do."

Well she did everything we talked about. In about two months time she had lost a bunch of weight. Her workouts bordered on fanatical and she was as toned as anyone could be without being grotesque. Her hair style drastically improved the impression people had of her and yes she did get a little work done by a surgeon but nothing drastic. Others began to see her as a beautiful woman but I saw the same woman I fell in love with. She was beautiful to me as well but it didn't matter to me. She was still my Kate.

One day in early August we had a company picnic at a local park and I chose that occasion to get down on my knees and propose. "Kate, will you do me the honor of being my wife?" Her smile and the tears streaming down her face all happening at once told me what her answer would be. "Yes Rick, I will be your wife."

She began planning our wedding with some input from me. But any of you who have been there know that the three S principal usually equated with the father of the bride also applies to the fiancé in the same way. Shut Up, Shell Out and Show Up. So, most of the planning was done without me. Toni did get involved a great deal though so many of my thoughts were imparted through her. We are kindred spirits after all.

Everything was going along quite perfectly then the proverbial fly in the ointment or in this case the fly in the perfume. Kenny Pierce a marketing rep from Carone Enterprises, Inc. a perfume manufacturer came to Chicago to work on a new advertising campaign. I wasn't a big fan of Kenny because of how he had sniffed around Toni the last time he came into town. Geno had put a quick stop to that action when he noticed Kenny hanging around Toni. He is pretty intimidating so Kenny backed off totally. You can imagine my shock when it turned out that Kate actually knew Kenny and much to my displeasure actually gushed over him. Kenny and Kate went to high school together and they both went to the same university. She told me that she had always had a crush on him.

He hadn't given her the time of day when they were in school because she wasn't very attractive back then but now oh my goodness all he had on his mind was sniffing around her and she ate up every second of it.

After work Kate and I went out to dinner and I commented on the attention he was paying to her and how she was reacting to it. She got angry with me and told to get over myself. She said, "Kenny is only here for one more day and I am enjoying his company so just live with it Rick."

When she told me to live with it I knew there was trouble on the way. Things were pretty cool between us for the rest of the meal and after we finished eating she said she just wanted to go home so I gladly dropped her off and went to a little dive bar not far from my apartment and had a couple of drinks. I am not a big drinker so no, I didn't get hammered but I wanted to.

I wasn't very happy about the whole situation but I decided to go with the flow because she was right. Kenny would be gone by noon the next day (Friday) and that would be the end of it.

It was around 10:00 a.m. when Kate came into my office and closed the door behind her. She sat down and said, "Rick, I am not quite sure how to tell you this. Kenny is going to leave today for Las Vegas for the weekend and he has asked me to go along with him."

My shock must have been evident because she continued, "I know that seems like a strange thing to do but you have to understand that I always wondered what it would be like to be Kenny's girl. Rick, do you love me enough to let me do this? One weekend and then I will be all yours."

My immediate response was, "Kate let me get this straight. You want to spend a weekend with Kenny a guy you had a crush on in school, a guy who paid no attention to you what so ever when you were fat and homely and now that you are beautiful he can't keep his eyes off of you. You want me to approve of you doing this. You would risk a relationship with a man who loved you then and loves you now because of who you are and not how you look. Do I have it right so far?"

"Rick, it isn't like that. I just think I have to do this so I won't wonder what I missed for the rest of my life. Can't you understand that? Don't you love me enough to let me do this?"

"Kate, I am begging you to not go with him. Please don't do this to us. I do love you enough to let you go if you feel you must but do you love me enough to not go?"

"Okay, you said you love me enough to let me go so I am going. When I get back I will make you the happiest man on earth."

"That's it? I can't dissuade you from going?"

"No, I am going."

"Well if you are going at least do me the courtesy of returning my ring. I don't want a fiancé of mine fucking some asshole while she is wearing my ring."

She had a shocked and hurt expression on her face and moaned, "Oh no Rick. Please don't make me give you my ring. Please!"

"If you are going with him give me the ring."

Her eyes flashed lightning like the first time I met her and I could see she was about to lose it but she did get herself under control. She took off the ring and set it on my desk. She didn't even hand it to me, just set it down and stood up.

"Very well Rick if that is how you are going to be. I am leaving now."

As Kate walked out of my office I whispered, "Goodbye Kate I hope it's worth it."

She turned and asked, "What did you say?"

With a tremendous sadness I said, "I said goodbye Kate I hope it's worth it."

She got a very strange look on her face but continued out the door and a short time later I saw her leaving the building and driving away.

I could write a million words right now to describe the range of emotions that flooded over me but I will keep it to a minimum. Rage, anger, hatred, hurt, disappointment, sadness, despair, love and vengefulness you get the drift. I sat at my desk for about an hour thinking about my life, my love for Kate my hate for Kate and what I was going to do about her and about Kenny.

When my head stopped throbbing I made two phone calls. The first was to Toni.

"Hi babe how is little Ricky doing? Is he awake?"

Toni said, "Hey Rick, Ricky is doing wonderful and yes he is awake. I will lay him down for a nap after lunch."

"Toni, can you come to the office for about an hour? Please bring Ricky along I would like to hold him. There is a situation here that I need to talk over with you so as soon as you can get here would be appreciated."

She asked me if I was okay and I told her I wasn't but we would talk that over when she got here.

My second call was to Lucca Di Stefano. Geno isn't the only person who has some connections. Lucca Di Stefano was a friend with connections. Toni's and my Uncle Bernardo was a great friend to Lucca's father but more importantly Uncle Bernardo was a lot more connected than any of us. "Lucca this is Rick Castille. Yeah, I know it has been a long time and I apologize for not keeping in touch. Yes, I promise I will do a better job of staying close my friend."

After he had chastised me and I was humbly apologetic he told me to get to the point of my call. Damn, I felt like such a heel.

"Lucca, I need a big favor. My former fiancée Kate Becker is leaving O'Hare around 2:00 p.m. on a flight to Las Vegas. She is traveling with a guy named Kenny Pierce. I know you can get the flight number and have someone waiting to follow them when they get there. Check around to see what hotel they will be staying at and delay them getting into their room or rooms for enough time to get surveillance set up. I want pictures, audio and video. I want to know everything they do and say until tomorrow around noon. Then email it all to me early tomorrow afternoon."

"After that I don't care what you do about pictures, audio and video but I want them to think you have them under constant surveillance. Make it look like you are working for Kenny's wife. Her name is Marilyn. What I want you to do Lucca is ruin the rest of the weekend for them. No, I don't want anyone hurt but I don't care if they are scared."

"Thanks Lucca, I will be sure that Uncle Bernardo knows you did this for me. When Bernardo is happy everyone is happy. And Lucca, let me know what this costs no matter how much. I just need this information early tomorrow afternoon. I promise to get together with you after this is all over to thank you properly. Goodbye my friend. I will look forward to receiving the information."

When Toni came into my office I got up and shut the door. I hugged her and took little Ricky out of her arms and held him close to me. He was growing normally but still seemed like such a little bundle to me. I gave him a kiss on the forehead and felt the softness and warmth of him. The thought of having a baby hit me especially hard because now it wouldn't be happening as soon as I had hoped for.